French GP Cancelled

[Steven Roy]

Dijon.  That has produced the odd memorable race.  Must be worth another go.



I couldn't help myself.  You can't watch that too often.

[cosworth151]

Great racing, Steven! Can you imagine how the stewards would handle a race like that now?

[Ian]

That was great stuff. The stewards would have been in straight jackets, minds exploding, rolling about on the floor, dribbling and howling.

[Chameleon]

Nobody ever mentions Pau.  Now there is a place with atmosphere - medieval town, narrow streets and a circuit that has been used for GPs historically (not for F1 admittedly).  They still use it for lesser formulae and, with a bit of extending and "safety-ising", I reckon it would be a pretty good place to go racing.

[johnbull]

It's just Bernie being a pr*ck. He just wants more money ......... for a change.

[John S]

Paul Ricard was used in the Eighties I'm not sure why it was passed over for Magny Cours. Presumably it was money why else move to the middle of nowhere.

[Steven Roy]

Pau is a great street circuit.  Light years better than Monaco.  It used to be a fixture on the F2/F3000 calendar until they decided that championship should support F1.  I remember watching quite a few races round there.  It is kind of half way between Monaco and Macau.

Paul Ricard lost the race for political reasons.  I am not sure but I think when the right were in power they put money into Ricard and when the left (Mitterand?) got into power they wanted their own circuit so Magny Cours was created in the middle of nowhere.  I watched a world sportscar championship their in the early 90s and it really is just surrounded by countryside.

[lkjohnson1950]

The cars had something to do with that kind of racing. Steel brakes which occasionally faded, ground effects which helped keep the noses from washing out when right up behind someone, and most especially, an excess of power. When the boost kicked in many of those cars could spin the rear tires in any of the lower gears. You want to separate the great drivers from the good ones? Give the cars a large excess of power, but of course that would be dangerous, wouldn't it?