Reims-Gueux
Reims, France · 11 races held
Race History
| Year | Grand Prix | Winner | Team |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1966 | French Grand Prix | Jack Brabham | Brabham-Repco |
| 1963 | French Grand Prix | Jim Clark | Lotus-Climax |
| 1961 | French Grand Prix | Giancarlo Baghetti | Ferrari |
| 1960 | French Grand Prix | Jack Brabham | Cooper-Climax |
| 1959 | French Grand Prix | Tony Brooks | Ferrari |
| 1958 | French Grand Prix | Mike Hawthorn | Ferrari |
| 1956 | French Grand Prix | Peter Collins | Ferrari |
| 1954 | French Grand Prix | Juan Fangio | Mercedes |
| 1953 | French Grand Prix | Mike Hawthorn | Ferrari |
| 1951 | French Grand Prix | Luigi Fagioli | Alfa Romeo |
| 1950 | French Grand Prix | Juan Fangio | Alfa Romeo |
About Reims-Gueux
Reims-Gueux was a blisteringly fast triangular circuit set among the vineyards of the Champagne region in north-eastern France, made up of long straights along public roads connecting the villages of Gueux and Thillois. It was one of the spiritual homes of the French Grand Prix in the 1950s and early 1960s, hosting the event eleven times between 1950 and 1966.
Its enormously long straights made it a slipstreaming circuit par excellence, where drivers would tuck in behind one another to gain speed and the racing was frequently decided by a dash to the line out of the final Thillois hairpin. The circuit's combination of speed and danger came to typify the era, and after 1966 the French Grand Prix moved elsewhere; Reims-Gueux faded from use, though parts of its grandstands and pit buildings still stand today as a preserved relic of a bygone age.
Memorable Moments
- 1961: Giancarlo Baghetti, in a privateer Ferrari, won on his World Championship debut after a slipstreaming battle, beating Dan Gurney by a tenth of a second out of the last corner — he remains the only driver ever to win his first championship Grand Prix.
- 1953: Mike Hawthorn and Juan Manuel Fangio fought a legendary wheel-to-wheel duel down Reims' straights, Hawthorn's Ferrari edging out Fangio's Maserati by a second after the lead changed hands repeatedly.
- 1959: Tony Brooks won for Ferrari in scorching heat, the high speeds and broken-up road surface making it a brutal test of car and driver.
Track Character
Reims was all about speed and slipstreaming. Its triangular shape strung together very long straights with only a handful of corners, so cars ran flat out for huge portions of the lap, packs forming as drivers used the tow to slingshot past one another. The decisive overtaking move often came at the slow Thillois hairpin that funnelled the field back onto the pit straight, setting up a drag race to the finish line. With minimal run-off, straw bales and roadside hazards, it rewarded bravery and aerodynamic cunning in equal measure — a quintessential fast road circuit of Formula 1's golden first decades.