Month: January 2018

The ex-Ayrton Senna, record-setting, final Monaco Grand Prix-winning, 1993 McLaren-Ford MP4/8A Formula 1 racing single-seater is to be offered at Bonhams Monaco sale on May 11 – the 25th anniversary of its record-breaking Monte Carlo victory. The car will be on view at Le Grand Palais, Paris, on February 6-8, the auction house announced.

This startlingly well-preserved, running-order Formula 1 car won the 1993 Monaco Grand Prix in the hands of the legendary Brazilian three-time Formula 1 World Champion Driver, rated by many as the greatest of all time. Ayrton Senna won a record six editions of the prestigious round-the-houses Monaco Grand Prix.

Mark Osborne, Bonhams Global Head of Motorsport, said: “Ayrton Senna was the most charismatic Grand Prix car driver of the modern era, and the MP4/8A was the car with which his team, McLaren, surpassed Ferrari as the most successful team in Formula 1 World Championship history.

“This particular chassis, number 6, cemented Senna’s legend as The Master of Monaco. We at Bonhams are both honoured and thrilled to be presenting one of the most significant Grand Prix cars of all time. It is his Monaco winner, it is a runner, and now it could be yours.”

The 1993 season was Senna’s last with McLaren. The great team had just ended its long and successful partnership with Honda for engine supply, and would link up with Peugeot in a new Formula 1 racing partnership from 1994. For the interim 1993 season, a last-minute agreement had been struck with Ford to run their Cosworth-built ‘HB’ V8 engines on loan. Ayrton Senna was initially sceptical that these compact Ford V8 engines would be able to compete with the dominant Renault V10s as deployed by the Williams team, led by the Brazilian’s former teammate and deadly rival, Alain Prost.

Senna consented to remain with McLaren on a race-by-race basis, in return for a rumoured $1-million fee for every start. However, the team’s latest McLaren-Ford MP4/8A model (like chassis ‘6’ now being offered by Bonhams) demonstrated such technological and mechanical sophistication that by season’s end, it was one of the most competitive of all contemporary Grand Prix car designs.

Ayrton drove this actual car – the McLaren-Ford MP4/8 chassis number 6 – in no fewer than eight of the 1993 season’s Formula 1 World Championship-qualifying Grand Prix races. In his debut with the brand new car at Barcelona’s Spanish Grand Prix he immediately finished second overall, headed only by Alain Prost’s Williams-Renault.

For the following Monaco Grand Prix, he experienced an apparent problem with the car’s ultra-modern “active” suspension system, which sparked a violent crash into the barriers at Sainte Devote corner.

The incident unfolded so suddenly that even Senna was unable to let go of the steering wheel in time, and the impact painfully injured his thumb. Chassis 6 was then repaired in time for Saturday running, and he qualified third fastest behind Prost’s Williams-Renault on pole and Michael Schumacher’s Benetton-Ford second.

Prost then jumped the start, incurring a 10-second stop-go penalty, to be served in the pit lane. Schumacher then led the race from Senna until lap 33, when the Benetton-Ford retired with hydraulic failure. Senna promptly took control of the great race, 15 seconds ahead of Damon Hill’s Williams-Renault. As the great Brazilian took the Monaco chequered flag for his sixth time, he broke Graham Hill’s record for the most Monaco GP victories, set back in 1969.

READ ALSO 

News

On Friday, January 19, Marie-Pierre Gramaglia, Minister of Public Works, the Environment and Urban Development, presented to the press the National Pact for the energy transition of the Principality.

Consisting of a simple charter and sectoral action plans, the National Pact, which will be sent by post next week to all residents and commerce, allows everyone to commit contribute, in their own way, to Monaco’s energy transition.

The pact – “Je m’engage” – has been signed by Prince Albert, all ministers and the president of the Conseil National. The objectives are clear: to reduce emissions of greenhouse gas, to limit energy use and to increase the local production of renewable energy in three main categories – transportation, waste and energy.

An online carbon calculator especially adapted for Monaco will enable households to measure their own emissions.

The National Pact stems directly from the Paris Agreement and represents a new and practical measure by the Prince’s Government for energy transition, following the publication of the Energy Transition White Paper (March 2017), the launch of the Principality’s solar cadastre (June 2017) and the creation of a joint Government/SMEG company allowing for the purchase of electric power plants using renewable energies (June 2017).

The pact, with its habit changing initiatives, is part of the government’s ambitious 50 percent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and to reach carbon neutrality by 2050. Minister Gramaglia told Monaco Life, “Everything we are doing – in terms of environmental protection and alternative means of transport – must be multiplied by four in order to satisfy this commitment.”

More information in English and French: transition-energetique.gouv.mc.

READ ALSO

Meet the Ministries: Marie-Pierre Gramaglia, Minister for Public Works, the Environment and Urban Development

Saturday 31 March, Stade Louis 11:

“Saint Devota” Rugby Tournament, organised by the Monegasque Rugby Federation and the Princess Charlene Foundation.

Further Information:   +0 6 60 51 96 63

From 16 March to 29 April, Monte-Carlo Spring Arts Festival (“Printemps des Arts”):

Further Information:  +377 99 99 20 20

Her Serene Highness Princess Charlene turned 40 on Thursday, January 25. The Princess spent the special day privately with family and friends (perhaps at her brother’s eatery, MC Buns).

Born Charlene Wittstock in Bulawayo, in what is today Zimbabwe, on January 25, 1978, the future princess moved to South Africa with her parents, Michael and Lynette, at the age of 11. The eldest of three children, Charlene became a competitive swimmer who represented South Africa in a number of international tournaments and won three gold medals in the All-Africa Games.

Having married His Serene Highness Prince Albert on July 1, 2011, the couple welcomed twins, Hereditary Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella, on December 10, 2014 at the Princess Grace Hospital in Monaco.

Through her own Foundation, which marked its fifth anniversary in December, the Princess works tirelessly to prevent deaths by drowning across the world, mainly by focussing on teaching children how to swim. Over the last five years, the Princess Charlene of Monaco Foundation has developed a total of 149 projects in 33 countries.

The Foundation has just announced the second edition of the Riviera Water Bike Challenge this summer.

READ ALSO

Prince Albert to visit Burkina Faso, aquatic centre to be inaugurated

A huge discount on the price of 950 gramme jars of Nutella caused near-riots in a number of Intermarche supermarkets on Thursday. The “70 percent off’ promotion brought the price down to €1.41 from €4.50, and huge queues formed in front of shops yesterday morning before they opened.

“People have rushed in, they shoved everything, they broke it. It was an orgy,” an employee of an Intermarché in Forbach (Moselle), told the AFP news agency. “We were on the verge of calling the police,” she added.

One shopper questioned how Nutella could slash the price by 70 percent and still justify the high price of the hazelnut spread loved by generations of children, for the rest of the year. The cut-price offer was valid throughout France, but in some shops their entire supplies were sold within 15 minutes.

Ferraro has been in the news in recent days for its takeover of Nestle’s US business in a deal costing €2.26 million ($2.8 billion).

The Italian Ferrero family has long-standing connections with Monaco. Michele Ferrero, the son of the founder, lived for many years in the Principality and is reputed to have commuted by helicopter almost daily to his business in Italy. He died at his home in Monte-Carlo in February 2015, at the age of 89.

READ ALSO

Monaco investors open boutique hotel in Limone Piemonte

Monaco’s Commercial Trade Union, affiliated to the Union of Trade Unions of Monaco, has reacted with indignation to the announcement of a plan for voluntary redundancy at Carrefour outlets, local French-language daily Monaco-Matin reports.

The CEO of Carrefour, Alexandre Bompard, has said that thousands of jobs will go across France as the company strives to cut operating costs. No specific cuts have been announced for the Monaco store in Fontvieille, but the Union said that the workforce is declining steadily, even though the Monaco branch of the French chain is the most profitable store per square metre of the entire Carrefour France group.

The Union blames the nationwide job cuts on the recent reform of the French labour laws, and expressed its support for Carrefour employees across France.

READ ALSO

News