Pops' Travel Guide, Monza

I want to focus this post on Monza and F1. The main purpose of our Father/son Eurotrip was the Italian Grand Prix at Monza. My son and I are planning on attending a different F1 race every year. I had already attended the Grand Prix in Monaco and the older circuits were at the top of our list. Monza has a lot of F1 history, the track has been changed and made safer but you can still see the banked turns and even walk the old track at times.

Monza is located in a park with a camp ground and lots of green space. Because of it's location there is not a lot of parking near the track. I was a little worried about how we would get to and from the track but after the first day there for qualifying I found out I didn't have to worry. The Italians have been doing this for a long time and logistically they have their act together. We had a rental car and once we entered Monza there were lots of signs directing us to parking lots at many different locations. When you pay for parking you also get tickets for the shuttle buses. At each parking location there are buses lined up ready to take you to the track. As each bus fills up it departs and the ride to the drop off zone is at most 10 minutes. From the drop off zone you have about a half our walk through the park to the track entrance. After the race you walk back to where you were dropped off and you will find buses lined up to take you back to your car. I would say it took about 45 minutes to get between our car and our seats. It was pretty stress free and because the parking is away from the track the traffic is light and you are on your way in no time.

If you haven't been to a F1 race you will surprised to hear that there are actually 3 races so each day is a full day of racing. At Monza we saw GP2 and GP3 besides the main F1 race. We watched qualifying and the race. Qualifying was awesome but the first time the cars flew by us at full speed it really got your adrenaline going. The engines are smaller, 6 cylinders compared to 8 last year and the sound isn't the same but they go just as fast. We sat just past the start/finish line and on the longest straight away and the cars were flying. Monza is one of the fastest tracks in the season and the race is also the shortest in time. We saw a relatively incident free race and the weather was perfect.

There is nothing like F1 racing. I hate watching cars going around in a circle. The mandatory two tire requirements and no refueling adds a lot to the suspense as there is a lot of strategy involved in choosing what tires to use and when.

I would highly recommend going to a F1 race. The F1 season has races around the world and in some of the most beautiful cities in the world. Why not package a race with a destination you have always wanted to go to.