Quick word of advice, you'll be wasting your time going to Rouen les Essarts looking for the old circut.
Nothing exist anymore....NOTHING! They've even paved over the cobblestones at the hairpin.
You don't actually read F1 Racing do you?(LOL)
Fax, I know you posted this with the best possible motives, but it is simply wrong to say that
nothing remains of the original circuit. True, the stands have gone, along with the pits - it was a crime to demolish those buildings, especially the pits and control tower, but nobody was prepared to put up the cash required, and the stands were crumbling into the road. The cobbles at Nouveau Monde have been lifted - a great shame, but they were slippery when wet and there's a stop sign there... Some of the spectator terracing remains.
The long circuit (1955-1954) had to be shortened when the A13 was built in 1972 - the link from Beauval to the motorway as still there, some of it only accessible on foot - and the new link from Beauval to Paradis was built - you could still walk this until last summer, as it was preserved as a foot/cycle path, but they were busy resurfacing it then and removing at least some of the old rumble kerbs. Today you can drive the
entire original (1950-1954) circuit, Six Freres (there's no chicane there) and all. It's trace has changed very little over the years, unlike Le Mans, which has been changed at almost every corner and the pits, paddock and grandstands demolished and replaced.
Reims is something else. The grandstands and pits remain, and Les Amis du Circuit du Gueux
http://acg.site.voila.fr/ are making an effort to renovate the stands and pits, but
very slowly. Most of the pits straight remains, but Thillois and Gueux corners have vanished beneath road improvements.
All the same both Rouen-les-Essarts and Reims are well worth visiting.
There are also the two Dieppe circuits, of which the 1907-1912 version in particular is still recognisable and fun to drive - since it passes though several small towns and villages. I can't get my Alfa round quicker than about 6th fastest time in 1907, even on Christmas morning, holding over 100mph on the straights, and there are miles of straights.
Jonnyspa27, If you're flying in to CDG and hiring a car, and want to visit Reims and Rouen-les-Essarts, maybe Dieppe too, I'd go Paris (CDG), Reims, Amiens, Rouen, Le Mans, and avoid the Paris peripherique altogether. It's almost all motorway now.
Having sad that, they're talking about holding an exhibition in June of racing cars along the Champs Elysees over the last century to celebrate the centenary of the French Grand Prix. You can get the RER metro from the airport to cental Paris in no time flat, though.
Which ever way you go have fun.
