2 Montjuic

Imagine the street track of your dreams. Fast, varied and challenging; picturesque too. On all counts more so even than Monaco. That track was Montjuic.

Montjuic is a shallow hill to the south west of Barcelona’s centre, and the track that held the Spanish Grand Prix four times between 1969 and 1975 wound and swooped around attractive parkland and elegant architecture of domes and spires, centred by the opulent Palau Nacional. Even though a street circuit, some of its turns would not have been out of place at Spa.

Sadly though the track also was ill-starred. In 1969 the collapse of Lotus’s high rear wings, causing violent accidents, was a portent, and the final visit in 1975 was notorious, first with a dispute over the crash barrier repair and then in-race tragedy when a Rolf Stommelen crash killed five onlookers.