Circuit Paul Ricard

Paul Ricard High Tech Test Track

Location	Le Castellet, France
Time zone	GMT +1 (DST: +2)
Coordinates	43°15′2″N 5°47′30″E / 43.25056°N 5.79167°E / 43.25056; 5.79167Coordinates: 43°15′2″N 5°47′30″E / 43.25056°N 5.79167°E / 43.25056; 5.79167
Major events	French Grand Prix, MotoGP, FIA GT
Long Circuit (1970-1999)
Length	5.809 km (3.610 mi)
Turns	14
Lap record	1:39.914 (Keke Rosberg, Williams Honda, 1985)
Club Circuit (1986-1999)
Length	3.812 km (2.369 mi)
Turns	9
Lap record	1:08.012 (Nigel Mansell, Ferrari, 1990)

The Paul Ricard Circuit is a motorsport race track built at Le Castellet, near Marseille, France, in 1969 with finance from the eccentric drinks magnate Paul Ricard, who created what essentially became Pernod Ricard. Ricard built the circuit with the challenge of figuring out what would it be like to build a highway.

With innovative facilities it was considered by some to be the safest motor racing in the world at the time. The circuit had three possible layouts, a large area of industrial park and also an airstrip. In combination with the usual good weather conditions in Southern France, the airfield made the track popular for testing purposes in winter.

The original track was dominated by the 1.8km long Mistral Straight that is followed by the high-speed right hand Signes corner. Because of the long straight and some other long sections, the track was very hard on engines, with engine failures being all too common, such as Ayrton Senna's huge crash during the 1985 French Grand Prix after the Renault engine in his Lotus failed and he went off backwards at Signes and crashed heavily, although he only received light bruising. Nigel Mansell crashed at the same place in the same weekend during practice and suffered a concussion which kept him out of the race. Mansell's crash was the result of a slow puncture in his left rear tyre causing it to explode at over 200mph, which detached his Williams FW10's rear wing. The Honda powered FW10 holds the race lap record for the original circuit when Mansell's team mate Keke Rosberg recorded a time of 1:39.914 during the 1985 French Grand Prix.

It opened in 1970 with a 2-litre sports car race. During the 1970s and the 1980s the track developed some of the best French drivers of the time, and hosted the Formula One French Grand Prix on many occasions, the first of which was the 1971 French Grand Prix.

In 1986 Formula One driver Elio de Angelis was killed in a testing accident at the fast first turn, and the circuit was modified in order to make it safer. The length of the Mistral Straight was reduced and the fast sweeping curves where de Angelis had crashed were bypassed. The last French Grand Prix held at the circuit was in 1990; the event then moved to the Magny-Cours until its demise in 2008.

In the 1990s the circuit's use was limited to motorcycle racing and French national racing, most notably until 1999, the Bol d'or motorcycle endurance race. The track was also the home of the Oreca F3000 team.

After Ricard's death, the track was sold to Excelis, a company owned by Formula One promoter Bernie Ecclestone, in 1999. The track has since been rebuilt into an advanced test track. It is now known as the Paul Ricard High Tech Test Track (Paul Ricard HTTT).

An aircraft landing strip suitable for private jets is amongst the circuit's facilities. There is a Karting Test Track (KTT) that features the same type of abrasive safety zones as the car track. The track has also hosted some races, including the 2006 Paul Ricard 500km, a round of the FIA GT Championship. Other GT championships have run races here, most notably the Ferrari Challenge and races organized by Porsche clubs of France and Italy.

The track

The track is characterised by its long Mistral straight (1.8 km) and elongated track design. The track is also unusual in that it is built on a plateau, and is very flat. The length of the full track is around 3.610 miles (5.8 km). In 1986 the track was modified to shorten the circuit. This shorter circuit is known as the GP short circuit and is 2.369 miles (3.8 km) long. The track offers 167 possible configurations from 826 to 5,861 metres.^[1] Its flexibility and mild winter weather mean that it is used for testing by several motorsport teams, including Formula One teams.

The track is known for its distinctive black and blue runoff areas known as the Blue Zone. The runoff surface consists of a mixture of asphalt and tungsten, used instead of gravel traps, as common at other circuits.^[2] A second, deeper run-off area is the Red Zone, with a more abrasive surface designed to maximize tyre grip and hence minimize braking distance, although at the cost of intense tyre wear. The final safeguard consists of Tecpro barriers, a modern improvement on tyre barriers.^[2]

References

1. ^ Tracks and facilities - Official website
2. ^ ^{a b} Paul Ricard High Tech Test Track, The Marshal: Incorporating Rescue & Resuscitation, April 2007 (Issue 21)

External links

• Official website