Autodromo Nazionale Monza SIAS SpA

Since the date of its construction , the Autodromo Nazionale Monza has been managed by Autodromo Nazionale Monza Società Incremento Automobilismo e Sport SIAS SpA , a company federated with the Automobile Club of Italy. The foundation of SIAS took place with a large participation of organizations, banks, industries and sports. Currently, the shareholders are the Automobile Club of Italy (90%) and the Automobile Club Milano (10%).

Autodromo Nazionale Monza History

The Autodromo Nazionale Monza is universally known as the Temple of Speed and represents a reference point for motor sports. Built in 1922 , third in the world after Brooklands and Indianapolis, it has been the scene of some of the greatest sporting and technological innovations. Its flyover ( link dedicated page) is unique in the world and important pages of world motoring but also scientific research have been written on its curves. The telepass, the guardrails and the draining asphalt, to name a few, have been studied and developed in Monza.

The construction of the Autodromo Nazionale Monza was decided in January 1922 by the Automobile Club of Milan , with the aim of celebrating the 25th anniversary of the birth of the Association. The construction of a racetrack was suggested by the technical and commercial needs of the various national manufacturers which, even then, aimed at exporting. A stable plant to be used for motor racing would also have allowed the carrying out of experimental tests of all kinds. Therefore, sectors for the development of speeds were included in the project, flanked by sectors of more varied conformation capable of stressing the complex of mechanical parts.

For the construction and management of the racetrack, the Società Incremento Automobilismo e Sport (SIAS) with entirely private capital and chaired by Senator Silvio Crespi was set up at the Automobile Club of Milan. The project was entrusted to the architect Alfredo Rosselli . In the preliminary phase it was thought of a speed track and a road ring side by side, with a total length of 14 kilometers and an estimated cost of 6 million lire.

The works began on May 15 with the commitment that they would be completed by August 15: 3500 workers, 200 wagons, 30 trucks and a 5-kilometer Decauville railway with 2 locomotives and 80 wagons were used. The racetrack was built in the record time of one hundred and ten days and the track was covered in its entire development for the first time on July 28 by Pietro Bordino and Felice Nazzaro aboard a Fiat 570.

The circuit included a 5.5 km road track and a 4.5 km high-speed loop, featuring two elevated curves that allowed a theoretical maximum speed of 180/190 km per hour; the elevated curves were connected by two straights 1070 meters long each. The two tracks intersected on two levels by means of an underpass in the Serraglio area.

The official opening of the plant took place on 3 September 1922 on a rainy day, in the presence of the Prime Minister Facta, with the dispute of a race for small cars which was won by Pietro Bordino on a Fiat 501 model race.

In the two-year period 1994-1995 the Monza track was again the subject of some interventions aimed at adapting to the safety standards required by the FIA :

Redefinition of the design of the second Lesmo curve , redone with an almost “elbow” configuration and therefore with a narrower radius (36 meters) than the previous one. In this way the speed of the curve has been significantly reduced;

The Grande curve was moved inwards by about ten meters and this led to the reduction of its two radii, which went from 325 and 450 meters, to 290 and 395 meters respectively;

The variant of the Canal has been brought forward by about 50 meters in order to position it in a point with wider lateral margins .;

The entire stretch of the two Lesmo curves , from the entrance of the first to the exit of the second (including the connecting straight) has also been set back towards the inside of the track by about fifteen meters to increase the escape space;

The first curve was also tight and its radius increased from 98 meters to 75, while the second, with a radius increased to 35 meters, remained almost identical to the one drawn the year before.

After all the “shifts” the total development of the circuit has decreased by 30 meters compared to the previous 5,800 (now it is 5,770 meters).

In the summer of 2000 the first variant was redesigned which, from an “S” with left-right-left curves, was transformed into a narrower and therefore slower double right-left curve . The straight line between the entrance and exit of the Roggia curve was then lengthened by 10 meters. These two interventions have brought the length of the roadway from 5,770 meters to 5,793 meters.