Circuit du Reims

The French Grand Prix has been held at seven different circuits since the World Championship
started in 1950, but if any venue was its natural home, in the early years, it was the road
course west of Reims.  Above anything else, the circuit was fast!   The triangle of public 
roads was first used for racing in 1925.  The circuit started on the D27 then ran into the 
village of Gueux where it turned right oto the Virage de la Garenne.  Here the cars turn 
right again into the downhill Route Nationale 31 Reims-Soissons Road.  Then at Thillois, 
the cars re-entered the undulating D27 at a hairpin.  

Modifications in 1953 boosted average speeds by bypassing the tight Gueux section and 
creating a new corner at Muizon on the RN31, creating a longer run on the RN31 straight, 
approaching 2 miles in length.  The first Grand Prix on the new layout in 1953 was a memorable 
affair, Mike Hawthorn scoring his first GP victory after a race long duel with Juan Manuel 
Fangio.   It was here also that the great Argentinean champion completed his last Grand Prix 
five years later.  Reims again hosted the French GP in 1954-56; 58-61; 63 and 1966.

French Grand Prix - July 3, 1966

Lorenzo Bandini qualified his Ferrari on the pole for the 1966 GP with a lap of 2 min 7.8 sec. 
at an average speed of 145 mph.  John Surtees in the Cooper-Maserati split the Ferraris with a 
2:08.4 and Mike Parkers debuting in the second Prancing Horse rounded out the first row with a 
2:09.1.  In 1966 F1 still grided with a 3-2-3-2-3...  This was Surtees first race with Cooper 
having recently split with Enzo and the Maranello Scuderia.  Jack Brabham lined up his 
Brabham-Repco fourth with a qualifying time of 2:10.2.

Sunday, July 3rd dawned clear and by race time, the track was scorching hot.   the 1961 French 
GP, also at Reims, was also run in similar conditions.  Innovations of that day included 
Stirling Moss removing the side panels of his Walker Lotus to provide airflow through the 
cockpit.   Missing from action this day in 1966 were the two Scots.   Jim Clark collided with a 
bird at high speed and injured his eye, while Jackie Stewart had not yet fully recovered from 
his injuries sustained in his Spa accident.

At the drop of the flag, Surtees took the lead, which was short lived as his Maserati's fuel pump 
began to fail.  Bandini took over and pulled out a considerable lead over the rest of the pack 
with Jack Brabham closely in tow.  After 12 laps, Bandini and Brabham were seperated by a mere 
two seconds, and were a half a minute clear of Parkes holding station in third.  Graham Hill in 
the BRM, who started eighth, passed the Coopers of Surtees, Chris Amon, Jo Sieffert, and Jochen 
Rindt up to fourth, began dueling with Parkes just as his 16 cylinder engine went sour and he 
retired.  Surtees fuel pump problem foretold the fate of the rest of the Coopers as all of their 
Maserati fuel pumps overheated on this blistering day.

At half distance, Bandini led by 13 seconds over Brabham with Parkes and Denny Hulme the only 
other drivers still on the lead lap.  Bandini kept producing fast laps, pulling out nearly a half 
a minute lead over the Austrailian.  Lorenzo's glory was short lived as his throttle cable snapped 
on lap 32 while on the Soisson straight.   Black Jack Brabham inherited the lead which was well 
over one minute over Parkes.

Brabham began to ease off his pace and Parkes began to close.  At the end the Ferrari couldn't 
quite close the gap and finished almost 10 seconds back at the flag.  Mike Parkes had scored an 
impressive debut with Ferrari nevertheless with his second place.  Hulme finished a distant third 
two laps down and Rindt nursed home his Cooper with the overheating fuel pump for fourth.  Dan 
Gurney grabbed two points in his Eagle with fifth.  Of note, Guy Ligier also brought home his 
overheating Cooper in ninth, and Bandini, who rigged a throttle with bailing wire and made if back 
to the pits, had his throttle repaired and finished 10th, eleven laps in arrears.It was of little 
consolation to the Italian that he had the fastest lap of the race at 2:11.3.   With his victory at 
Reims, Jack Brabham thus became the first man to win a GP in his own car.

An so the last Grand Prix at Reims was run.   Jackie Stewarts nearly fatal accident at Spa charged 
him with resolve to initiate a safety campaign that changed the face of Grand Prix racing and spelled
 the doom for circuits such as Reims.

Results/Driver/Car/Time/Laps Completed/(Qualified - time)

1.  Jack Brabham/ Brabham-Repco/ 1:48.00/ 48/ (4 - 2:10.2)
2.  Mike Parkes/ Ferrari/ 1:48.09.5/ 48/ (3 -2:09.3)
3.  Dennis Hulme/ Brabham-Repco/ n/a/ 46/ (9 - 2:13.5)
4.  Jochen Rindt/ Cooper-Maserati/ n/a/ 46/ (5 - 2:10.9)
5.  Dan Gurney/ Eagle-Climax/ n/a/ 45/ (14 - 2:17.9)
6.  Trevor Taylor/ Brabham-BRM/ n/a / 45/(15 - 2:19.2)

GP2 Reims66

The 1966 version of the Reims circuit is simulated hear for GP2.  The actual course was 5.143 miles 
(8.302 km) but due to GP2 limitations, this has been compressed to 4.508 miles (7.213 km).  Several 
features have been incorporated to provide an exhilarating, challenging circuit for your driving 
pleasure.

Reims was known as a very bumpy circuit being on standard French public roads.  The bumps I have 
created are severe, although after beta testing they have been reduced.  If you would like the version
with large bumps, please e-mail me (culverr@bigplanet.com) and I will send it to you  and will cause 
you to alter normal GP2 set up strategy.  Suspension setups can make a vast difference on how your 
car handles the bumps.  Setups that produce fast times on standard GP2 circuits, may result in a car 
that is undriveable on Reims66.  The cc's seem to handle the bumps well, and you will be challenged 
to keep up with them, especially where the bumps are in the braking zones.  The cc's tend to outbrake 
the player agressively in this case. 

Slipstreaming is the key to competitiveness on Reims66.   Tucking in behind a cc on the Soisson Road 
straight and pulling out of the slipstream at 214 mph down the hill will usually result in a successful 
pass.  Watch the compression bumps at the bottom of the hill as they can sap speed into Thillois and 
you may be passed back.   Watch for the cc's closing the door on you in turn 1 if you try to overtake 
on the inside.  They will chop down and take the preferred line if you are not completely next to them.  
Fortunately the grass is somewhat forgiving on the inside of the turn.  

I have attempted to create as scenery that is as realistic as possible.  A pit building with the center 
tower, garages that in 1966 still had pit walls incorporated into them, Dunlop tire bridges more 
commonly associated with Le Mans were also main features of Reims, signalling pits, period advertizing 
and correct terrain contours have been incorporated.  Those magnificent shots of the greats such as 
Fangio, Moss and Gurney braking for Muizon with the hillside full of spectators far in the distance 
provided me with the influence for creating this GP2 venue.   Creating the feel of true open road racing 
as it was done in the 60's on the continent I believe has been achieved providing a different type of 
racing circuit from those usually seen in GP2.

Reims66 couldn't have been possible without the help of several people.   Malcolm Mitchell provided 
plenty of photos of Reims for research on his GP History website, created portions of the cc line that 
was eventually used and provided feedback and testing.  Salvatorre Chipetta provided invaluable photos 
of the circuit as it exists today, plenty of information from his vast archive, feedback, test driving 
and first hand input on topographical data.  Addie Walti provided testing feedback and plenty of advice 
and help with commands.  The idea for creating the bumps in this manner was developed successfully by 
Addie in Bremgarten and Martijn on his Stuw Lake track.  Addie also suggested pursuing the Oxc5/Oxc6 
solution for the scenery distance displays, which ultimately produced broad vistas not seen commonly in 
GP2.  Addie had plenty of inout on the road texture and treatment in the braking zones.

Martijn Keizer, as always provided answers to many technical questions.  I also borrowed several of 
Martijns textures which helped with the feel of the circuit.  In a sense, a large Dutch crowd showed up 
for the race this weekend!   Martijn provided the tree texture used and provided the impetus for me to
finish the Thillois restaurant.  Les Dunyak (Fat Rat) provided a lot of insight with some of his textures  
and custom objects used on his Laguna Seca track.  I also borrowed some of Peter Kesslers textures and 
modified them which worked well for the open fields around the circuit.  I would like to thank Mal Ross 
for his efforts on the Jam Editor which makes it much easier to create the custom objects and switch jam 
textures.  I would like to thank John Moncrief for his efforts in creating the restaurant at Thillois.  
Unfortunately, I couldn't get this object to work, and after prodding from Martijn, ended up creating a 
decent version of the restaurant based on the La Source Hotel and a house from Spa.  I believe I used 
some of John Vennix' textures for Rouen that I have re-used here.

GP2 could not have evolved with the efforts of Steve Young and GP2edit, GP2Jam by Trevor Kellaway which 
I still use.   Peiters carsets still grace my tracks and of course, as always, this project could not 
have been possible without the work of Paul Hoad in creating the Track Editor.  And we cannot forget 
Geoff Crammond and his team for creating GP2 in the first place.  Let's hope we can edit GP3 in the 
same manner.

