Driver Wanted To Emulate F1 Drivers At World’s Slowest Corner In Monaco: Here’s How It Happened

The detractors of Monaco Street Circuit It is said that no one can cross the narrowness of its streets and that makes the races of Formula 1 be extremely boring when it is the most iconic Grand Prix on the entire calendar. But even if that’s true, and the larger size of today’s monoposts compared to those of the 1950s to 1990s, which makes it harder to find a space to excel, Monaco has other things.

There international jet set vibe, represented by the most luxurious yachts anchored this weekend in the port, and by the personalities of the artistic world who meet in the principality every last weekend of May, are the most colorful. But there are also very special attractions for fans of the races themselves and not so much of this permanent gala climate, such as the possibility of see very closely, how the pilots drive in the middle of these corridors bodyguard.

The exit from the Casino curve, the braking of Mibabeau and the sharp left turn from the Fairmont Hotelalso known as Loews, as time has passed and the name of the hotel outside has changed, this is the area of ​​the circuit where the drivers hands can best be seen, as the speed is not as high as in the lower pool area or Tabac.

One of the most memorable photographs of the spectacular Canadian driver Gilles Villeneuvewas taken there in 1979, turning his Ferrari T4 with his eyes fixed on the exit of the corner and the helmet tilted as far to his left as he has rarely been seen.

In this fork, Formula 1 cars have a minimum speed as low as any other circuit in the worldsince they have to double for 50 km/h. In fact, for Monaco, in cars, the angle of the steering wheel is changed exclusively for this curve, since it is the only one that requires so many degrees of steering.

But that a Formula 1 must slow down to 50 km/h This does not mean that any car can go around this curve at this speed. Imagine that in everyday traffic, to turn at a common corner of a street intersection, any driver reduces his speed to 20 km/h or even less. If we also take into account that Fairmont is not a bend but a bifurcation, which starts at 180° from the direction it enters, a normal car would barely be able to do it at 50 km/h.

However, the driver, inexperienced or malicious, of a Citroën AMItried to do it in the same direction of travel as the Formula 1 race, i.e. down the curve in question, which he was unable to achieve, causing the overturning of the car and its impact against one of the bollards that protect pedestrians and prevent parking outside this curve. It happened to an AMI, but it could have happened to any normal road car except sports cars, which have a center of gravity, suspension system and electronic controls, and a tire size capable of withstanding the lateral force of such a turn.

The AMI is a private company Citroën electric city car which was launched on the market a few years ago and is a bestseller in Europe. It aims to be a first vehicle for young people because of its design, its economy and its simplicity, and because Does not require a driver’s licensesince it falls into the same category as quadricycles. Its speed is limited to 48 km/h because it is designed for city transfers, and its dimensions confirm it, since it is only 2.40 meters long, 1.38 meters wide and 1.51 meters high.

The video quickly went viral due to the shocking nature of the accident and because there were many people at the scene, some of whom recorded it with their cellphones. In the sequences we could see that it was not a question of a simple spontaneous excess, but of a I’m trying to prepare something, since initially the car passes this curve in the opposite direction, going up it and turning right, and although already in this first pass it was obvious that the car was pushed to a limit of physics because his tires squeala few seconds later the scene was repeated in the opposite direction with the result already known.

The nice thing about the case is that despite hitting the roof against a bollard, the structure was not damaged Neither the crew members of the car suffered any damage. Since this is an unconventional angled blow to the structure of a car, it allowed us to verify that the AMI is not a Formula 1but it protects its occupants well even in the event of an unusual impact.

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