Скачать или смотреть Rouen les Essarts vs Old Spa Francorchamps - Battle of the Race Circuits 21

Rouen les Essarts vs Old Spa Francorchamps - Battle of the Race Circuits 21

In the 21st battle of the race circuits we have a battle between two iconic street circuits. Rouen-les-Essarts won the last battle from Linas-Montlhéry. And the new contender you vote for is old Spa-Francorchamps.

0:00 Introduction
0:33 Rouen-les-Essarts
2:30 Old Spa-Francorchamps

The Rouen-les-Essarts circuit was a street circuit with a permanent pit building and grandstands in the northwestern region of Normanie in France. The shape and layout of the circuit was quite similar to that of Spa-Francorchamps.

The original version of the circuit was 5.1 kilometer, or 3.169 Miles, long and started with a breathtaking descent. Some drivers gave this section the nickname Chickens Lift. The brave would, so to speak, keep the accelerator pressed flat, while the faint-hearted would slow down.

During the years the layout changed several times. First it was expanded, but later shortened because of the Construction of a new higway. In 1972 a permanent section was built as a bypass for the section cut off by that new highway.

Changes also took place for safety reasons. In 1973 the Six Freres Corner, part of the Chickens Lift, became an improvised chicane. A year later there was a permanent chicane, to lower the speed in this dangerous section.

The Rouen-les-Essarts Circuit hosted the French Grand Prix 5 times between 1952 and 1968. During the 1968 Grand Prix French driver Jo Schlesser had a fatal accident, when he lost control of his Honda, overturned and caught fire in the Six Freres Corner. After this accident Formula 1 never returned to Rouen-les-Essarts.

After it lost the French Grand Prix, Circuit Rouen-les-Essarts was used for Formula Two races until 1978. Since 1978 the major event was the annual round for the French Formula 3 Championship. At the end of the 1993 season, the street circuit was found too dangerous for all series and was no longer used.

Since then, the buildings have been demolished. But some versions of the track are still drivable. Most of the permanent section has been demolished too.


Spa-Francorchamps was originally a 14.9 Kilometers, or 9.3 Miles long street circuit which was used for the first time in 1922 for motorcycle races. Actually, the first race should take place in 1921, but that event was cancelled because of a lack of compettitors. There was only one registration!

The circuit was extremely fast, which was exactly what the circuit bosses wanted. Within this policy fit an adjustment that was made in 1939. That year the famous artificial steep corner was introduced, to cut off the ‘l Ancienne Douane Hairpin to make the circuit faster.

For some of you this may be a shock, but the name of that steep corner is not Eau Rouge as you may think. They baptised it Raidillon, which is French for steep path. More about the name confusion in our video ‘Eau Rouge or Raidillon?’:    • Eau Rouge or Raidillon? - Spa-Francorchamp...  

In 1947 another artificial corner was introduced. The slow Stavelot Corner was replaced by a fast banked corner.

The same year they also skipped the Malmedy Chicane, so Spa-Francorchamps was much faster now.

But the most feared corner at old Spa-Francorchams was the Masta Kink. An almost flat out combination of two kinks, at the end of the long Masta Straight.

The old Spa-Francorchamps Circuit hosted the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix 18 times in the periode from 1950 to 1970.

But as people started to think more about safety, the fast street circuit became increasingly criticized. After the 1970 Grand Prix, Formula One shunned old Spa-Francorchamps and moved to Nivelles and Zolder.

In 1979 the new Spa-Francorchamps circuit opened. It contained a part of the old circuit, and a new connection. But because this battle is between Rouen-les-Essarts and the old Spa-Francorchamps, we are not going to talk about the new circuit now.

Today you can drive most of the old layout by yourself, because it’s public road. However, in 2000 the current track became a permanent race track. So the common part of the old and new circuit is no longer open for traffic.


Special thanks to Simon Smith for the voiceover. Visit also his channel: @HigherPlainGames

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