There are some circuits where historic racing cars look a little bit out of place. That’s not to say that it isn’t awesome to see them there, but modern run off areas and wide tracks can make them look a little dwarfed.
Video: Hot‑lap traffic for a booming AC Cobra at Monza
Monza is not one of those places. Here on the outskirts of Milan the walls are close in, there are still hedges by some of the armco and gravel is the favoured method of retaining cars. Which, with the high-speed nature of the circuit’s major corners, makes wheeling something classic on cross-plys all the more fun.
So there we join Thierry de Latre du Bosqueau in his mighty 289 Cobra during practice for the Monza Historic. The big V8 in the Cobra is making Thierry’s day a bit of a handful, but his laps become even more tricky when he rounds the second Lesmo to find a cavalcade of cars in front of him, all trundling for no apparent reason.
Queue some choice French and a fantastic onboard shot as we shred our way through that traffic, passing cars left and right and using the grunt from that big all-American motor to make mincemeat of some less powerful cars. It’s wonderful stuff.

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