THERE’S a great story today on US motor sports and car culture website Jalopnik.

It basically goes like this.

Back in 2004, when they were doing promotions for the movie Ocean’s Twelve, someone decided it would be a really great idea to strap two incredibly expensive diamonds to the nose of a couple of F1 cars.

Why? Well, that’s tough to put a finger on. As the author of the original article notes, the movie was about the theft of a Fabergé Egg, not a diamond, but hey, eggs, schmeggs. Diamonds are way cooler.

So they strap diamonds to the nose of real F1 cars. Great big chunky twinkly stones on real cars which will whiz around the track. They do this at the Monaco Grand Prix, because the film is partially set in the casinos of Monte Carlo.

And then, surprise surprise, disaster strikes. On the very first lap of the race.

According to Jalopnik writer Doug DeMuro, Jaguar driver Christian Klien crashed his diamond-encrusted F1 car on a corner before completing a single circuit of the notoriously tight track.

The diamond came loose and a spectator frenzy ensued as fans looked for the diamond. Team Jaguar was not allowed to search for the diamond until after the race ended two hours later due to strict track regulations.

No one knows what happened to that missing diamond. Presumably some lucky spectator snuck off with it and cashed it in.

What we do know (according to Jalopnik), is that the diamond was not insured “presumably because every possible insurance agent who heard the idea quickly collapsed from a laughing-induced heart attack.”

Next time, maybe just try a cheap pair of fuzzy dice, eh guys? They would have been just as appropriate in a place like Monaco.