Reims-Gueux, Motor racing circuit in Gueux, France
Reims-Gueux is a former motor racing circuit laid out on public roads between Gueux and Thillois, about 8 km west of Reims. Its triangular course used Route nationale 31 and departmental roads D26 and D27, with two straights of roughly 2.2 km each. The surviving pit building, grandstands and concrete walls stand along the old start/finish straight.
Reims-Gueux opened in 1926, when the second Grand Prix de la Marne moved from Beine-Nauroy to a triangular course of public roads between Gueux and Thillois. The Automobile Club de France brought the French Grand Prix there in 1938, and the first official Formula 1 race was run in 1950. Fourteen French Grands Prix were held before the last Formula 1 event in 1966; the final competition, a French motorcycle championship round, took place on 11 June 1972, and the circuit closed that year for financial reasons.
The site is still used for photo shoots of classic-car magazines, and since 2007 it has hosted the Week-End de l'Excellence Automobile, where Jean Alesi drove Juan Manuel Fangio's 1954 Mercedes-Benz W196. The association Les Passionnés du Circuit de Gueux, created in December 2023, succeeded Les Amis du Circuit de Gueux and now leads restoration work.
Visitors can walk along the original track layout and view the remaining grandstands and pit buildings that are now protected monuments. Access is available by car through the local roads that once formed the racing course itself.
The circuit's two main straights measured about 2.2 km each, and the slipstream battles they produced became its trademark. The layout used the RN 31, CD 26 and CD 27 roads between Thillois and Gueux.
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