Gallery: Exploring the paddocks at the Monza Historic

The paddocks at the Monza Historic are compact, unlike Spa’s Classic or even the Festival of Speed presented by Mastercard, and the landscape here (other than the foothills of the Alps, just visible in the distance) is flat. The track itself only has one real elevation change, and that’s just so it can duck under the old banking between the second Lesmo and the Ascari chicane.

So that means everything, except some erroneous Formula Junior cars, is in one place. It means a pretty exciting atmosphere, although without the massed crowds of the Grand Prix weekend just a few days ago. Instead it’s just a fever of incredible metal, the smell of work going on on historic racing cars, and the sounds that you associate with all that.

On one side you’ll find a phalanx of Porsche 911s, all ready to go for he 2.0-litre Cup. Another sees the incredible grid of Peter Auto’s ‘Greatests Tophy’, an eclectic mix of what they deem the best cars ever made. In the middle is everything from Ferrari 512 BB LM to Morgan, while tucked away inside the actual pic garages you’ll find the heritage touring cars (BMW 635 CSi, Ford Capri), the Group C brutes and the extraordinary collection of more recent metal that makes up the Endurance Legends. It’s a different place to other events, but we like it.

Photography by Ben Miles and Pete Summers.