24 replies to this topic

[Barry Boor]

It is now 3 weeks sinces Les Amis des Circuits d'Antan had their jaunt in France, so I must first apologise to Roger Clark and kpy (who is away at Le Mans) for my extreme tardiness in getting around to this section of the trip. No excuses chaps, I'm just an incompetent layabout!

Anyway, I have some images downloaded from my video camera that show the circuit, or rather, some of it, as it is today. I will post a few pictures at a time, and perhaps some other kindly soul will search out a racing photograph taken from a similar position to mine, so as to make a then and now comparison.

Before posting the first pic, I should remind those who have been around TNF for a while that we have been told that both the pit complex and what was left of the small grandstand opposite have been completely removed, as has the gypsy encampment with the ferocious dogs that stood alongside the pit buildings when I saw them in August 1998.

Also, it is worth mentioning that the road from the corner at la Scerie right down to the Nouveau Monde hairpin has been widened considerably since the F1 cars last ran around there in 1968. However, the resturn leg up to Virage du Gresil is unchanged.

Anyway, here is image #1; it is taken from the outside of the circuit, looking into the first corner. I think that the widening of the road is indicated by the dark line that can be seen just on the other side of the broken white line near the centre of the road.

The next image is the infamous Six Freres turn, which was the 3rd corner after the pits. I think this is the site of the famous Fangio pictures. (Although that could have been turn 1, also.)

After Gerry Birrel's fatal crash there in 1973, a chicane was added to make the corner 'safe'. Image 3 shows the road approaching that chicane, while image 4 looks at the chicane in the direction the cars would be travelling.


I am sorry the images are a bit small. I hope to re-download them soon, at a bigger size (if I can work out how to do that!)

[Roger Clark]

Not quite then and now but these pictures show the temporary chicane erected in 1973 following Birrel's fatal accident; a rare occassion of a circuit being changed between practice and the race. The drivers insisted on the change: the curves in Barry's pictures were absolutely flat out. Birrel had hit an Armco barrier which gave way when his Chevron sufferred a puncture. There was a great deal of controversy about this chicane, slowing for it was an extra hazard and the real problem of poorly installed Armco had not been tackled. The chicane was marked by polystyrene blocks. As can be seen these broke up when a car hit them, leaving debris on the track.

[LittleChris]

The 2nd car in the 1st photo is Ronnie Peterson,s. He later clipped one of the blocks and damaged the steering, the car being launched onto the armco and riding down it for some distance before finally ending up back on the track.

[Roger Clark]

Originally posted by LittleChris
The 2nd car in the 1st photo is Ronnie Peterson,s. He later clipped one of the blocks and damaged the steering, the car being launched onto the armco and riding down it for some distance before finally ending up back on the track.

Thanks to kpy

[LittleChris]

Thanks for posting that Roger, there's actually a picture that I've seen showing the car flying along the barrier, dunno if anybody has a copy.

[Roger Clark]

A Then and Now picture. Jackie Oliver surveying the remains of a Lotus 49 and a member of the Connew team surveying life in general.

[LittleChris]

In case anyone is interested and in the vicinity of the circuit ( KPY ? ) there's an exhibition being held from 16th - 23rd June at the Grand Couronne Mairie relating to the circuit and its races.

http://circuit-rouen...sarts.fr/?p=508

[Paul Rochdale]

I've tried a couple of times to locate the circuit but I think so much has been removed or altered, I found it impossible. A heatwave one year and heavy rain the next impaired my thought processes. Then last year, on the way to the 2CV World Meeting at Salbris, we found ourselves driving up a long windy hill out of Rouen and seeing the hairpin to our left realised I'd at last 'found' the old circuit by accident. The traffic was too busy to stop and investigate but we return to the area in September so will try again. Other than the circuit, is there anything else of motor racing interest in Rouen (museums?).

[MCS]

In case anyone is interested and in the vicinity of the circuit ( KPY ? ) there's an exhibition being held from 16th - 23rd June at the Grand Couronne Mairie relating to the circuit and its races.

http://circuit-rouen...sarts.fr/?p=508

That looks interesting, Chris - may try and get along. Not sure I will visit the circuit though - so depressing what has happened to it that I haven't been for years.

Edited by MCS, 25 April 2012 - 08:56.

[Kpy]

In case anyone is interested and in the vicinity of the circuit ( KPY ? ) there's an exhibition being held from 16th - 23rd June at the Grand Couronne Mairie relating to the circuit and its races.

http://circuit-rouen...sarts.fr/?p=508

Thanks for the advanced notice, Chris. Not an event that I'd noticed, and I could well have missed it, as I missed the runs up the hill between Nouveau Monde and Grésil last year.
I no longer work near Les Essarts, so it's a journey which needs a little planning for me.
16/17 June is Le Mans w/e, so I may drop by on my way home on 18th or 19th June.
The runs up the hill are on 1st July this year http://www.5turbo.or...er-juillet-2012 and not just for Renault 5 Turbos.

[Dino246]

I have just returned from Normandy having taken a small group of friends around the D-Day beaches. With one other historic motor racing enthusiast in the party I was able to persuade them that a run up the A13 from Caen to Rouen would be fun and we duly set off. Thanks to information posted by other TNFers we found the circuit very easily only going wrong once when we took the exit into the village at the top of the pits straight. We completed our first lap by using the little country road just south of the motorway. Here we stopped and swopped seats so that our video man could sit in the front and film out of the window while I sat in the back and took stills from behind the driver again using the open window. At the completion of our second lap we again stopped in the top road to review our luncheon options - Rouen or Honfleur. At this point a small white car came towards us. The driver stopped alongside and started growling at us in French through his open passenger side window apparently unhappy with our filming activities. He them drove further back the road and stopped beside a camper van. Thinking we were for some reason parked on the wrong side of the road we moved to the other side were we suddenly realised that the camper van was reversing rapidly towards us. It too stopped along side and the driver, a woman of considerable size ,started screaming at us, grabbed her 'phone and took pictures, and when we tried to drive away attempted to force us off the road. Strangely we noted that she had several candles burning inside the camper. It was quickly decided that Honfleur would be our lunch stop and we left having no idea what we had done to upset the natives. Had it been evening there may have been a reason for disturbing strange people in a wood but at midday? They didn't look like bird watchers and if they we were not driving particuIarly quickly. They certainly didn't like our cameras. Does anyone has any ideas about what we did wrong? We would be most grateful to be made aware of our misdemeanour, particularly the member of the party who is a solicitor by profession and was wondering how he would get us off.

Despite this rather unpleasant incident our two laps of the track were terrific fun and I only wish I had seen racing there. Much has been written about the plunge down from the pits to the hairpin but I never realised how spectacular the run back up through the forest on the other side of the valley must have been. It really was worth the hassle to finally see this classic circuit for real. Oh yes, the mussels and cider lunch at Honfleur was pretty tasty too.

We also were able to take a look at the Caen circuit but this time managed to avoid upsetting the neighbours.

[f1steveuk]

Living in France, but visiting the UK on a regular basis, we have noticed over the year many vans, campers, and motorhomes on the N154, that goes out of Rouen. We have been told, numerous times the ladies are providing a service............................................

[Duc-Man]

Palmistry?

[f1steveuk]

Partly!!!

[Dino246]

Thank you Steve. It all makes sense now. Obviously they didn't like us filming. We really were innocents abroad from Devon. We don't have that sort of thing on Woodbury Common in daylight, but be aware of Haldon racecourse after dark!

[arttidesco]

Living in France, but visiting the UK on a regular basis, we have noticed over the year many vans, campers, and motorhomes on the N154, that goes out of Rouen. We have been told, numerous times the ladies are providing a service............................................

I have stumbled across something similar in the forests of Northern Germany on occasion, most brazen and unsavory offering private services from a camper parked on the side of the road in a place of natural beauty IMHO.

[DogEarred]

I have stumbled across something similar in the forests of Northern Germany on occasion, most brazen and unsavory offering private services from a camper parked on the side of the road in a place of natural beauty IMHO.

Do you have the map reference?....

The same thing used to happen in the Bois de Boulogne very near the centre of Paris. Many unaware people & families would go past whilst on an innocent stroll in the woods. I've seen it in other parts of Europe too.
Last time I was at the LM 24h, there was an official 'baiserdrome' in the fairground area.

(All this is told to me by other people of course....)

[Barry Boor]

Since we are on this unusual tack.... When I was on holiday in Estoril I thought about a walk around the Monsanto Park circuit. A friendly tour guide suggested this was not a good idea as the park is now a regular haunt of 'ladies that do' (my words, not his).

Instead, this very kind gentleman picked me up from my hotel and drove me around the circuit. But I never noticed any ladies that did or indeed didn't.

Meanwhile, back at Rouen....

[BRG]

The same thing used to happen in the Bois de Boulogne very near the centre of Paris.

Back in 1970, on our return leg from attending the Monaco GP, three of us camped in the Bois (there used to be a campsite - not sure if there still is). We were led to our pitch by an elderly chap on a moped, who appeared to be ex-military. He wore a military moustache and rode his moped in a stiff stance as if he was at attention. What he made of three hairy British hippy types I can't imagine, but as he left us, he advised us - in his best English - "Beware! The wood is full of rascals".

We saw no ladies of negotiable morals, although we did see a wonderful French vignette of a gendarme, Gauloise in mouth, peering into a hole in the road next to a sign warning of a gas leak....

Edited by BRG, 13 June 2013 - 14:43.

[Barry Boor]

We stayed in that campsite in 1998. Never saw any rascals though.

[Dino246]

Following on from our strange experience in the Rouen woods we spent a couple of hours in the afternoon at Deauville where, I have since discovered, we covered much of the 1936 circuit. No strange ladies tried to inveigled us into the beach huts although a nice young lady sold us ice creams. Topless sunbathing was taking place 'sur la plage' but we didn't go for a paddle.

Having also driven around part of the old Caen track on the way out to Rouen in the morning I feel we did quite well regarding historic racing venues.

[LittleChris]

Having also driven around part of the old Caen track on the way out to Rouen in the morning I feel we did quite well regarding historic racing venues.

Depending on where you travelled in the environs of Caen, you may also have inadvertantly driven on a much earlier circuit than La Prairie.

http://www.silhouet....racks/caen.html

[Dino246]

Depending on where you travelled in the environs of Caen, you may also have inadvertantly driven on a much earlier circuit than La Prairie.

http://www.silhouet....racks/caen.html

LittleChris We most certainly did. Having arrived from Cherbourg we drove up and down the N13 several times not realising we were on a race track. I was also there forty years ago before the road improvements were made. We almost drove another section, from Caen to Tilly-sur-Suelles, as we wanted to visit the war museum at Tilly and go on to Villers Bocage to track down the Michael Wittmann ambush site. Alas time did not allow, but hopefully we can do this on our next visit. Many thanks for the info.

Tony

[Doug Nye]

I guided a Normandy battlefield tour a couple of weeks ago, from Pegasus Bridge to Bavent Wood, then the Green Howards' hut, Crepon, Cristot, Longevres, Bull Bridge, Tourmauville Bridge, Hill 112, Ops Goodwood and Totalize, Wittman's field at Cintheaux, Villers-Bocage (ooh dear) and the mysterious disappearance of Worthington Force, etc. In places it's amazing how little has changed in 68 years. In others, to my amazement, we found new roads driven through within the past couple of years...spoiling the view!

DCN

Edited by Doug Nye, 15 June 2013 - 11:27.

[Sharman]

I guided a Normandy battlefield tour a couple of weeks ago, from Pegasus Bridge to Bavent Wood, then the Green Howards' hut, Crepon, Cristot, Longevres, Bull Bridge, Tourmauville Bridge, Hill 112, Ops Goodwood and Totalize, Wittman's field at Cintheaux, Villers-Bocage (ooh dear) and the mysterious disappearance of Worthington Force, etc. In places it's amazing how little has changed in 68 years. In others, to my amazement, we found new roads driven through within the past couple of years...spoiling the view!

DCN

Doug
Living in France I find the French authorities totally unsympathetic to Allied battlefields, but at that important time they were only bystanders....
John