The Road To Monaco

New Zealander Howden Ganley raced cars at the highest level internationally at the apex of motor racing's most glamorous and dangerous era - the 1960s and 70s, when Formula 1 drivers enjoyed rock star status, while dicing in cars and on circuits that had virtually none of the safety features today's drivers take for granted.

Monaco is a small independent state located on the Mediterranean coastline of France. The principality, which has a population of around 39,000 people, is the second smallest country in the world, and it covers an area of just 2.02 square kilometers. Monaco is known for its luxurious lifestyle, gambling industry, and tax haven status. It is a popular tourist destination and attracts millions of visitors every year due to the stunning views of the Mediterranean Sea, the Formula One Grand Prix, and the famous Monte-Carlo Casino. Monaco has a long and interesting history dating back to the Roman period. It was officially established as a principality in 1297 by the Grimaldi family who continues to rule the country to this day. Over the centuries, Monaco has managed to maintain its independence and sovereignty by building strong diplomatic relations with other countries around the world. Despite its small size, the principality is a wealthy nation and boasts high standards of living. The economy is primarily based on tourism, gambling, and finance, and it has a favorable tax system that attracts wealthy individuals and businesses. Monaco is also known for its glamorous events such as the Red Cross Ball and the International Circus Festival.

Go behind the scenes to explore the history, racing, celebrity fans, and after hours of racing's most glamorous and prestigious round in the F1 championship with The Life Monaco Grand Prix. Monaco sponsored its first race in 1929 and the circuit has been part of the Formula 1 series since 1950. Conducted with the patronage of Monaco’s royal family, its beautiful street-circuit has made Monaco the most glamorous setting of any F1 race. But the classic architecture and high-profile spectators belie a course notorious for its complexity and challenges. With no safety barriers until 1969, drivers have twice plunged into the harbor among the spectating yachts. Off the circuit, Monaco is a 24-hour spectacle of expensive boats, high-profile parties, celebrity F1 fans, penthouse spectating, and high-roller lifestyle. From the Monte Carlo casino (integral to numerous James Bond films) to top clubs like Amber Lounge, Jimmy’z, and The Black Lounge to F1 racers’ luxury homes to the takeoffs and landings of countless private jets, Monaco represents the epitome of the jet-setting lifestyle long associated with the F1 circus. From the first Grand Prix in 1929 to today's star-studded event, The Life Monaco Grand Prix takes the reader on a full lap of this prestigious race.

When a 10-year-old R.A. Dalkey decided he was going to become an Outback truck driver, the poor Australia-besotted boy had no idea what he was getting into. He’d been born on the wrong continent for a start. And even if he could make it out of Africa one day, where was an Australian work visa to come from? Or, for that matter, a licence to drive 53-metre trucks on red desert roads? A sensible adult would have filed that dream away as a juvenile fantasy and gotten on with life. Especially after taking five attempts to get the most basic of car licences. But R.A. Dalkey never claimed to be a sensible adult, did he? Join the author as he pursues the ultimate whimsical travel quest. From that careless moment of childhood inspiration, this true account will take you to small town South Africa, the ugly side of Cape Town, the claustrophobic sprawl of Greater London and New Zealand’s sleepy Waikato. And then on to the Holy Grail: Australia. Dalkey digs deep into this puzzling, generous nation as he travels to every one of the mainland states. He explores Australia’s quirky history and its modern cities, from seductive Sydney to bad-ass Brisbane. He rides trains across the Nullarbor Plain and watches cricket everywhere. But all this is merely the backdrop to his dogged pursuit of that decades-old mission: driving heavy loads to tiny rural specks deep in the Outback…

**THE ONLY DEFINITIVE ACCOUNT OF THE WORLD'S GREATEST RACE - FULL OF EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS WITH NIKI LAUDA, ROSS BRAWN, DAMON HILL, DAVID COULTHARD, SIR JACKIE STEWART, OLIVER PANIS AND 2016 WORLD CHAMPION NICO ROSBERG** Circuit de Monaco. Monte Carlo. The ultimate race in the Formula One calendar. When you think of Formula One, you think of Monaco. Once a year, yachts jam the harbour, celebrities fill the stands and luxury sports cars litter the streets as of thousands of people gather from across the world to watch the greatest, and one of the oldest, races in motorsport. Monaco is glamorous, prestigious and seductive. But for the drivers, it is the most demanding race of the year. The narrow streets, tight corners and sharp elevations make it the ultimate test of driving skill. It is physically draining and mentally exhausting. Proposed today, the race would not exist but it remains the jewel in the crown for every Formula One driver. There is simply no other race like it. Win at Monaco and your name is etched in history. You will join the likes of Graham Hill, Jackie Stewart, Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost, Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton. With exclusive interviews and insight from drivers and a wealth of F1 insiders, award-winning sportswriter Malcolm Folley goes behind the scenes to discover what it's really like to drive and live and breathe this iconic circuit. He reveals along the way a unique and definitive portrait of the circuit, and recreates in thrilling detail its most extraordinary weekend, when only three cars finished.

The Grimaldis of Monaco tells in full the remarkable history of the world’s oldest reigning dynasty. For nearly eight hundred years, from the elegant Genoese Rainier I to the current Prince Albert II, the Grimaldis—“an ambitious, hot-blooded, unscrupulous race, swift to revenge and furious in battle”—have ruled Monaco. Against all odds, they have proved themselves masterful survivors, still in possession of their lands and titles despite the upheavals of the French Revolution and the First and Second World Wars, when royal heads rolled and most small countries met their demise. With insufficient weaponry and military forces far too small to go into combat against their more powerful neighbors, France and Italy, the Grimaldis endured by their cunning and their shrewd choice of brides—rich women and high connections in the most influential courts of Europe, and often, strong sexual appetites. The French nobleman’s daughter who married Louis I later became the mistress of France Louis XIV. Her son, Antoine I was wed to an aristocratic wife who outdid her mother-in-law by having so many lovers her husband took to hanging them in effigy. The seafaring adventurer Prince Albert I was unfortunate enough to have two wives, one British, one American, who ran off with their lovers. His second wife, the American Alice Heine, a fabulously rich heiress from New Orleans and the widowed Duchesse de Richelieu, was the model for Proust’s Princess of Luxembourg. Heine used her own wealth to bring grandeur, culture, and sophistication to the palatial center of Monte Carlo; and with the introduction of gambling, an internationally celebrated resort was born, initially for the privileged few and later for raffish café society, The last section of the book is devoted to the most recent generations of the Grimaldis. Here, a new image of Rainier III emerges as both man and monarch, beginning with his blighted childhood as the son of divorced parents and of a mother scorned as illegitimate. And preceding the drama of his marriage to Grace Kelly, there is an account of his intense love affair with a French film start and reasons behind his sister’s lifelong malice and envy of him. The final note is necessarily tragic, detailing in full the deaths of both Princess Grace and Princess Caroline’s husband in sudden and shocking accidents