Charade today (in a diesel Pug...)

Like many of us here , I read Cal's holyday memories with great pleasure . I was however a little surprised ( and disappointed for him ) to read the part where he regrets not to have been able to take a good look at the "Charade" circuit , and I feared maybe he hadn't managed to find the proper way to the old GP circuit . Although I never had a chance to spectate there, I had once done a full lap of the "long" (8054 m ) circuit in the passenger seat of my cousin's Mini-Cooper S , but that was a) about 30 years ago, and b) in the middle of the night , so my memories of the place were obviously quite hazy . So , since I happened to have a couple of business appointments in Clermont-Ferrand two days ago , I duly arranged a one-hour gap in my schedule in order to take a look at the place .

Before going into the technical details , the good piece of news is that you can today drive on a 4,6 kms stretch of the "long" GP circuit , which I duly did ( and quite a few times….) in my own "diesel pug" ( a 406 SW , hardly more track suited than Cal's 307 ) . Man , what a splendid driver's circuit this must have been !!! An endless succession of sweeping curves , uphill and downhill , and in a superb mountain and forest landscape . Charade's nickname of " le petit Nurburgring" is indeed well deserved ( and yes , there is even a small medieval tower on a nearby summit to play the part of the Nurburg Schloss….) I felt rather strong emotions at putting my wheels in the tracks of those of Mssrs Beltoise and Amon who SHOULD have given the Matra V12 a well-deserved victory in 1970 and 1972 , but for a couple of silly puncturing stones….


Now , how does one drive there ? I would recommend to first take a look at Darren Galpin's http://www.silhouet....ks/charade.html . After looking at the maps of the new "short"circuit and of the old "long" one , click on the link to "a road map of the area" . The new circuit ( which was built , of course , by building a "bypass" to shorten the long one , just like Spa ) is on the lower left part of the map and is now totally closed to traffic ( unlike the old long track , which , although having been built on purpose as a circuit , was classified as "public road" and therefore freely accessible outside of racing days ) . But beware , the new portion of track which makes the short circuit is NOT the piece of road signalled as "D 767" on the map: This is a new public road specifically built to link the two "dead ends" of the portion which had been cut away . The new track runs underneath D 767 , rougly parallel , and does not appear on the map .

I would suggest any potential visitor to somehow find their way to the main entrance of the new "Circuit de Charade" ( I must admit the area is not very well signposted) . There is a roundabout there , ( situated roughly 5 mm under the "C" of Charade on the map ) from which you take the road numbered " D 5 F ". From there on , you're on the old circuit . Just follow the road ( and enjoy yourself ) for exactly 4,6 kms , at which point the road leaves the old course and turns into " D767" . At this very point , you can ignore the two enormous "no entry" signs on a little road goind off to the left , and drive a further 100 meters stretch of the old track , which is interesting because it is still in original state, complete with double armco on the left hand side ( the armco has been taken away on the rest of the track ) . Then back to the D 767 , which overlooks all the way the new modern circuit on which you can get quite good sights, and you're back at the roudabout where you started from.

Interesting read Philippe. Did you take any pictures during your visit?

Yes, Clermont-Ferrand.. very, very impressive.

Was is possible to drive on the track after paying something, or how did it work, Philippe? i was there 2 years ago, and then the track was closed, they were still working on it.

I hope you took the opportunity to drive the "old" part (the northern part), now just a public road as well. The downhill twisting section, unbelievable twisty.

mat1

I will never forget my ride together with Loic Depailler the son of Patrick in his small Fiat

Rob : no, no camera this time unfortunately !

Mat1 : the 4,6km stretch that I drove is exactly that : the "old northern part". I don't think you can drive on the "new" track by just paying a fee like at the 'ring.....might be open on "trackdays" occasions ?

Yesterday I was at another splendid circuit, for a two-stroke-only bike nostalgy track day : Pau-Arnos , 15 kms northwest of Pau ( NOT the Pau street circuit , of course ) Unfortunately it was built some 15 (?) years ago as a totally private investment , and after spending a lot of his money on the actual track the owner ( a local farmer I'm told ) wasn't keen on paying more for spectators facilities and road access.....and for keeping the circuit to newer safety standards. As a result the circuit gradually dropped in its level of homologation for racing , and is now mostly used ( almost daily ) for tests , trackdays, etc.....pity

Originally posted by philippe7
Rob : no, no camera this time unfortunately !

Mat1 : the 4,6km stretch that I drove is exactly that : the "old northern part". I don't think you can drive on the "new" track by just paying a fee like at the 'ring.....might be open on "trackdays" occasions ?

Yesterday I was at another splendid circuit, for a two-stroke-only bike nostalgy track day : Pau-Arnos , 15 kms northwest of Pau ( NOT the Pau street circuit , of course ) Unfortunately it was built some 15 (?) years ago as a totally private investment , and after spending a lot of his money on the actual track the owner ( a local farmer I'm told ) wasn't keen on paying more for spectators facilities and road access.....and for keeping the circuit to newer safety standards. As a result the circuit gradually dropped in its level of homologation for racing , and is now mostly used ( almost daily ) for tests , trackdays, etc.....pity

I see, Philippe. i got you wrong. Then we are talking about the same stretch indeed.

I have seen Pau-Arnos too, yes. Seems very nice, but indeed private. But that's part of the charm. When you were in that area, did you visir Mas du Clos as well?

mat1

I missed this thread. Now I am really spewing that I did not do my homework better. To be honest though, I have never really known that much about Clermont Ferrand. Not like the Ring or Spa ect. I would love to see some pics if anybody else ventures up there. You are correct Philippe, it is not the easiest place in the world to find. Esspecially when you don't speak French. However, try to find Rouen sometime. Now that is nearly impossible.

Cheers,

Cal.

Originally posted by Cal
[However, try to find Rouen sometime. Now that is nearly impossible.

Hello Cal ,

I did manage to drive Rouen a couple of times , well at least the southern part , down from the startline to Le Nouveau-Monde hairpin and back up.....but the motorway and link roads built in the 70's have made the rest of the place unrecognizable indeed ......

I'm surprised however that whatever was left of the pits , grandstands etc....has been so quickly , thoroughly and deliberately torn down those last years....after all , the circuit was still in use for national meetings in the early 90's ( I went there for a F3 and Supertourisme meeting in 92 , I think...)

Cheers

That's interesting. I had no idea it was used that recently. Do you have any photos?

Cal.

Originally posted by philippe7
I went there for a F3 and Supertourisme meeting in 92 , I think...

Rouen was used in 1993 as well. I don't know if it was the last time or not.
I have a list of French F.3 races in 1993 (without dates) :

• Ledenon
• Nogaro
• Dijon
• Pau
• ROUEN
• Magny-Cours
• Paul Ricard
• Albi
• Le Mans (Bugatti, I think)
• Le Vigeant

So I guess it was something between May and July 1993. By the way, this race was won by Guillaume Gomez, who was 2nd in F.3 French Championship of that year.
I haven't such an info for following years, I should take all my old Autosprint one by one.

Ciao,
Guido

IIRC the last meeting held at Rouen was June 23rd 1993. Haven't got it with me at the moment but Roger Biots book on the circuit has all the detials of all the meetings.

Originally posted by philippe7

I did manage to drive Rouen a couple of times , well at least the southern part , down from the startline to Le Nouveau-Monde hairpin and back up.....but the motorway and link roads built in the 70's have made the rest of the place unrecognizable indeed ......

The old linkroad of the track is not un use anymore. Part of it still exists, but it is impossible to drive, because other parts are broken up or completely overgrown. Very archeological, so to speak.

But yoy can still se it, and still walk it.

mat1

Message to Barry Boor.

Would it be possible to do some screenies of the post 71 section of Rouen from the video I sent you so that people can see the current state of the track ? I don't have the ability / eqpt to do them myself.

Chris

Originally posted by mat1


The old linkroad of the track is not un use anymore. Part of it still exists, but it is impossible to drive, because other parts are broken up or completely overgrown. Very archeological, so to speak.

But yoy can still se it, and still walk it.

mat1

Sorry , I did not mean the "circuit" linkroad that you are speaking of , the one built roughly alongside the motorway , which you could actually see from the motorway , but which ( to my knowledge) never was upgraded to "public road" status and was always closed off between meetings , which means you could never drive a "full" lap of the new circuit with your road car .

What I meant was that the motorway , and the relevant "link roads" ( access roads , whatever you call them...."échangeurs" in français ) have made all of the "pre-shortening" section ( the northern part of the old circuit ) totally unrecognizable .....


Anyway , driving down the infamous downhill sweeping curves from the start-finish line to the nouveau-monde was enough to convince me once more that the drivers of those days, who were taking it full blast in their F 2's or Sport-Prototypes, were indeed a very special breed of human beings ......

charade, the circuit when I was young
All the year with my father we go to show the french race

I have some picture of this on my web site



This is is in 1989 or 1990 "production" race start (like saloon car)



http://racing.photos.site.voila.fr/circuit...eil_circuit.htm


Gregoire