I am going to take the coupe to italy on holiday for 3 weeks and it happens to conveniently coincide with the italian gp. Has anyone been to monza before? have you got any tips before I get the tickets booked?

Not been to Monza before (done Spa 2005 in a Porsche & Magny Cours last year in the coupe) but I was thinking of doing the same as you! Drive to Plymouth, then ferry to Bilbao, drive across Spain - South of France (via Monaco maybe), then Italy. Do a pilgrimage to Turin/Pininfarina & Modena maybe - with the intention of going to the Monza GP. Then home via Switzerland/Czech Republic/Germany/France. The only problem might be getting the time off work (I work in a college & September hols are very frowned upon) & the costs (due to much money spent on the Coupe recently).

I'd love to do Monza - the only fly in the ointment being that if you are not a Ferrari supporter then it probably isn't a nice place to be due to the fanatical support of the tifosi. I also read that you can buy a grandstand ticket, but when you turn up the seat has been occupied by some drunken Italian which could be an 'interesting' situation!

That’s interesting I am going Southampton Argyll to get married then to Edinburgh to Zeebrugge and on to Portofino for a week. Then on the return along the coast and through Spain to Bilbao and back to Portsmouth. Looking forward to it!

I was at Monza last year and i must say the atmoshpere was brilliant. We had a general admission ticket which is good and there are lots of free grandstands to sit in amongst the trees. The free areas at the lesmo corners are good and you get very close. Under the bridge before the Ascari chicane is awesome and where i watched the start from. If i was going again i would get a ticket for the Ascari grandstand. The heliport is fantastic to as you can stand at the hedge in typical Italian safety fashion and watch all the rich folk fly in. Food is ace and defiinately not like here in the UK, even at the racing the Italians love good food.

Send me an e-mail address and i'll send you a few little snippets to whet your appetite.

Bloody hell i want to go again now!

Funnily enough i was also at Spa in 2004 too.

I'll PM you sparco with my e-mail - you've made me want to go to Monza quite badly now! Have you done Le Mans? That's a pretty good meeting as well - especially the Classic as it is wall to wall GT40's, 250 GTO's & 917's - but without the crowds.

Did you feel at all intimidated or were these drunken grandstand thieves actually there?!

Sending you some stuff now.

Didn't feel threatened at all, maybe because i look like a local then no-one bother me.

Never done Le-Mans but like the sound of it.

Thanks sparco!

Le Mans is awesome - if you like your racing then it's a must - I saw the Bentleys win there in 2003, and the Le Mans Classic the following year was even better! There's a dusty hill not far from the Dunlop bridge where the Foster's is ice cold as well - and nothing prepares you for the sound of dozens of V8's driving all through the night - brilliant....

sorry sparco I havent seemed to have recieved the info that you sent, might you send it again?