Circuit de Dijon-Prenois

Circuit de Dijon-Prenois
before: Stade Automobile de Dijon-Prenois

Prenois , France
Route type:	permanent race track
Opening:	May 26, 1972
Formula 1 venue :	1974-1984
Time zone:	UTC + 1 ( CET )
Track layout
Route data
Important events:	DTM , FIA GT Championship , Formula 3000 , Sports Prototype World Championship , FIA European Truck Racing Championship , BOSS GP
Route length:	3.801  km (2.36  mi )
Curves:	8th
Audience capacity:	35,000
Records
Track record:	1: 02.985 min. ( Ingo Gerstl , Top Speed , 2015)
Track record: (Formula 1)	1: 05.257 min. ( Alain Prost , McLaren-TAG , 1984)
http://www.circuit-dijon-prenois.com/

Coordinates: 47 ° 21 '47.8 "  N , 4 ° 53' 58.9"  E

The motorsport race track Circuit de Dijon-Prenois was opened on May 26, 1972 as Stade Automobile de Dijon-Prenois in Burgundy , France . The clockwise course is about 15 kilometers northwest of the city center of Dijon near the small suburb of Prenois .

The original route over 3.289 km roughly resembled an oval with a 1.1 km long and slightly rising start and finish straight, two larger curves and a fluid sequence of light curve combinations in a serpentine shape instead of a back straight.

Before the renovation in 1975, a Formula 1 race was held here in 1974 ; thereafter there were another five Grand Prix on the now 3.801 km long track until 1984. The route is now mainly used for various national championships in France and Switzerland as well as for numerous club and test events. A DTM round was held in Dijon for the first time on October 11, 2009, replacing the previous French guest appearance at Le Mans on the Bugatti Circuit .

history

The forerunners of the route

The region's motorsport tradition was established on May 26, 1927 with the "6 Hours of Burgundy", a sports car race in various cubic capacity classes on a nearly 18-kilometer circuit on public roads between Dijon and Savigny-le-Sec . In the class up to 1,500 cm³, an air-sprung racing car from George Messier's team won . Before and after the Second World War, Dijon itself had a slightly more than 2 km long, non-permanent street circuit at the Parc des Sports , which ran on otherwise public roads and where, among other things, various races (sports cars and voiturettes ) for the “Grand Prix” in 1946 of Burgundy ”.

From the 1950s, hill climbs of various lengths were held on the Côte d'Urcy route on public roads near Dijon; François Chambelland , who died in November 2006, was co-initiator and participant of these races, and later president of the Bourgogne Franche-Comté section of the FFSA , the French automobile association . In the 1960s there were also the first circuit races at the nearby Dijon-Longvic Airport . In 1968 Chambelland first published his suggestion to build a permanent course in the city.

The "automobile stadium"

In 1969, under the direction of Chambelland and with the collaboration of François Cevert and his brother-in-law Jean-Pierre Beltoise, planning began for a Stade Automobile à Dijon , ie an "automobile stadium in Dijon". Construction began in 1970. The route was opened after around two years; however, under the slightly changed name Stade Automobile de Dijon , because it was not, as originally planned, in Dijon, but outside the city near the independent suburb of Prenois. On June 4, 1972 there was the first major race for the European championship of sports prototypes. On July 7, 1974, the first Formula 1 World Championship race on this track took place as the French Grand Prix . There were already space problems here: the teams with their 30 registered cars could only be accommodated in the paddock and in the pits with great difficulty . Route director François Chambelland therefore decided, and because of the relatively short route, that only 22 vehicles were allowed to start. The fast routing also made lap times of less than a minute possible; Niki Lauda, for example, took pole position in 58.79 seconds. As a result, despite the reduced field of participants, there was a lot of "traffic" and the associated complications with accidents due to numerous laps in the course of a race.

The Parabolique curve in the section added in 1975

• 

  The "short" route, before 1975

• 

  After the extension by the Parabolique

In 1975 the course was therefore extended to around 3.8 km with a new section with the Parabolique curve (see also: Parabolika ), which initially increased the lap times by up to 13 seconds. In the same year there was a race for the Swiss Grand Prix that was not part of the Formula 1 World Championship on the revised track , which was won by the Swiss Clay Regazzoni . The second edition of the Swiss Grand Prix in 1982 was won by the Finn Keke Rosberg , who became Formula 1 world champion in the same year. From 1977 to 1984, Dijon-Prenois alternated with the Circuit Paul Ricard (in southern France near Le Castellet) in hosting the French Formula 1 Grand Prix, from 1985 onwards it was driven exclusively on the Circuit Paul Ricard , from 1991 on the circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours . The Formula 1 era for Dijon-Prenois was finally over. In 1985, 1988 and 1989 Dijon-Prenois was still the venue for one round each of the Formula 3000 European Championship . The winner of the first race in 1985 was Christian Danner , the last race in 1989 was decided by Érik Comas . The following year, Comas led before the planned season end in Dijon-Prenois in October unassailable in the championship; the race was then canceled.

modernization

In the 1990s, the Société d'Exploitation du Circuit-Dijon-Prenois , a joint venture of regional companies, took over the further development of the system. In the following years, under the direction of the track director and ex-racing driver Danny Snobeck, attempts were made to build a 1.1 km long and eight meter wide kart track including a seminar and restaurant building (2001 to 2003) and extensive renovations the pit area and the paddock to keep the area attractive enough for other motorsport events. The current overall direction of the course is the president of the development company, Yannick Morizot. The route operator's turnover for 2007 is estimated at 3.1 million euros.

The Vitaphone Racing Team won the last FIA GT round in 2006 in Dijon with such a Maserati MC12.

Current auto racing series

A permanent advantage of the route is the proximity to Switzerland. Some Swiss championship races in various motorsport disciplines were and are therefore held in Dijon-Prenois; since the serious accident at the Le Mans 24-hour race in 1955, which resulted in 84 deaths, circuit races are no longer permitted in Switzerland . Between 1973 and 1975, two Swiss Formula 2 championship races were held in Dijon-Prenois every year. As one of the few remaining international events of recent times, the FIA - Historic Racing Championships regularly host races in different classes for historic racing vehicles, in 1998 and 2006 there were also guest appearances of the FIA GT Championship , in 1998 still with world championship status, in 2006 the German won Vitaphone Racing Team with a Maserati MC12 .

In December 2008, the DTM organizers added Dijon-Prenois to the racing calendar for the first time. The penultimate round of the season was held there on the weekend of October 11, 2009; instead of the previous French venue, Circuit Bugatti . A reason for the change was not given. The system is currently being used by the FIA for all types of circuit races, in addition to the Formula 1 homologated and can hold up to 35,000 spectators.

Warm-up lap of the European Honda Trophy -Rennens 2004 at Dijon-Prenois, curve Gauche de la bretelle

Ascending curve exit of the Parabolique with concrete discharge zone

particularities

With average speeds of over 200 km / h, the first version of the route was one of the fastest and most fluid in Formula 1. In contrast to many modern retort routes, the course of the hilly landscape was adapted so that there were differences in altitude of up to 30 meters . As a result, some parts of the route have to be driven “blindly” because the further course of the road cannot be seen due to descents and climbs. This applies to the combination of curves S de sablières , the Virage de la combe and the Parabolique, which was added after the renovation in 1975 . This curve with a radius of only 50 meters also has a slight elevation at the apex , which decreases at the end of the curve, while the road rises by around 15 percent and is therefore technically very demanding. For many drivers, the route with its eight bends and combinations of bends is a “mountain and valley railway”. Due to technical progress in racing car construction, however, average speeds of over 200 km / h were achieved again some time after the conversion; both from Formula 1 and from the sports prototypes. In 1984, Alain Prost drove in the McLaren TAG Formula 1 in the race with 1: 05.257 min and an average of almost 210 km / h lap record, which was initially set in 2012 by Klaas Zwart (BOSS GP) in a Jaguar F 1 from the year 2004 and 2015 by Ingo Gerstl - also in the BOSS GP race - with a Toro Rosso F 1 and a time of 1: 02: 985. In 1990, in a world championship sports car race in “Group C”, Jean-Louis Schlesser set the record for sports prototypes with 1: 08.973 min (on average about 203 km / h) in a 900 hp Sauber C11 Mercedes .

During the renovation in 1975, especially in the new section of the route, run- off zones made of grass or gravel were largely dispensed with, instead the areas beyond the curbs were concreted or paved over a large area; a concept that was only mandatory decades later for new or converted racetracks. This enabled the racing cars to use parts of the track next to the 10 to 12 meter wide regular lane when overtaking, which led to the legendary duel for second place between René Arnoux and Gilles Villeneuve at the 1979 Formula 1 Grand Prix , when both lapsed to the enthusiasm of the audience (also in the curves) drive side by side. Villeneuve only prevailed in the last corner of Courbe de Pouas and crossed the finish line about two tenths of a second ahead of Arnoux. However, such duels are not possible in damp or wet track conditions, because then the concrete run- off zones in particular become extremely slippery.

For Keke Rosberg , the route is likely to be of particular importance because it was here that he clinched the only win of the season in his 1982 World Championship year.

More racing events

From the beginning, the route was used for national motorcycle championship races in France and Switzerland. On June 5, 1977 , the Formula 750 World Championship was the only international motorcycle race that the French Christian Estrosi won on a Yamaha . On the Wednesday before the race weekend, however, there was a serious accident during free practice for all participants in the main and frame races, as a result of which the 21-year-old Frenchman Thierry van Wormhoudt died about a month later. On this day, the organizers had opened the track to machines of different performance classes at the same time; an extremely risky and otherwise completely unusual procedure. At the beginning of the home straight there was a collision between the 750 cc Yamaha owned by Dutchman Boet van Dulmen and the much slower 125 cc Honda van Wormhoudt, who was about to turn right into the pit lane. Apparently, on the climb up to the Courbe de Pouas , van Dulmen had thought the Honda driving in front of him was a larger machine, whose slipstream he could have exploited for the long straight that followed. He himself survived the collision with broken arms and legs. Observers criticized the lack of security measures that day. An ambulance arrived from Dijon only half an hour after the accident.

From 1990 to 2000 Dijon-Prenois was a regular venue for races of the FIA European Truck Racing Championship , a European championship series for heavily modified tractor units .

The route is also regularly used for cycling events, such as the Trophée National de Cyclisme , the French school and university championship. In 2006 a total of around 150,000 visitors were counted for all events.

Quotes

“Not the shortest race track ( Long Beach and Monaco are even shorter), but nowhere are lap times so short. Dijon is a very strenuous course because the surface has become very uneven over the years. The most challenging places in terms of driving are the last two right turns before the long straight. The penultimate hangs and requires a lot of overcoming for fourth gear, followed by a small hill and the last right bend, which is driven absolutely full, which means about 260 km / h. It's one of the worst centrifugal force corners on European racetracks. "

- Niki Lauda : 1982 after his Formula 1 comeback with McLaren .

statistics

Winner of the Formula 1 World Championship races in Dijon-Prenois

No.	year	driver	constructor	engine	tires	time	Route length	Round	Ø pace	date	GP from / the
1	1974	Ronnie Peterson	lotus	ford	G	1: 21: 55.020 h	3.289 km	80	192.722 km / h	07th of July	France
2	1977	Mario Andretti	lotus	ford	G	1: 39: 40,130 h	3.801 km	80	183.006 km / h	03rd of July
3	1979	Jean-Pierre Jabouille	Renault	Renault	M.	1: 35: 20.420 h	3.801 km	80	191.315 km / h	0July 1
4th	1981	Alain Prost	Renault	Renault	M.	1: 35: 48,130 h	3.801 km	80	190.392 km / h	05th July
5	1982	Keke Rosberg	Williams	ford	G	1: 32: 41.087 h	3.801 km	80	196.796 km / h	29 Aug	Switzerland
6th	1984	Niki Lauda	McLaren	Porsche ( TAG )	M.	1: 31: 11.951 h	3.801 km	79	202.024 km / h	May 20th	France

Record winner
drivers: –– • Driver nations: France (2) • Constructors: Lotus / Renault (2 each) • Engine manufacturer: Ford (3) • Tire manufacturer: Goodyear / Michelin (3 each)

Winner of the DTM races

year	winner	automobile	time	Route length	Round	Ø pace	date
2009	Gary Paffett	Mercedes-Benz C-Class	1: 04: 38.472 h	3.801 km	52	183.461 km / h	October 11th

literature

• Peter Higham, Bruce Jones (Translator: Walther Wuttke): Rennstrecken der Welt , Heel-Verlag, Königswinter 2000, ISBN 3-89365-890-4

Web links

Commons : Circuit de Dijon-Prenois  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• official homepage
• The legendary Villeneuve-Arnoux duel as a YouTube video
• Onboard video of the route as WMV download
• Aerial photo of the route at maps.apocalx.com

References and comments

1. ^ Map of the Dijon city circuit in 1947
2. ↑ The history of Côte d'Urcy  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Page of the ASA Bourgogne, French)  
3. ^ "Circuits: Dijon-Prenois" (history of the route on grandprix.com, engl.)
4. ↑ Entry in the commercial register of the Société d'Exploitation du Circuit-Dijon-Prenois (French)
5. ↑ Event timeline on the official homepage ( memento of the original from August 4, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (French) 
6. ↑ Official route map ( Memento of the original from July 11, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (French) 
7. ↑ The method of counting is not clear because some curves are designed as double or S-curves, theoretically one could also count up to twelve individual curves.
8. ↑ Circuit de Dijon-Prenois at gpracing.net ( Memento of January 22, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
9. ↑ Statistics of the Formula 750 World Championship 1977 (French)
10. ^ Motorsport Memorial on the death of Thierry van Wormhoudt (Engl.)
11. ↑ The Trophée National de Cyclisme on the Circuit de Dijon-Prenois (French)
12. ↑ according to article from CÔTE-D'OR MAGAZINE , number 78, March / April 2007
13. ↑ Note on the quote from Niki Lauda: What was meant was the Formula 1 season at that time
14. ↑ Niki Lauda on Dijon Prenois. Quote from 1982. In: virtualracing.org. March 25, 2005, accessed June 22, 2018 . 

This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on July 27, 2007 .