{"id":7740,"date":"2024-07-20T15:00:46","date_gmt":"2024-07-20T13:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/curbs-magazin.com\/?p=7740"},"modified":"2024-07-20T15:00:46","modified_gmt":"2024-07-20T13:00:46","slug":"forgotten-race-tracks-reims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/slickpix.de\/en\/stories\/vergessene-rennstrecken-reims\/","title":{"rendered":"Forgotten Race Tracks: Reims"},"content":{"rendered":"

When the shrill roar of engines finally fell silent in the Champagne region in the early 1970s, the Reims Circuit was already a relic of a time when cars were often seen as monstrosities, and racing cars even more so. Kaiser Wilhelm II, who himself occasionally drove a car, commented at the beginning of the 20th century that he was betting on the horse in the long run. On the other hand, a highly contagious record-breaking fever of unparalleled proportions was already rampant, and for those affected, maximum speed was the ultimate thrill... At the beginning of the 1920s, the profession of race track architect did not yet exist in the modern sense, and the three famous, purpose-built \u201etest tracks\u201c in Europe, as they were sometimes called back then, Brooklands, the Avus<\/a> \u201eand Monza were born out of the zeitgeist \u2013 as downright insane full-throttle tracks. \u201cAs early as the 1930s, we were already exceeding 190 mph on the straights at the Avus,\u201e Manfred von Brauchitsch described the feeling behind the wheel of a pre-war Grand Prix car in the mid-90s, \u201cand we were so damn scared to take even one hand off the steering wheel to shift gears.'\"
\nOn July 25, 1926, the Automobile Club Ardenne Champagne Argonne opened a roughly 7.8-kilometer race track in the grain fields of Champagne, in the flatlands at the foot of the French Ardennes. It was created simply by closing off a \u201etriangle\u201c of public country roads with a similarly relatively stupid track layout \u2013 apart from three hairpin turns, it was essentially straight. From today's perspective, highly questionable, the first track variant, driven until 1951, even included passing through the village of Gueux, where the tight corner was between a butcher shop and a grocery store... The opening race, the \u201eGrand Prix de la Marne,\u201c which was held there annually in various racing car categories until 1937, was won by Francois Lescot on a Bugatti Type 35 as the day's victor. He completed 40 laps of the race distance with an average speed of 112.768 km\/h and set the fastest race lap in 4 minutes and 3 seconds (118.518 km\/h). This sounds harmless today, but at the time, for the unpaved country roads and the practically non-existent grip of the narrow tires at their limit, it was already an enormous speed.<\/p>\n