Pilote tries to keep the names of the great old tracks alive (not that I'm the only one, or that you can't find out plenty about them with a Google search). The dozens of airport courses that went under in the States in the late 1950's don't require mourning. Or some of the purpose-built ones, like Bridgehampton and Marlboro Raceway. Or, for that matter, some of the boring ones in Europe like Reims
. But the Mille Miglia, Targa Florio, Old Spa, and the Nurburgring (to name four), deserve to live in memory. So does Riverside, in California.
Rouen-Les-Essarts is another course that bit the dust, after Jo Schessler's fatal crash in the Six Freres in 1968 French Grand Prix. Like Spa and the Nurburgring, Rouen continued to be used by slower cars for a few years until it was closed for good in 1973. It is a few miles southwest of the city, and immediately southwest of the town of Les Essarts. The Automobile Club of Normandy managed to wrest control of the French Grand Prix from Reims a few times in the 1950's and 1960's. Rouen was much more challenging than Reims, although not as fast.
After Rouen, the race moved to several other locations (Clermont-Ferrand was one). For many years now, there hasn't
been a French Grand Prix. No course measures up to current F-1 safety and amenities standards. Also, I suspect, the French got tired of Bernie Ecclestone holding them up for the outrageous sanctioning fee. France is not as car-nutty as the UK, Italy, Germany, and the States. And France has Le Mans. Who needs "just another Grand Prix" when you have the most famous sports car race in the world?
Rouen was 4.1 miles long and, basically, a fast downhill run toward the Seine River and then another fast uphill run. The blue segment that connected the downhill and uphill runs was flat, fast, and straight.
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| The "fast" course (red and blue) was used for Grands Prix. The red-only course was used for a few years after the freeway (A-13 Autoroute) went through. The green segment was used 1951-54, before big time racing came to Rouen. |
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| Jacky Ickx (Ferrari 312) leads Pedro Rodriguez (BRM) into Six Freres, 1968 French Grand Prix. Ickx won. The start-finish line is about where the Esso sign is. No, Pilote doesn't know why Six Freres is only four bends. |
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| Starting into Six Freres today. This is the equivalent of a State Highway. (As you can see, the Dragon's "stay in your own lane" problem has been solved.) The uphill leg is the equivalent of a County Road. Trees and scrub have overtaken Rouen. The old pits were bulldozed and are now a lumber yard where harvested trees await their trip to a sawmill. There are no historical markers telling you that a great road circuit was once here. You have to know where the course is to find it. Fortunately I understood this before leaving the States. There is one small directional sign in the town pointing toward "Rouen Les Essarts." Your next clue is when you realize that you are in Six Freres. |
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| Stewart Lewis-Evans, Vanwall, first lefthander in the Six Freres, 1957 French Grand Prix. The embankment finished Rouen as a Formula 1 course: if a car went up it, big trouble, with the potential for more if it came back down into the course. Which was exactly what happened in the 1968 Grand Prix. |
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| Juan Fangio, Maserati 250-F, in Nouveau Monde, which transitioned from asphalt to cobblestones and back. French Grand Prix, 1957. Note that you begin braking before you enter the last of the Six Freres, without being able to see Noveau Monde. So you're (initially) accelerating, then braking for an unseen apex, in a right-left-right transition. Bring your A-game. |
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| Dan Gurney in Nouveau Monde, 1962. He gave Porsche its only GP victory. The Type 718, based on the 4-cylinder Spyder, was too slow. This car, the Type 771 8-cylinder, was faster, but not as fast as the revolutionary monocoque Lotus 25. |
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| Our rental Citroen, exactly where Gurney's Porsche was 48 years before. The hillside was a natural grandstand. |
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| Nouveau Monde, showing a bit of both the downhill and uphill runs. This picture shows a sedan race run the "wrong" way. |
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| Same view (slightly lower vantage point) 50+ years later. |
If you want to see more of Rouen-Les-Essarts, here's a link to the first of two videos of the 1962 Grand Prix (Gurney's win). It runs 15 minutes and covers the first part of the race. The video showing second half of the race (also 15 minutes) can be selected on the YouTube page after this one finishes.
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