Riems Old Grand Prix Circuit

[Gilles]

Commer was the light commercial vehicle part of the Rootes Group, which also manufactured various Hillman, Humber, Sunbeam and Singer cars. In the early 1960's, Rootes was taken over by the mighty Chrysler Corp. My Commer has some Chrysler Star emblems in various places. I think Chrysler owned Simca in France too. Commer was also sold in export markets as a Dodge Spacevan, due to the French connection? So it is related to the Viper, it could be argued!

In 1979, Chrysler pulled out due to increasing losses and the business was sold for about £10 to PSA (Peugeot) and the car division was renemed Talbot. (Gilles you may remember early 80's Talbot Alpine and Horizons, with their rattly Simca engines.) The Commer van continued to be built in small numbers until 1983. It was a crap vehicle in 1969 when mine was built. How it compared to say a Merc van circa 1983 does not bear thinking about. The factory in Coventry now makes Peugeot 206 and 307s.

But spare parts are not a problem, all available from Speedy Spares in Brighton. Very cheap, eg a new piston set (4) is about £15!! Body panels can be difficult to source.#

History lesson over but how about a piece in Automobile Historique??

Yes Chrysler bought Simca in the 60's, and after sold it to Peugeot at the late 70's...
... it explains that the first 205 engines are Simca engines developed in the early 60's by Simca.

Your maintenance appears to be not so hard BTW.

Plus you don't need to leave your Commer a couple of months in 2004, as the Classic appears to be in early June, so maybe 3 weeks after the 24H.

[Rich - Team Gulp Racing]

A question for Gilles or anyone else who might know...

I'm planning another trip to France and want to stop at the Old Grand Prix Circuit in Reims on the way through for the obligatory photo-shoot.

Can anyone confirm it is still there - I've read on various sites that it was due for demolition?

Cheers

Rich - Team Gulp Racing

Just returned from France and thought I'd give a bit of an update with the Reims Circuit situation.

I took directions with me but as I came off the autoroute all the roads seemed different to the directions.

They are actually half way through what seems like a huge building project and all the roads in the area are being upgraded or made into dual-carriageways.

Anyway, after hunting around the local area I came across a roundabout with 5 exits - only, the fifth exit was 'Route Barree'.

So what does a Brit do when travelling across France and someone has placed something between him and his destination? Yep - I nipped around the barrier and after half a mile of totally empty 'closed' road came across the old circuit buildings.

All the buildings are now very dilapidated and starting to fall down. The entire area is totally overgrown and you can no longer see the BP mosaic.

It seems the old circuit is earmarked for demolition as the road has been closed off and has just been left to fade away.

Seems a real shame to me, and gives even more incentive to try to preserve whats left of all the other old circuits mentioned in this thread.

Sounds sad but I took some photos from another website of the last Grand Prix held at the circuit and stood in the exact positions they were taken from.

I'd recommend the slight detour to anyone going past Reims this year - the whole place is very atmospheric and is really worth a visit while it still stands.