Race :: Round 35 - Leading Deep into the Hairpin!

Click Here for Car Stats & Leader Board

The Norwegian, Megane Omalie, holds tightly to the wheel as her Alfa Romeo Monza cuts around the hairpin -- she flicks right, then back left to avoid the tire shed by the Finnish Chrysler that lies there blocking the lane. The Finnish car has slammed through the wattle barrier and crashed into the side of a building, leaving a trail of debris behind. Most of the bystanders were able to leap aside. Somehow, from the wreck, Myrsky pulls himself free of the twisted cockpit. He is dazed, but not terribly injured, his hand slightly burned from the heat of a thrown exhaust pipe. The smell of gasoline fills the air….

Following next into the hairpin comes John Milk of Britain. He shifts down in his Amilcar and follows Omalie of Norway, carrying great speed and driving deep in the curve. Both Italy and the Belgium slide into the entry point to take the Hôtel Negresco hairpin as the Belgian, Victor Hugo Stéphane, noses out Orsi for the position.

The other drivers fly down the straight away of the Promenade, Germany trailing white smoke as Hegkman pushes his engine too hard. France fumbles a gear in the blue Salmson, a fact which goes unnoticed as the crowd of French fans cheers him on. You can hear them right over the radio… “Va! Va! Va!!”

Now Vitez Rychly of Czechoslovakia surges forward, closing rapidly on Aristide La Fontaine -- yet his eyes are fixed not upon the track ahead but upon the balcony of the Negresco by the hairpin. There, his boisterous fiancée, VV, had been before. Mais maintenant… Ah! The balcony appears empty!! What has become of her! Surely she should not miss her man's run down the Promenade into the hairpin?

At the back, the trailing cars, Spain and Switzerland, too press onward, with the Spanish car now sporting a fresh set of tires and more from a stop in the pits. Even Switzerland is now past the fires of the pit stop, where the scene remains one of confusion and chaos. Those who dared take a pit stop were served well by their teams, who endured choking smoke and the heat of the blazes to turn the racers back onto the track and into the fray. Surely the heroes of today are the oft-forgotten pit crewmen!!