| FRA - FRANCE | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| BOIS DE BOULOGNE | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Description | In 1945 Bois De Boulogne hosted first car racing in Europe after the end of World War Two | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Bois de Boulogne, Paris 75 - Paris - Île-de-France | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Approx 1.5 km - 1 mi East of Circuit de Longchamps e del Circuit de Bagatelle | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Latitude - Longitude | + 48°51'48" + 2°15'34" 48.863333 2.259444 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UTM Coordinates | X = 445686.022 - Y = 5412527.707 - Zone 31U | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Aerial photo / Map (*) |  OpenStreetMap - Google Maps - Bing Maps - Flash Earth - Wikimapia - GéoPortail | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Altitude AMSL | 48 m - 157 ft | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Inauguration | September 9th 1945 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Closing | October 6th 1946 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Designer | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sources and links (Translation) (**) |
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| Bois de Boulogne | |||||
| Description | |||||
| Years | 1945 | ||||
| Direction |  Clockwise | ||||
 Proposal |
NO | ||||
| No longer operational | YES | ||||
| Car Circuit | YES | ||||
| Motorbike circuit | |||||
| Type | Street course | ||||
| Inauguration | September 9th 1945 | ||||
| Closing | September 9th 1945 | ||||
| Last update of this page | April 10th 2008 | ||||
| Info last update | |||||
| Designer | |||||
| Distinctive points | Route de Suresnes - Allee des Fortifications (Boulevard Périphérique) - Avenue de Saint-Cloud - Chemin Ceinture du Lac Inférieur | ||||
| length | 2826 m | 9272 ft | 1.756 mi | (4) | |
| length | 2675 m | 8775 ft | 1.662 mi | Calculated from aerial photo (*) | (3) |
| Bois de Boulogne | |||||
| Description | I know that 1946 tracks had start/finish line in Porte Maillot and they went throigh Porte Dauphine, but according to track length it seems they were two different circuits. I have no more info | ||||
| Years | 1946 | ||||
| Direction | |||||
| Proposal |
NO | ||||
| No longer operational | YES | ||||
| Car Circuit | |||||
| Motorbike circuit | |||||
| Type | Street course | ||||
| Inauguration | May 30th 1946 | ||||
| Closing | May 30th 1946 | ||||
| Last update of this page | April 10th 2008 | ||||
| Info last update | |||||
| Designer | |||||
| Distinctive points | Porte Maillot - Porte Dauphine | ||||
| length | 3191 m | 10469 ft | 1.983 mi | (8) | |
| length | 3202 m | 10505 ft | 1.99 mi | (5) | |
| Bois de Boulogne | |||||
| Description | I know that 1946 tracks had start/finish line in Porte Maillot and they went throigh Porte Dauphine, but according to track length it seems they were two different circuits. I have no more info | ||||
| Years | 1946 | ||||
| Direction | |||||
| Proposal |
NO | ||||
| No longer operational | YES | ||||
| Car Circuit | |||||
| Motorbike circuit | |||||
| Type | Street course | ||||
| Inauguration | October 6th 1946 | ||||
| Closing | October 6th 1946 | ||||
| Last update of this page | April 10th 2008 | ||||
| Info last update | |||||
| Designer | |||||
| Distinctive points | Porte Maillot - Porte Dauphine | ||||
| length | 2943 m | 9656 ft | 1.829 mi | (6) | |
Bois de Boulogne 1945
Due to technical problems, temporarily it’s no longer possible to see the circuits on Google Maps embedded in the current page.
This feature will be restored as soon as I figure out how to do (any help would be appreciated!)
See this track layout with Google Earth
- milermeter.com
(milermeter.com can be used in your browser, without installing anything; Google Earth is a program that must be installed in your computer)
(Map shown here above can show at the same time all eventual layouts drawn. If you want to see only some of them, please go to Google Maps or Google Earth, by clicking on its own link)
| PHOTOS |
| Copy of an article by Clyde Berryman about 1945 event, here published with kind permission |
| Photos by Clyde Berryman - |
| Click on thumbnail to open original large photo |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
 |  |  |  |
| Page 1/7 | Page 2/7 | Page 3/7 | Page 4/7 |
| 5 | 6 | 7 | |
 |  |  | |
| Page 5/7 | Page 6/7 | Page 7/7 |
| PHOTOS |
| 1945 layout. Photos and description in English are by Clyde Berryman, here published with his authorization. Translation in Italian is by Guido de Carli. Poisition of each photo is shown on Google Maps/Google Earth map (see above) |
| Photos by Clyde Berryman - 2002 |
| Click on thumbnail to open original large photo |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
 |  |  |  |
| The Start/Finish line was at this intersection in front of the Pavillon Real | Right after the start, the circuit hooked right along the Route de Suresnes. The pits were to the right behind the parked cars | Just past the Pits along the Route de Suresnes | Now, flat out on the Route de Suresnes |
| 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
 |  |  |  |
| Approaching the hard-right hairpin at the north end of the circuit. Today the signpost points you down right onto "Le Peripherique". The large building on the right is the Economics Faculty of the University of Paris | At the north hairpin viewed from across the street. Today the car funnel down the ramp onto "Le Peripherique" | The terraces of Le Pavillon Dauphine at the northern end of the circuit | Le Pavillon Dauphine |
| 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
 |  |  |  |
| Looking back northward, the eight-lane wide "Le Peripherique" where the cars once came down the Allee des Fortifications | A glance to the right from the circuit across the Southern edges of the Pelouse de la Muette | A right curve and onto the Avenue de Saint-Cloud | The southern hairpin of the circuit viewed from across the street. The cars would arrive from the right and then proceed northward on the road beyond the parked cars |
| 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 |
 |  |  |  |
| A glance to the left from the circuit today, across Lac Inferieur, at le Chalet des Iles | The first right-hand curve along the Ceinture du Lac Inférieur | Coming out from the first right-curve and setting up for the next gentle left curve | Through the left curve and now about to tackle a right along the Ceinture du Lac Inférieur |
| 17 | 18 | 19 | |
 |  |  | |
| Another glance to the left from the circuit, down the grassy lawn towards the Lac Inferieur | A look back southward across Lac Inferieur from the intersection where the Start/Finish line was situated in front of the Pavillon Real | The memorial to Jean-Pierre Wimille erected on the north side of Port Dauphine |
| Updates | |||||||
| Date | Track layout | Years | Description by | Map by | Thanks to | Note | |
| January 11th 2010 | 1945 | Clyde P. Berryman | Clyde P. Berryman | Update | Description | ||
| January 6th 2010 | 1945 | Guido de Carli | Clyde P. Berryman | Update | Photos (on this site) | ||
| April 10th 2008 | Guido de Carli | Guido de Carli | Update | Description with map | |||
| September 2nd 2005 | Guido de Carli | Update | Description | ||||
| June 6th 2003 | 1945 | Guido de Carli | Update | Description | |||
| May 26th 2003 | Guido de Carli | Guido de Carli | New | Description with map | |||
| Not all eventual updates issued in last years are already visible in this list | |||||||
