"The much worse news is that Rouen has now gone for good. In one act of
incredible, idiotic and crass folly, someone has bulldozed both the
grandstands and the paddock area, flattening the only infrastructure of the
circuit to have survived over the years since racing finally stopped there".
"This lament will mark me down as a sentimental twit among many people. The
grandstands are not great architectural gems as they are at Reims and few
who are unaware of what they represent will even notice, let alone feel sad
at their passing".
"Even so, it is perhaps worth remembering that this is where Brabham won its
first GP or Porsche its one and only Grand Epreuve... it was here too that
Jacky Ickx and Dan Gurney won their first F1 races". ".... the awe in which
one such as David Purley, bravest of them all, held this place".
"...These places are important and they do count, even today. The sole
comfort is that the roads on which they raced remain, so we can still see
why the greats who raced there accorded Rouen just as much respect as Spa or
the Nurburgring. For now, at least".
Right now I'm planning a holiday in France and trying to convince my family
that we should take a detour en route to visit what remains.
On a happier note, I've just ordered my tickets for the Coys Historic
Festival at Silverstone next month. The ex-Jo Siffert/Graham Hill Lotus 49
is just one of the cars on show in the Pre-'72 Classic GP class.
--
Tony Whitley