The greatest race in the world
This weekend is a big one for motorsport fans with the Monaco Grand Prix and Indianapolis 500 both taking place on Sunday. They are two of the most prestigious events on the international motor racing calendar, and together with the 24 Hours of Le Mans, they form what is sometimes called the triple crown of motorsport. With plenty of history, significance, and tradition behind them, each race has a claim to being the greatest in the world.
THE INDIANAPOLIS 500
The Indy 500 was always designed to be a special event. When the circuit was first opened a hundred years ago the owners found that local fans did not have enough interest in motorsport to sustain a full year of racing. With that in mind, they decided to focus on just one grandee weekend, and came up with the idea of a 500 mile race. The result is a sporting contest that now has the largest single day attendance of any in the world.
The Indianapolis 500 has always been the most celebrated motor race in the United States. This has made it a particularly significant event in (up until recently) the world’s largest automobile market.
The race is such an important piece of the global motorsport scene that it actually used to form part of the World Championship, even though Formula One cars were unable to take part. A total of nine races at Indianapolis counted towards the championship in the fifties, which is why there are a large number of obscure American drivers in the FIA’s official statistics.
Like any special event, the Indy 500 has its own distinctive traditions. There are many pre-race ceremonies that take place every year, along with unique winning celebrations, and even a traditional pork sandwich eaten by fans at the circuit. One of the most popular Indy traditions is the winner’s milk. After the 1936 race, the winning driver relaxed with a bottle of buttermilk because he was told that it was a good drink to have on a hot day. A local dairy seized upon this and immediately sought publicity by supplying milk to the winner after every race. These days, milk companies amusingly pay thousands to be the official milk supplier.
American open wheel racing was decimated by the IRL/Champcar split in the nineties, and whilst this directly impacted the prestige of the Indy 500, it also showed what a powerful race it was.
Tony George decide to started his own motorsport series because he felt Champcar was getting too expensive and was drifting too far away from its roots in US oval racing. He launched the Indy Racing League in 1996 but the first season was something of an embarrassment. It had just three races and only half of the drivers who took part turned up at each event.
The IRL lacked any credibility as a serious championship.
However, Tony George had control over the Indianapolis 500 and declared that only IRL cars could take part. Despite the fact that his IRL series barely existed, it was able to survive and grow thanks to the strength of Indianapolis. As time wore on, a number of Champcar teams started racing in the 500 before defecting to the IRL fulltime.
The Indy 500 was so strong that it turned the IRL into the biggest open wheel category in the USA. A lot of damage was done to US motorsport in the process, but the value of the Indianapolis 500 ensured the IRL/Champcar split did not last forever.
THE 24 HOURS OF LE MANS
Grand Prix racing was becoming very popular with an interested public in the early 20th century. The French motorsport authorities had an idea to expand on this, and devised a contest that tested the endurance of cars as well as their speed.
The Automobile Club de l’Ouest started their own race called The Grand Prix of Endurance and it ran around the public roads of Le Mans. The race was the first of its kind and instantly captured the imagination of motorists everywhere. When the automobile was first invented, reliability was the number one concern for potential buyers because the early designs broke down with alarming regularity. This was a major inconvenience before the days of common mechanics, so a race that pushed the endurance of different cars was the ultimate test for anyone that could afford to buy one.
Le Mans quickly became the race that every manufacturer wanted to win.
The race is still a huge test of endurance, but this is now because the specialist prototype cars built for the event struggle over the bumpy public roads. Over the course of 24 hours the leaders will cover the same distance as an F1 driver will in a full season of Grand Prix racing.
In the sixties, Le Mans was so significant that it was considered more important than Formula One. Ferrari quite famously let their F1 team suffer to focus on their sportscar program, such was the prestige offered by Le Mans.
The prestige of this single sportscar race was so great that it led to the creation of one of the most famous cars of all time, the Ford GT40.
Ford had a massive desire to win at Le Mans after Enzo Ferrari told them, during a failed business deal, that Ford didn’t know anything about racing. Revenge is a strong emotion, and Ford channelled that energy into the GT40 which went on to dominate Le Mans four years in a row. No other race could have inspired such a passionate technical endeavour.
Like Indianapolis, Le Mans has its own quirks and traditions. The famous Le Mans start used to be one of those. Drivers would have to run across the track to their cars before starting them and joining the race, but this was eventually banned due to safety grounds.
The influence of Le Mans hasn’t always been positive and this was evident in 1955 when a horror crash killed 83 spectators. The tragic aftermath saw massive restrictions placed on motor racing all around the world, and Switzerland even banned it altogether. A number of Grands Prix were also cancelled. It’s hard to imagine an accident in a sportscar race resulting in such drastic measures today, but that was the significance Le Mans held in the motorsport calendar.
Le Mans may no longer be more important than Formula One, but it is still a huge international event. Today the race responsible for pushing diesel development and continues to attract a number of major car manufactures who find the technology increasingly relevant.
THE MONACO GRAND PRIX
Formula One will always be the world’s highest category of motorsport and the Monaco Grand Prix will always be its flagship event. The wealthy streets of Monte Carlo provide the perfect backdrop for the world’s richest sport and give Formula One an event like no other.
The first Monaco Grand Prix was organised in 1929 because the local motorsport authority wanted their organisation to be granted full national status. For this to be possible they had to hold a major motor race entirely within their borders, so the Automobile Club de Monaco devised an event around the streets of Monte Carlo.
This instantly shot the Monaco Grand Prix to international prominence because only one race from every national authority was given Grandes Épreuves status – what we would now consider to be a Grand Prix. This meant Monaco was given the same level of recognition as the most important races elsewhere in Europe.
Since then, Monaco has developed the perfect recipe for a Grand Prix with a little bit of everything. The circuit challenges drivers and rewards those with precision and bravery. It punishes cars and pushes them to the extreme of their design capabilities. It is spectacular to watch on television and gives trackside fans the chance to get closer to the action than anywhere else in the world. It is also packed full of history, unpredictability, and provides the ideal marriage between a glamorous setting and a glamorous sport.
With more than 80 years of history, the Monaco Grand Prix has generated some of Formula One’s most bizarre and amazing races. It is the only circuit where both a tidal wave and kitchen fire have caused chaos. It’s the only circuit where drivers have crashed into the ocean, a tunnel, and next to their own apartment. It’s the only circuit where just three cars have finished a race, and where a driver has scored points despite finishing 30 laps behind the winner.
Throughout the constant modernisation of Formula One, Monaco has maintained a number of traditions and holds a unique status in the World Championship. It is the shortest Grand Prix in terms of distance (being the only race that doesn’t cover 300km) but the longest in terms of time. It is the only round where first practice is on a Thursday, and is the only circuit without a podium or parc ferme. For many years the pit straight didn’t even have any garages.
Even this year, Monaco will be the only circuit where the DRS is banned through a particular corner. This stipulation will join a list of other more regular exceptions made for this round in the FIA Sporting Regulations.
The significance of the Monaco Grand Prix is evidenced by the suggestion that race organisers have a special agreement with Formula One Management. Allegedly, Monaco is the only Grand Prix that does not pay any races fees, and is allowed to keep all of the revenue from trackside advertising, such is its value to the sport.
Monaco is the Grand Prix that every driver wants to win, every fan wants to visit, and every other venue wants to emulate. It is the most prestigious event in the pinnacle of motorsport.
Like the Indianapolis 500 and the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Monaco Grand Prix can lay a claim to being the greatest race in the world.