Magny-Cours

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 10 km to the south-east of Nevers, a small busy town on the upper Loire, 240 km south of Paris. Bernigaud's track was just 2 km 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. In 1988 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 new circuit followed the basic route of Berignaud's 1971 layout, but every corner was changed. There were still two circuits which could be run independently - an inner circuit (Club) of 1.7 km and an outer circuit (National) of 2.7 km. These connected to form a full-length 4.4 km which is Grand Prix layout. It has 9 right turns and 6 left turns, direction is clockwise. - Enis Dauti