Joined Apr 2015
6K Posts | 5K+
NJ
I've heard two rumors as to the motivations for the construction of the circuit, one was the alcohol advertising ban that you mention. The other was to show that private entities could build highways/roads better than the French government could at the time since private companies couldn't do it at that time.
Whatever the case may be, Brian Redman won the first race at Paul Ricard in April 1970. The circuit then took over hosting of the French Grand Prix in 1971 from Clermont Ferrand. Previously the French GP bounced between Clermont, Rouen Les Essarts, and Reims. Rouen was done after Jo Schlesser burned to death in the Honda RA302 that John Surtees refused to drive in 1968. Clermont would host one more time in 1972 before the French GP alternated between Paul Ricard and Dijon Prenois into the early 80s. Paul Ricard then took over completely till 1990, when it hosted the last GP before Magny Cours took over in 1991, and hosted till 2008, when the French GP was wiped off the calendar permanently.
A shame whatever the case because Paul Ricard was a fantastic circuit...the Mistral Straight was a mile long, and you had the right-hander, Signes, at the end of the straight. 200+MPH in the mid-80s down to around 120-125MPH. Funny story, at the 1985 French Grand Prix, Stefan Bellof's Tyrrell powered by the now 18 year old Cosworth DFV was hitting 172MPH max on the straight, while the Williams-Honda of Keke Rosberg was well over 200MPH. Bellof was down 12 seconds in qualifying times. Martin Brundle was 4 seconds faster than Bellof only because the team had a single Renault turbo engine and used it in his car.
Anyway, Bernie Ecclestone owns Paul Ricard through one of his many companies now.
Good test track for LMP1, that's about it. The run-off areas are ghastly to look at.
The more you know!
