Grand Prix de Monaco Historique 

Ayrton Senna Trophy, F1 cars 1981-1985: Hall winning the final battle 

Words and pictures: Roman Klemm 

The finale of the Grand Prix de Monaco Historique consists of a race of F1 cars from 1981-1985. This year, the organizer decided for the first time to also allow the turbo monsters of this era to start. However, preparing such cars is a big problem even for the best restorers, as the weekend showed... 

More than 30 cars registered in the class that traditionally causes the most accidents and damage, including 6 with turbo engines.

Qualifying, however, became the expected big battle between Stuart Hall (March 821) and Marco Werner (Lotus 87B), which surprisingly also involved Alex Kapadia (Williams FW08) - so all users of the reliable naturally aspirated Cosworth V8s. Hall prevailed by 3 tenths over Werner and Kapadia. The best "turbo” was the Ligier-Renault JS25 in 9th position, which was surprisingly competently driven through the principality by Ramzan Orusbaev. The session had to be ended prematurely due to a serious accident involving Piero Lottini. The Italian crashed at high speed in the tunnel and could consider himself lucky that he did not meet the fate of poor Riccardo Paletti in the Osella FA1B…

Observers were not unjustly afraid of similar actions (especially between the over-motivated Hall and Werner) even on Sunday. While Hall reacted excellently at the start and led in front of former 24h Le Mans winner, Ian Simmonds (Tyrrell 012) and Nicholas Pink (Arrows A5) crashed on the straight, and the race was interrupted with a red flag. The organization of ACM then somewhat fell apart, and the restart only took place after 40 minutes. Hall again took the lead in front of Werner and Kapadia, but the German then retired his JPS-Lotus in the pits after just 2 laps and thus the race did not fully live up to its sporting promise. Hall clearly led in front of Kapadia, d´Ansembourg (Brabham BT49D), and Constable (Tyrrell 011), when halfway through the race Steven Brooks crashed heavily into the barrier at the Tobacco Corner, destroying his Lotus 91.

After the restart, Hall cleverly took advantage of overtaking backmarkers and won with a large lead, while Constable broke his rear suspension at Loews hairpin while attacking d'Ansembourg… Orusbaev brought the turbocharged Ligier to the finish in 6th place after a nice fight with Leon, d'Ansembourg, and Toriba.

Result GP de Monaco Historique, Ayrton Senna Trophy:

1. Start Hall, March 821

2. Alex Kapadia, Williams FW08

3. Werner d´Ansembourg, Brabham BT49D

4. Valerio Leone, Arrows A6 

5. Christophe d´Ansebourg, Williams FW07C

6. Ramzan Oruzbaev, Ligier-Renault JS25

7. Yutaka Toriba, Williams FW07C

8. Frits van Eerd, Williams FW08C

9. Joe Macari, Tyrrell 012

10. Yannick Panagiotis, Tyrrell 012