NEVERS MAGNY COURS, FRANCE - Mobil 1 French Grand Prix, Never Magny Cours Circuit

Official Site: Mobil 1 French Grand Prix

Introduction
The layout of the Magny-Cours circuit will undergo some change for the first time since 1992. The new bend at the water tower after (the Imola bend) is entered at 280 Km/h in 7th gear and takes the speed down to less than 100 Km/h. This modification was designed to increase the possibilities to overtake. The new bend allows the cars to get together before the long way down to make the aspiration phenomenon all the more efficient.The interest is twofold : technical and spectacular. Like nowhere else in the world, the spectators present in the stands L, Y, East, VIP (20 000) will now be able to see two simultaneous overtakings in two seperate zones. Adélaïde and the new water tower bend.

Only a real complexe could meet the ambition of such a project, a pattern of curves which aims are various and consist in four elements. A big fast curve in full speeding up brings the distance between the Water Tower and the Lycée pin to 650 metres. The aim of the Lycée pin is to create spectacular moments like easier overtakings; Violent braking from 290 Km/h down to 80 Km/h, Widening of the track to 14 metres and Asphalt for late braking. Special attention has been paid to the visibility thanks to additional overtaking possibilities. The tip of the pin is in the very perspective of the straight starting line which can be seen from the stands C, B, A and all the booths, that is 40 000 people. A right/left bend follows a short straight line of approximately 100 metres. Taken at a moderate speed, its aim is technical and makes it longer for the spectators to see the cars.

The entry in the pit lane is now right in the short straight before the right/left. It brings more safety as the entry ways are never common to those of the track. The time to enter the pitlane is thus reduced to the maximum : limited to the necessary braking distance of the cars. Combined to the other works in the pitlane exit, this improves the acceleration line and reduces the passage in the pitlane to less than 20 seconds, hence the importance of such a factor.

This new innovation is important thanks to these new technical characteristics. Magny-Cours was famous for helping the al qualities of the cars. This could involve a diminution of the aerodynamics creating a challenge in the cars set up concerning the motorisation qualities (the new straight makes a good top speed essential) and the braking qualities (Magny-Cours is now becoming one of the most demanding tracks with three major brakings). Magny-Cours is thus also becoming one of the most polyvalent circuits in the world thanks to the necessary technical qualities on the car as much as to the necessary qualities of the driving. Consequently, the circuit becomes a natural applicant to the sessions of automobile development. Finally, the track allows the circuit to open itself to other disciplines like motorcycles for which it meets all the safety criteria.

Competitivity is improved on the whole track. The fastest curve of the F1 World Championship. The entry in the big curve will become one of the fastest at more than 270 Km/h. The most important european manifestation. New stands will be built raising the audience to more than 300 000 people over 3 days. One the safest circuits in the World. The Lycée complex takes profit of the last innovations about passive security. Magny-Cours has been the first to use the asphalt and has now the widest surface of all the circuits which take part in the World Championship.

This innovation is obviously more than just an alteration. It is a change in the circuit philosophy with more than 15% of modifications. Our ambition today is to come back to the of the origins of car racing success : entertainment, keeping maximum safety as a priority, two notions which have been so far unfairly opposed. It seems symbolical to inaugurate in Magny-Cours this new concept in terms of modification of the F1 tracks.
Moreover, this project introduces the new concept of complexe. A pattern of coherent and varied curves, linking various notions in a same unity of time and space like speed, overtaking, technique, visibility time, spectators’ comfort, maximum safety.

History

It was back in 1960 that Jean Bernigaud built a racing circuit on land attached to his farm, alongside the RN7 close to the village of Magny-Cours. The village is six miles to the south-east of Nevers, a small busy town on the upper Loire, 150 miles south of Paris. Bernigaud's track was just 1.21 miles in length, but its reputation grew quickly. It was the world-famous Ecole de Pilotage Winfield which really put Magny-Cours on the map. It was the kindergarten for the entire generation of French F1 stars of the 1970s and 1980s. The school was established by Bernigaud in 1963 with assistance from Jean Lucas and Gerard Crombac. It would be renamed Winfield later but the list of successful pupils would grow quickly: Jean-Pierre Jaussaud, Francois Cevert, Patrick Depailler, Jean-Pierre Jarier, and Jacques Laffite were all early graduates.

By 1969 the track record stood to Depailler with a lap time of 49 secs. French racing at both national and international level was growing rapidly. It was time to expand. Bernigaud decided upon an extension which would create two interconnected circuits, which could be combined to form a track of 2.39 miles. Traditionally Magny-Cours's biggest meeting of the year takes place on the May Day national holiday and the new track was opened on May 1 1971.

Bernigaud died in November 1971 and the circuit was then taken over by the local motor club -- the ASA Nivernais. Bernigaud's widow Jacqueline remained an important part of the administration. In order to help fund the track, industrial units were built and Automobiles Martini and ORECA became the most famous of Magny-Cours's resident companies. In the late 1970s international racing arrived at the track with the European Formula 3 Championship topping the bill at the annual May Day event. European F3 would remain a regular visitor until the series was canceled at the end of 1984. By this time, however, the track had deteriorated badly. For three years there was no international motor racing at Magny-Cours. In 1988, however, the circuit was acquired by the regional conseil de la Nievre which planned to overhaul the circuit completely as part of a plan to revive the flagging economy of the department. The project gained immediate support from the French President Francois Mitterand, who had once headed the local government of the Nievre, and his Finance Minister Pierre Beregovoy, the Mayor of Nevers.

Massive investment was put into the plans which included the track, a huge new industrial park, an 18 hole golf course and a motor museum. A new motorway was planned to connect the track with France's network of autoroutes and there were viability studies for the extension of the runway at Nevers-Fourchambault airport. The industrial park -- the Technopole -- was built to attract France's top racing teams. They were helped by huge incentives including a free business license for five years and financial assistance in the construction of premises. Among the first to arrive was the Ligier team. Today Magny-Cours is the home of Snobeck Racing Services and Dominique Delestre's Apomatox Formula 3000 team.

The new track followed the basic route of Berignaud's 1971 layout, but every corner was changed. There were still two tracks which could be run independently - an inner circuit of 1.07 miles and an outer track of 1.62 miles. These connected to form a full-length 2.65 mile. The design profited from the involvement of both Jacques Laffite and Rene Arnoux and included a number of corners which were copied from tracks around the world. There was a curling sweeper (named Estoril), a tight hairpin Adelaide) and two fast kinks (Nurburgring and Imola).

The French GP arrived at Magny-Cours in 1991 and for the first three years at the track the Williams-Renault team was undefeated. Michael Schumacher then won for Benetton in 1994 and 1995. Damon Hill won the 1996 event but then Schumacher added two more victories in his Ferrari. The 1999 event was disrupted by rain and Heinz-Harald Frentzen and the Jordan team adopted a clever strategy to catch their rivals by surprise and win the race. In May 2000 it was announced that the French GP would be staying at Magny-Cours until after the 2004 event.

Circuit details
Circuit: Nevers Magny-Cours Circuit
Venue: Nevers Magny-Cour, France
Race day: 2nd - 4th July 2004
Circuit length: 4.411 km
Laps: 70
Race distance: 308.586 km
Direction: Clockwise
2003 Winner: Ralf Schumacher, BMW WilliamsF1
2004 Winner: Michael Schumacher, Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro
Lap record: 1"15.377 Michael Schumacher, Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro

Circuit de Nevers Magny Cours
Technopole
58470 Magny Cours
France

Tel: (+33)386 218000
Fax: (+33)386 218080

2004 Program