The Page family holiday will this year take us once again to Normandy, a favourite destination for many reasons. On our last visit, my wife feigned interest as we spent a day touring the WW2 landing beaches, small child in tow.
This time around, we will have two small children in tow so, with one eye no doubt on preventing me from carrying out any more history field trips, Mrs P booked accommodation considerably further east.
“It’s over here,” she said, pointing to a map, “near Rouen.”
Her reaction when I told her that we’d be able to go and have a look at the old Les Essarts circuit cannot be repeated here.
This majestic layout consisted solely of public roads until the mid-1970s, when the construction of an autoroute at its northern end forced the shortening of the track and the use instead of a small, purpose-built link section.
It had first been used on July 30 1950, with Louis Rosier winning in a Talbot. Two years later, Rouen Les Essarts hosted its first French Grand Prix.
In 1957, Juan Manuel Fangio won that race, in the process providing the circuit’s enduring image as he effortlessly drifted his Maserati 250F through the ultra-fast downhill sweepers to the famous cobbled Nouveau Monde hairpin.
Those corners, plunging steeply away into the valley, were a stern challenge. David Purley – not a man lacking in courage – used to scream into his helmet as he went past the pits towards the first in the sequence of turns, willing himself to keep his right foot planted.
They were also deadly. Jo Schlesser died at Six Freres near the bottom of the hill during the 1968 GP, the last to be held at Rouen. Major F2 races continued to visit, but the circuit gradually fell into decline.