Journeys through Gaul

Sir,

Further to David Goodridge’s letter of March he may be interested in my drive back to Calais after last year’s Belgian Grand Prix. Leaving my hotel after breakfast en route for Reims, I first made for Chimay on the Belgian/French border (Michelin map 241). The circuit is still there, recognisable and by the look of it used now for motorcycle meetings. Didn’t David Purley once win the GP des Frontières there in Formula Three? A couple of laps and a few photographs, and my Alfa 156 was pointed south across the Champagne region towards Reims; magnificent driving on almost deserted roads. An unexpected detour towards Paris on the autoroute (poor navigation) brought me to Thillois, the D27 and the crumbling pits and grandstands. More laps and photographs, and a dash back to Calais complete with FF600 speeding fine. And all in part inspired by your excellent series on circuits which shows that if you buy the maps you can probably find, and drive, the old circuits.

I am, yours, etc.,

David Fisher, Fearnhead, Warrington