Brooklands vs Old Monza - Battle of the Race Circuits
In the 13th battle of the race circuits we have a battle between Brooklands, who won the previous round, and the new contender you voted for, old Monza with the banking.
0:00 Introduction
0:30 Brooklands
2:08 Old Monza
Brooklands opened in 1907 and is seen as the First ever purpose built race track in the World. It was an initiative from entrepreneur Hugh F. Locke-King.
Because racing on public roads was banned by the British law, he want to built a permanent racing venue. They built the circuit near the village of Weybridge, southwest of London.
Brooklands was a combination of a high banked oval, with a road circuit on the infield. There was also a steep hill to test vehicles.
Before and after the First World War Brooklands had a huge boom. Motorsport was only for the rich those days. Not only the drivers themselves, but also the audience consisted only of wealthy people. “The right crowd and no crowding” was the circuits slogan.
WWII would eventually become the downfall of Brooklands. The aircraft manufacturer Vickers was located on the infield. During WWII, this factory had to run at full speed and capacity, and so expansion was necessary.
Since the circuit was not used during the war, a part of the banking was demolished. Moreover, the circuit was easy to recognize from the air by the German Air Force. To camouflage it, holes were made in the surface in which trees were planted.
In 1946, the site was sold to Vickers, which went further with the demolition of parts of the banking. Half a century later, Brooklands finally gets the status of being monument, which therefor prevents further demolition. Today, a part of the old Brooklands Circuit belongs to the Brooklands Museum and can be visited by the public.
The Monza Circuit opened in 1922 and was also a combination of a high speed banked oval and a road circuit. Both could be used together or sepparated. The length of the combined circuit was exactely 10 Kilometres, which is 6.2 Miles.
However, during a huge reconstruction of the track that started in 1938, the original banking was demolished. The idea was to make Monza a pure road circuit. But, in the 1950’s the circuit bosses wanted to return to it’s original concept of a high speed combination of a road circuit and a high banked oval.
In 1955 the new Monza layout opened with a new oval, almost on the same site as the original. To give this circuit also the length of exactely 10 Kilometres, they introduced the famous Parabolica Corner, now known under the name Alboreto Corner.
The combination of the road circuit and the oval was used only 3 times for the Formula One Italian Grand Prix. That was in 1956, 1960 and 1961.
Actually the Monza banking became most famous afterwards, when it was used for the 1966 Formula One movie Grand Prix.
After Formula One abandoned the Monza banking, it was also found too dangerous for other series. The last time the full circuit was used was for the 1969 edition of the 1000 Kilometres of Monza. Since then, the old high banked oval was left abandoned.
Since 1978 the old Monza Oval is used once a year by the Monza Rally. But only the lower part of the banking. The rest of the year it’s a preserved memory from the past, which can be explored legally.
Special thanks to Nico Fonseca who edited this video. Visit also hit RU-vid channel / @fons_f1
Also special thanks to Simon Smith for the voiceover. Visit also his channel: / higherplaingames
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8 июл 2024
