Monza, 21 October 21, 2001
Sunshine And Showers
360 Challenge
Historic Challenge
Formula Uno
Fast & Furious
Shell Historic Ferrari Maserati Challenge - Results
Sunshine And Showers
The vagaries of the weather in northern Italy over the weekend of 19 – 21 October,
caused much consternation amongst participants and spectators alike at the annual
end of season Ferrari ”Festa”. For the first time the gathering was held at the historic
Monza track just north of Milan, giving competitors the opportunity to experience the full
Grand Prix circuit. From heavy mist, typical on the northern plains at this time of year, as
entrants arrived on Thursday for the free practise sessions, the weather briefly
brightened on Friday, but the forecast did not bode well for the weekend. Saturday
started warm and bright, albeit a little misty, but by the afternoon the storm clouds were
rolling in, and the deluge began. The conditions became so bad that the Historic
Challenge Grid A race for single seaters had to be abandoned after three laps,
curtailing the day’s activity. The storm continued virtually unabated through the evening
and into the night, but with a bright dawn on Sunday it seemed that it had cleared the
air! The weather held with bright sunshine through to the early afternoon, but then from
the west the sky could be seen getting darker, and within a short time another torrential
rainstorm hit the circuit. At one stage it became almost as dark as night, but fortunately
it did not have the longevity of that of the previous day, and after about an hour it had
passed over, leaving a drying track for the Historic Challenge Grid C runners.
360 Challenge
The 360 Challenge world finals brought together participants from all parts of the
globe, anxious to tie up their particular series on the very fast and demanding Monza
circuit. With the track new to a large number of the competitors, there was plenty of off
course excursions, although most only resulted in dented pride and crumpled
aluminium or broken front and rear valances. The frantic action and proclivity for
intimate body contact continued through the races, particularly through the very tight
first chicane at the end of the start/finish straight, where a number of cars mixed their
colour schemes. The variable weather didn’t help the situation, as slick tyres and a
suddenly soaking track are not comfortable bedfellows, the result being some rather
clumsy waltzes and pirouettes with even closer body contact.
At the end of the weekend’s races all the 360 Challenge international regional
championships had been decided, with Ange Daniel Bard from France taking the West
Europe title by just two points from Max Blancardi, with Emanuele Moncini taking the
South Europe title, and Luciano Nicolodi the USA one.
Historic Challenge
Grid A – The single seater grid, although small by the standards of the other groups,
was as well supported as it has been at any time of the year, and for the first time this
year featured a Ferrari. This was the Dino F2 model of Corrado Cupellini, with which he
achieved the third fastest practise time, the list being headed by the Maserati 250 F of
Burkhard von Schenk.
The first race was the last on Saturday afternoon’s programme, and started under
leaden skies with steady rain. Soon after the start the skies became even darker and
the heavens opened, such that they were almost driving in monsoon conditions, with
roosters of spray streaming from the wheels. The conditions didn’t seem to perturb the
Cupellini Dino, as he drew steadily away at the head of the field, until the organisers
decided that conditions were becoming just too dangerous, and halted proceedings
after three laps had been completed.
The second race enjoyed better weather conditions on Sunday morning, and Cupellini
proved that his Saturday victory was no fluke. Once the von Schenk Maserati 250 F had
beached in the gravel trap at the Parabolica, he held off the advances of Irvine
Laidlaw’s Maserati 6 CM, who then had a spin that dropped him down the order,
leaving Peter Heuberger in his 250 F to take 2nd place. Robert Fink in his Alfa Romeo
Tipo B P3 took the final place on the podium, following up a fine 2nd place in
Saturday’s shortened race.
Grid B
The Maserati contingent are particularly strong in this group for drum brake sports
racing and GT cars, and Monza was no exception, with the 250 S of Laidlaw and the
300 S of von Schenk occupying the front row of the grid. Bernd Hahne in his 450 S
model was surprisingly lowly placed in 10th after only completing two timed practise
laps. Christian Traber and his Ferrari 250 MM got to grips with the track well to take 3rd
fastest time, just ahead of Carlos Monteverde’s Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa, its body
repaired after the Silverstone accident.
From the start of the first race it was von Shenk and Laidlaw that made the running,
pulling away from their pursuers. However, the Maserati 450 S of Hahne was quickly
carving his way through the traffic ahead of him, and catching the leading batle. He
soon established his supremacy and eased away to a comfortable win, whilst von
Schenk held off the challenge of Laidlaw, to take 2nd place by a fraction over half a
second. Christian Traber brought the 250 MM home 4th a scant 1.5 seconds ahead of
the Monteverde 250 TR. Further down the field the 375 MM of Jean Sage had a race
long duel with the 375 Plus of Philippe Lancksweert, managing to beat him by a
second at the flag.
In the second race on Sunday, the first four finished in the same order with more space
between them, but the Maserati 300 S of Peter Munsch managed to get ahead of the
Monteverde 250 TR for 5th place. Philippe Lancksweert won the battle of the 375s this
time, finishing comfortably ahead of Jean Sage with a buffer of four cars between them.
Thus Maseratis were totally dominant at the head of the field, occupying both podiums.
Grid C
The grid C disc brake practise session was dominated by the Stieger brothers, Patrick
and Christoph, in Ferrari 512 M and 312 P respectively, comfortably ahead of the 512 S
model of Jean Guikas. John Bosch in his 365 GTB/4C put in a strong performance to
post 5th fastest time, perhaps too strong, as the engine cried enough and his activities
were over for the weekend. David Franklin in the 712 CanAm didn’t even make timed
practise, as the gearbox gave problems in the untimed session, and he took an early
shower. He did have the consolation of a drive in Carlo Vogele’s 330 GTO in Sunday’s
race, a magnanimous gesture from the Swiss driver. Federico Della Noce, the
manager of Rubens Barichello also put in a strong performance to take 7th fastest
time in his 250 LM, only 0.34 seconds behind the similar model of David Piper.
In the first race all the front runners experienced problems of one sort or another. Both
512 models retired, Guikas spinning out of the lead on lap 4, whilst the 312 P pitted
before continuing and recording the fastest lap of the race, finishing a lap down in 14th
place. As light rain started to fall the skill of Peter Hardman shone through the
gathering gloom, as he established himself at the head of the field in the front engined
Dino 246 P, steadily increasing his advantage lap after lap, to take a dominant victory.
Frederico Kroymans achieved his best finish of the year in his 250 GTO, to take second
and also the overall Shell Historic Ferrari Maserati Challenge title for 2001. The 250 GT
SWB of Vincent Gaye finished 3rd ahead of the 250 LMs of Della Noce and Piper.
A massive thunderstorm early on Sunday afternoon left a streaming track for the start of
the second race, although the rain itself had stopped by the time they took the grid. The
Stieger brothers decided that the conditions were too risky with unsuitable rubber, and
were non-starters. This left Jean Guikas as the major contender if he could keep it on
the island! He succeeded admirably, driving a controlled race in very difficult early
conditions, to take an impressive victory. Peter Hardman was the best of the rest after
disposing of the 250 LMs of Della Noce and Piper, the latter finishing 3rd whilst the
former spun away his chances of a podium finish, to eventually come home 9th. David
Franklin enjoyed his run in the 4 litre GTO to take 4th, although he thought that it was a
bit to stiffly sprung for the conditions, making it ”interesting”! Another ”Sunday Driver”
change was that Bernd Hahne took over Hartmut Ibing’s 250 LM, finishing in 5th place.
Formula Uno
On both Saturday and Sunday there were historic Ferrari F1 car demonstration runs,
that attracted a wide array of models, which apart from Jo Vonlanthen’s 500/625,
chassis # 54/1, were mainly from the seventies and later, including 312 T, T2, T3, T4
and T5 models, turbo cars in the form of a 126 C4 and F1-86, plus many nineties
examples. The Saturday run was red flagged early after the F 399 of Paddy Shovlin
spun and stalled right in the middle of the first chicane, with Michael Gabel in his F 300
detouring across the grass to avoid him and then stalling upon rejoining the track,
doubling the complexity of the chicane for everybody else. Once these cars had been
retrieved the run continued without further mishap. The Sunday run preceded the driver
track tour on a large flat bed articulated Iveco truck, which was open to all participating
drivers, who were joined by Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo, Michael
Schumacher, Rubens Barichello and Luca Badoer.
Fast & Furious
While the driver truck meandered round the circuit, the mechanics wheeled out the
three F1-2000 models for the team drivers to do the factory demonstration run. This
was undoubtedly the high point of the day for the masses in the grandstands opposite
the pits, who had come to pay homage to their heroes, and when the cars were
pushed out of their garage, a deafening roar erupted from the appreciative crowd, with
air horns blowing wildly in accompaniment.
When the team drivers returned from their circuit tour, the roars that greeted them were
even louder as they walked to the cars waiting on the grid. The trio of V10 engines
burst into life, reached a crescendo and they were off to provide a superb high speed
demonstration run. They continuously swapped places, and on one lap Schumacher
and Barichello swept along the main straight as one, with the second car literally
tucked under the gear box of the other, I don’t know which was which, as it was a high
speed blur that took your breath away. The confidence that they must have in each
other to run that closely is truly amazing.
The run ended with the traditional tyre smoking pirouettes along the main straight, a
spectacle always greatly appreciated by the crowd, whose air horns blasted wildly in
appreciation.
Another great end of season ”Ferrari Festa” that even the weather couldn’t put a
damper on, despite its best efforts.
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