The Circuit Jules Tacheny Mettet is a

motorsport Motorsport or motor sport are sporting events, competitions and related activities that primarily involve the use of Car, automobiles, motorcycles, motorboats and Aircraft, powered aircraft. For each of these vehicle types, the more specific term ...

racing circuit in

Mettet Mettet (; ) is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality of Wallonia located in the Namur Province, province of Namur, Belgium. On 1 January 2006 Mettet had 11,977 inhabitants. The total area is 116.78 km², giving a population density of 1 ...

Wallonia Wallonia ( ; ; or ), officially the Walloon Region ( ; ), is one of the three communities, regions and language areas of Belgium, regions of Belgium—along with Flemish Region, Flanders and Brussels. Covering the southern portion of the c ...

(

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

), southeast of

Charleroi Charleroi (, , ; ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. It is the largest city in both Hainaut and Wallonia. The city is situated in the valley of the Sambre, in the south-west of Belgium, not ...

. The circuit was finalized in 2010 near the old

street circuit A street circuit is a motorsport race track, racing circuit composed of temporarily closed-off public roads of a city, town or village, used in motor racing, motor races. Airport Runway, runways and Taxiway, taxiways are also sometimes part of ...

History

Motorcycle racing

During the early 1920s motorcycle racers started to race around a circuit composed of local streets surrounding the Belgian city of

. The first motorcycle Grand Prix Entre Sambre et Meuse was held in 1928. Belgian driver Albert Breslau won the first race on an AJS. The last edition of the original motorcycle Grand Prix of Mettet was run in 1937. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Jules Tacheny was appointed president of the Royal Motor Union de l’Entre Sambre et Meuse (RMUESM). Tacheny won the Senior category of the first post-war version of the Grand Prix in 1946. The overall Grand Prix was won by Roger Laurent on a Norton. In 1947 the

FIM FIM may refer to: Organizations and companies * Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme, the International Motorcycling Federation * Flint Institute of Music, in Michigan, United States * Fox Interactive Media, now News Corp. Digital Media * ...

motorcycle racing governing body decided each country could only host one Grand Prix. Therefore, the title

Belgian motorcycle Grand Prix The Belgian motorcycle Grand Prix was a motorcycling event that was part of the Grand Prix motorcycle racing season from 1949 to 1990. History The first official Belgian Grand Prix was held in 1949, but non-championship races were held as far ba ...

was awarded to the race at

Spa-Francorchamps The Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps (), informally referred to as Spa, is a motor-racing circuit located in Francorchamps, Stavelot, Wallonia, Belgium, about southeast of Spa. It is the current venue of the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix, ho ...

. The race at Mettet was renamed Circuit de l'Entre Sambre et Meuse in 1947 and the race was again renamed to "Grand Trophy". Legendary motor and auto racing driver

John Surtees John Norman Surtees (11 February 1934 – 10 March 2017) was a British racing driver and motorcycle road racer, who competed in Grand Prix motorcycle racing from to , and Formula One from to . Surtees was a seven-time Grand Prix motorcycl ...

won the race in 1958 in the 350cc and 500cc classes. Between 1972 and 1979 the street circuit hosted the Mettet 1000 km motorcycle endurance race. Jean-Claude Chemarin was the most successful rider of the Mettet endurance race, winning the event four times. The circuit also hosted the Belgian round of the 1975 Formula 750 championship won by Patrick Pons. The street circuit was last used in 2006. Circuito Jules Tacheny

Formula 2

The RMUESM hosted non-championship

Formula Two Formula Two (F2) is a type of Open-wheel car, open-wheel formula racing category first codified in 1948. It was replaced in 1985 by Formula 3000, but revived by the FIA from 2009 FIA Formula Two Championship season, 2009 to 2012 FIA Formula Two C ...

races twice, in 1950 and 1951. In 1950 the first edition Grandee Trophée Entre Sambre et Meuse was held at the street circuit. Of the 24 competitors only ten drivers made it to the finish.

Robert Manzon Robert Jean Joseph Manzon (12 April 1917 – 19 January 2015) was a French racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to . Manzon participated in 29 Grands Prix, debuting at the 1950 Monaco Grand Prix. He achieved two podiums, and sco ...

won the final race in his factory entered Simca

Gordini Gordini () is a division of Renault Sport Technologies (Renault Sport). In the past, it was a sports car manufacturer and Car tuning, performance tuner, established in 1946 by Amédée Gordini (1899–1979), nicknamed "Le Sorcier" (The Sorcerer) ...

Type 15.

Stirling Moss Sir Stirling Craufurd Moss (17 September 1929 – 12 April 2020) was a British racing driver and sports broadcasting, broadcaster, who competed in Formula One from to . Widely regarded as one of the greatest drivers to never win the Formula On ...

and

Lance Macklin Lance Noel Macklin (2 September 1919 – 29 August 2002) was a British racing driver from England. He participated in 15 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 18 May 1952. He was infamously involved in the 1955 Le Mans disaste ...

finished second and third in for HW Motors. The second edition of the Grandee Trophée was again won by Manzon. Gordini completed the podium with factory drivers André Simon and

Maurice Trintignant Maurice Bienvenu Jean Paul Trintignant (; 30 October 1917 – 13 February 2005) was a French racing driver and winemaker, who competed in Formula One from to . Trintignant won two Formula One Grands Prix across 15 seasons. In endurance raci ...

finishing second and third.

Development of the new circuit

The new permanent circuit was opened on 12 March 2010. In the initial years Mettet was mostly used by motorcycle racers. The track was first used in the FIA European Rallycross Championship and

FIA World Rallycross Championship The FIA World Rallycross Championship (official abbreviation is World RX) is a rallycross series organised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, FIA in conjunction with series promoter Rallycross Promoter GmbH (founded by Red Bull G ...

in 2014.

Lap records

As of October 2016, the fastest official race lap records of the Circuit Jules Tacheny Mettet are listed as:

Motorcycle Grand Prix

Formula 2 results

FIA World Rallycross Championship

Since 2019 the World RX of Belgium was renamed Spa World RX of Benelux and takes place at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.

References

External links

Circuit Jules Tacheny Mettet official site
Jules Tacheny Mettet Sports venues in Namur (province) World Rallycross circuits Mettet {{World RX circuits