Hey all, this is another "not an Aston" thread, but I thought I'd share some photos from the Monaco GP for those of you who may be interested. It was an amazing time, not so much for the racing (which can be boring) but as an event. If any of you have a desire to go, I'd highly recommend it. Cheers!

Walking the inner harbor part of the "track" on Friday:


View of the K grandstand (in the distance) we would watch qualifying from on Saturday:


You can also walk the pits on Friday if you have a weekend ticket:


Scuderia Ferrari working on one of their cars:


Lewis Hamilton walking the pits:


Party atmosphere at La Rascasse bar:


View from the K grandstand on qualifying Saturday:


Really good race watching from here:


Ron Howard promoting Rush between sessions:


Race Sunday from the B grandstand in Casino Square. Best grandstand to watch the race and take in the Monaco atmosphere:


Driver parade before the race:


Local boy Nico Rosberg dominated the race from beginning to end:


Unfortunately, Fernando Alonso (my driver) didn't do nearly as well:


After the race, the track opens and the party resumes:


La Rascasse bar must make half of their annual revenue just from race week:

 

Awesome pics! Thanks for posting

 

Thanks for that. I have not seen the race shot from that perspective before. What sort of gear were you using for the pics?

 

^^^Nikon D90 with a 18-200mm VR lens.

 

Great photos with a personal perspective. Defo on my bucket list...but must go soon. Did you just go, or use some kind of F1 tour service? What's a typical cost for such an event, if I may inquire? Stay in Monaco?

It's be nice to have sort of a trip guide...

 

Good Stuff! Rep points for you my friend....

 

Many thanks guys.

XJRS: We just went. It's really not something you need too much help with. All we did is buy the tickets online and make lodging reservations.

We ordered the tickets in October of last year. If you want to be in Casino Square for the race (grandstand B), you need to get your tickets early. Now would be wise. Although we got ours in October, the seller told us a couple of months ago that they were actually already sold out when we purchased and that they couldn't give us our tickets to grandstand B. Needless to say I pitched a fit and they eventually came through. Really glad they did because it was fantastic to watch the race from there. Although grandstand K has great views of the track and the inner harbor, and is considered one of the best grandstands to view the race, it just can't compare to grandstand B. It was a totally different experience. Much smaller crowds, much more intimate. Felt like we were in the VIP section. As for cost, I think we spent about $2,200 for two tickets for the two days. I didn't shop around too much though, so you may be able to do a bit better. Also, you'll cut your costs in about half if you only want to watch the race (not qualifying).

As for lodging, we stayed in Nice. We had heard that you can just take the train into Monaco from Nice, which only takes 20 minutes. While this is true as for actual train time, with the crowds the entire trip was more like an hour and a half. If we do it again, we'll definitely stay in Monaco. Of course, the cost will be higher, but the convenience would be worth it. One thing that was a bit of a bummer is that we needed to wear/carry clothes that worked for both the day and night. It was really warm with the sun out (short-sleeve weather), but pretty cool after the sun went down (long-sleeve, jacket, light scarf). In addition, while it was great to have my big camera during the day, it was a bit of a nuisance to lug it around at night. It would have been so great to be able to pop up to the hotel room for a quick change after the race.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the Cannes Film Festival coincides with the Monaco GP. So, as an added bonus, you can visit the Festival, which was cool to see. Cannes is about 40 minutes from Nice by train. Because of the Festival, you have the opportunity for some star sightings. We actually sat between Cameron Diaz and Nicole Kidman on the flight home, and Uma Thurman was a few rows behind us. It was a bit surreal when they all got together to chat just a couple of feet from us. We felt like part of the group!

Hmm, what else to mention. I definitely recommend being there Friday afternoon to walk the track. It's cool to be able to see exactly what the corners look like from the driver's perspective and it's great atmosphere. To also walk the pits you need a weekend ticket. This means either Saturday qualifying or Sunday race (or both). We didn't have our tickets with us, but they let us through anyway. Next time I'll bring the tickets just in case. While the tickets and accommodations are not cheap, you don't need to spend a ton while you're there. There are, of course, nice restaurants and clubs, but there are also inexpensive places to eat and drink. There are both really well-heeled people and just regular folks who attend.

In addition to the GP we also made a pilgrimage to Modena to visit Ferrari and Lamborghini. I can post pics of that too if people are interested. Test drove the F12 and 458 Spider while in Maranello. Lots of fun!

 

Post pics

 

Okay, will do. The pics are on my home computer so I'll try to upload some tonight. Couldn't tour the factories, but the museums were really great, especially Ferrari's.

 

Great pics and happy to see you had a good time.
I love Monaco . . . always enjoy all the various eye candy in all form factors, but never attended an F1 race there (Hope to change that soon)

 

Nice pics, definitely on my bucket list as well!

 

that is a helluva trip, thank you for the pictures-definitely something I have been wanting to do and with these pictures just pushes me that much more to do it in the near future! if you can, do post those pictures from Modena as well!

 

Nice cans slavik.
Monaco is on my bucket list as well. Thanks for sharing the good/bad/ugly of the events logistics which I'll keep in mind when I can do the trip.
Racer X, it sounded like a trip of a life-time. So glad it went well for you.

 

Amazing photos. Great job, thank you for sharing.

 

A few more pics...

An SLS AMG Black displayed in Cannes:


The Lowes hairpin. The cars are modified to provide more turning to lock for Monaco because of this corner. Although there's not much room, some passes occurred here during the race.


Some insanely large yachts in the harbor:


SLS safety cars in the pits. They got a lot of use during the race:


As usual, Romain Grosjean was really crashy over the weekend. Here's his car being craned after a wreck during qualifying:


One of two Spykers they had in Casino Square:


Grojean wasn't the only one crashing into things. Here's Felipe Massa's car being towed away after the race:


Revelers celebrating after the race with copious amounts of vodka:


Woman on stilts during the celebration: