Rouen-Les-Essarts
Encyclopedia
Race track
A race track is a purpose-built facility for racing of animals , automobiles, motorcycles or athletes. A race track may also feature grandstands or concourses. Some motorsport tracks are called speedways.A racetrack is a permanent facility or building...
in Grand-Couronne
Grand-Couronne
-Population:-Places of interest:* A menhir in Milthuit woods, evidence of the presence of a neolithic population.* The church of St.Martin, dating from the fourteenth century.* The church of St.Antoine, dating from the nineteenth century....
, near Rouen
Rouen
Rouen , in northern France on the River Seine, is the capital of the Haute-Normandie region and the historic capital city of Normandy. Once one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe , it was the seat of the Exchequer of Normandy in the Middle Ages...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
.
From its opening in 1950, Rouen-Les-Essarts was recognized as one of Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
's finest circuits, with modern pits, a wide track, and spectator grandstands. The circuit (which ran on public roads) had a few medium straights, a cobbled hairpin turn (Nouveau Monde) at the southernmost tip, and a few blind corners through a wooded hillside The appeal was greatly enhanced by the climb from Nouveau Monde at 56 metres to Gresil at 149 metres.
Rouen hosted five Formula One
Formula One
Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...
French Grand Prix
French Grand Prix
The French Grand Prix was a race held as part of Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile's annual Formula One automobile racing championships....
races, the last one in 1968 resulting in the tragic burning death of Jo Schlesser
Jo Schlesser
Joseph Schlesser was a Formula One and sports car racing driver from France. He participated in three World Championship Grands Prix, including the 1968 French Grand Prix in which he was killed...
, at the fast downhill Six Frères curve. The circuit continued to host major Formula 2 events until 1978, after which it was used for various French Championships.
The circuit had a number of different configurations. From its construction in 1950 until 1954 it was 5.1 km (3.2 mi) in length. In 1955 major works increased the circuit's length to 6.542 km (4.1 mi), its most famous configuration. Construction of a new Autoroute
Autoroutes of France
The Autoroute system in France consists largely of toll roads, except around large cities and in parts of the north. It is a network of worth of motorways. Autoroute destinations are shown in blue, while destinations reached through a combination of autoroutes are shown with an added autoroute logo...
across the circuit saw a new section of track built and the length of the circuit reduced to 5.543 km (3.4 mi). Finally, in 1974 a permanent chicane was built at Six Frères and this part of the circuit was renamed Des Roches.
The circuit was closed down in 1994 due to economic and safety reasons, since it is very hard to organise a race on public roads if modern safety standards are to be met. In 1999, following the circuit's closure all evidence of area's racing past was demolished, including grandstands, pits, Armco and track signs. The cobbled Nouveau Monde hairpin was also asphalted but it is still possible to drive around on the original circuit configuration.
The name "Les Essarts" comes from a village, which was included into the commune of Grand-Couronne in 1874.