Racing fans seem to fracture at one level or another. For example, if yo ask us about our favorite race, some will say Daytona, some will say Indy, and for a lot of F1 fans, Monaco is their most favored.
My brother LOVES the Monaco Grand Prix … collects tapes and artifacts and old magazine articles, he just can’t get enough of it.
There’s a lot of odd things about Monaco though. One thing that I’ve noticed is that you hear a lot of people saying, “Modern cars are just too fast and too sophisticated to race at Monaco anymore.” Maybe that’s true, I’m not sure … and years ago, I remember Nelson Piquet saying “it’s like flying a helicopter around your living room,” and THAT seems pretty accurate.
But I also remember reading reports from the race in the 30s where people were saying more or less the same thing … Grand Prix of the 30s were too fast, and Grand Prix cars of 2008 are STILL too fast.
That’s what makes it so interesting.
Look at that painting at the top of the post … coming that close to crashing seems to be the common denominator, regardless of era.
That is of course Tazio Nuvolari, one of the best, if not the best racing driver of all time. You can learn about his efforts at Monaco (there’s a real good story about him splitting a fuel rail coming out of the tunnel and STILL making it across the finish line, hanging out the side of the car to see around and avoid the flames roaring back at him) by checking out this really well done site called The Monaco Grand Prix Library.
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