Lets get this over with once and for all, Eau Rouge is not the famous tricky uphill right hander. Eau rouge is the little left hand kink at the bottom of Raidillon. Raidillon is the famous uphill corner.
Untill 1939 Raidillon didn’t exist. Instead there was a right hand hairpin called l’Ancienne Douane. The left hander before l’Ancienne Douane was called Eau Rouge, because it crosses a small river called l’Eau Rouge. But back then there was a bit of a competition between circuits all over Europe to have the fastest lay out. So to make the Spa-Francorchamps circuit faster they decided to cut off the l’Ancienne Douane hairpin. This artificial cut-off corner is what we know today as ‘Raidillon’, which translates to ‘steep road’.
Here’s a map that shows the old (red) corners and the new raidillon (yellow):
Eau Rouge today is only a small part of the old Eau Rouge corner. Actually if you look on the official site and look at their map of the circuit you’ll see they don’t even have Eau Rouge as a named corner on there.
If you look in Google Earth you can still see the old l’Ancienne Douane corner:
Source - Circuitsofthepast.nl
Comments
Raidillion is the left after the top where the rumple strips are
Nope. Many people believe Eau Rouge is the steep right hander and Raidillon is the left hander after the top. But that isn’t true.
From the official site of the circuit:“But something new occurred in 1939 : Francorchamps was getting an artificial curve, unique in its kind : the “ raidillon “ or steep rise. That obstacle, intended to be passed at a very high speed, was a forerunner of the orientation its manager wanted to give to the track : to make it one the fastest tracks in Europe.”
This is what Wikipedia has to say about it:“Properly speaking, the Eau Rouge corner is only the left-hander at the bottom. The following right-hander that leads steeply uphill, which was introduced in 1939 to shortcut the original hairpin “Ancienne Douane”, is called “Raidillon”.”
Raidillion is the steep right hand corner that bypasses the old ‘lAncienne Douane. The left hander after the top doesn’t have a name.
See, this is why I made this post. There are so many misbeliefs about those corner, even TV reporters call Raidillion ‘Eau Rouge’.
Eau rouge is the first corner. there is no official name for the second part so it is called eau rouge 2 and raidllion is the sweep from eau rouge 2 through turn 4
Eau rouge is the bridge
In an effort to settle this: The whole combination (Turns 2, 3, 4) is called “Raidillon de l’Eau Rouge” wich means “Climb of/near the Eau Rouge”. The Eau Rouge is a small creek with a distinct reddish colour of its water (hence the name “Red Water”) located at the bottom of this hill. A “Raidillon” is a steep uphill section of a road or track. The track’s official websites states that the right hander was built in 1939 and was called “Raidillon”, so technically you’re right, OP. But that one corner by itself wouldn’t be that tricky or famous. It’s the whole combination at extremely high speeds that makes things interesting. And since most people find “Raidillon de l’Eau Rouge” too long and “Eau Rouge” is easier to pronounce correctly (when you have to guess the pronounciation, as most non-french-speaking people do ususally) than “Raidillon”, I guess the name just stuck with the whole combination.
Whatever you insinst on calling it, don’t call them by their number… These beautiful curves deserve better than just a number :)
I agree, don’t call them by number. They’re too beautiful.
I just find it annoying that everyone calls it Eau Rouge even though Eau Rouge is a corner that doesn’t actually exist anymore. ‘Raidillon d’Eau Rouge’ roughly translates to ‘steep climb out of the Eau Rouge Valley’, but the corner is still called Raidillon and this mixing up of names has caused a lot of confusion. Like I pointed out, even TV reporters don’t know the difference anymore.
Personally, I prefer the Corner With No Name.
Damn I was walking on the old part of the track and never realised!
Well that only gives you a good reason to go back ;)
Here, maybe you’ll find these links interesting:
http://www.circuitsofthepast.nl/en-US/francorchamps/lapfrancorchamps
http://www.circuitsofthepast.nl/en-US/francorchamps
THANK YOU I’ve been trying to get this across to people for so long..