Nothing inMonte Carlo is understated, from the baubles to the yachts to the bankaccounts. Now add traffic pile-ups to that list.
The Hope Diamond of fender benders unfolded yesterday in possibly the mostconspicuous stretch of asphalt in the .75-square-mile principality — theround-about in front of the James Bond-worthy casino — when three blondes in ajelly-bean blue Bentley Azure ($363,000) scraped the rear of a white Mercedes-BenzS-Class (a paltry $91,000). And that was merely the appetizer. Ferrari F430($186,000), which was hit nose-first by the 2.7-ton Bentley. Then, like twotankers mashing in the fog, a four-door Aston Martin Rapide ($228,000) crunchedinto the Azure’s passenger door. The cherry on this metal, plastic andcarbon-fiber shattering souffle: a stray Porsche 911 ($77,000).
In all, aTitanic mess in mere moments, involving nearly a million dollars of primoautomotive machinery. How did this happen? A quick photo-based forensics of thescene based on knowledge of the Place du Casino offers many clues.
What’s evident is that these five vehicles did not all converge on each otherin one massive supercar big bang. The Bentley clearly was at fault. Its nose ispointing straight at the casino’s entrance, an entrance where fine cars areroutinely valet-parked diagonally. It seems that the Bentley’s driver thoughtshe could sneak past the white Mercedes, then swerved right when she realizedthey were going to collide, which in turn clipped the Rapide coming up on herright. The Ferrari and the Porsche were collateral damage - parked directly inthe Bentley’s now diverted path.
Any chance that the trio responsible for this mess — whose damage tally willeasily hit six-figures — would get to scamper off anonymously after a quickchat with Monaco’s famously efficient and ever-present white-gloved police weredashed given both the coordinates of the crash and the time of year. If thereever was a season when this moneyed retreat is more crowded than Times Squareon New Year’s Eve, it’s summer. Photos of the crowd, gleefully gawking and photographingthe impromptu car show run amok, only go to show that when rich people do dumbthings in a big way, the masses are more than happy to snicker.