GP riders protesting Namur's dangerous track

how old is this?

well that newsflash is only 13 years late!

Awesome place,not sure how they got away with it though,dangerous for sure

10/10

That off Roberts lane?

I always felt like the downhill, towards chalet du monument, was more dangerous. The speed that they carried in between those trees, blasting over those roots of the roots like they weren't there. It was incredible to watch.

Seeing those pictures upsets me, what a track it was!

Never been there in person, but surely looks like a different and dangerous mx track!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIrKpfiv-BQ

If those blokes were concerned about conditions, they must have been bad..Brave and incredibly skilled men, all.

Claudio Di Carli - ACs team manager / great friend, won a moto there in the late 80s, and the 2nd moto was cancelled , I think, due to the torrential rain, and incredibly dangerous conditions at the time

I got to 4 GPs there and the 2001 MXDN. The last GP being 2007 - which I think, may have been the last GP there? First time I ever felt sorry for a Kiwi - Coppins axed himself, bringing on the loss of a near sure championship.

When I went to the MXDN 2012 at Lommel , on the way back to Switzerland, I stopped in at Namur. I walked the track (took a few hours, as I get around on a walking stick, mostly - yes, I'm an old dirt bike rider). Even with the great concerns about the environment of the Greenies, none of the pricks were concerned enough to 'rehabilitate' the course - uphills with erosion grooves and so on - pricks that really don't give a f**k, they just want to be 'fun police', basically.There's modern houses right on the edge of the course at the bottom - it's not only the run to the Monument Cafe that went along a road, folks. I spent time at a Childcare Center / Kindergarten (I now work with disabled children in my semi retirement - they were very happy to invite an Aussie into the center - we've quite a following still, in both Belgium and France, due to our troops efforts in WW1) that sits now, right on the outside of what was a very, very fast LH turn after the ornamental bridge / tunnel.

It's a gob-smacking place - have a sqizz at that face book link and check out the track walk pictures from 2014 - and have a good look at the various pictures of the uphill with the jumps, with the drop off to the left of the track into the battlement / moat - I never heard of a rider going off, but I reckon there must have been a fair few drunken spectators that went off the edge..........

I'd love to see a GP there, but I'd equate it to Road Race circuits - purpose built ones, as against Real Roads Racing in Ireland / the IOM TT. Really, really dangerous. And, things that might bring it to a 'safer place' - dirt laid down over tree roots / changes in fast sections to slow it down (the trees there bite, hard), would be fought against by rabid greenies, and people with legitimate concerns about a treasured National Monument - The Citadelle / Mountain and the park that the track goes through. For Americans, just think of the idea of an MX course / race being held on the battlefield at Gettysburg.

Still I hold out hope that GPs may return there, I'd make the trip in an instant, but I doubt it will ever happen - that Facebook site has an announcement posted saying now that it will never happen.

it would be great to see that place running again even if it is highly unlikely, I always loved the step down personally, very few would hit it and even less would make the turn at the bottom, those that did though, hell yeah.

"Track "Walk:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=FTVBy7g0e_M

I haven't missed one race on the citadel ever since i was born.
I remember Georges Jobé just not grabbing the title (he took it a week later in Luxembourg) in those awfull muddy conditions.
I remember Kees van der Ven and Heinz Kinigadner giving riding lessons. Those 2 were more experienced enduro riders and that really helped in Namur.
I remember Hakan Carlqvist drinking a beer at chalet du monument, firing up his bike again and winning the race.
I remember Eric Geboers winning his 5th title on the citadel.
I remember Stefan Everts starting with a modified 250cc in the 500 cc class and completely destroying the opposition.
I remember the mx of nations in 2001 where Belgium couldn't loose but did eventually. To bad team USA was not there with the 9/11 thing.
I remember the face of Chad Reed first time he rode there. He could not believe his eyes.
I remember Stefan Everts winning his 10th title and throwing 10 helmets in the crowd
........

The list goes on and on. That place really is magic to me. I often still look at video's from that time period. Man, i miss that track.

You are a lucky guy.
I have been there many, many times too.
When I was a kid it was a part of the family holyday, later I went with friends.
I've been going from the early 80's till the last GP in 2007.

In 2007 it already was a big rumor it would be the last GP there so on Friday we did the track walk and I documented the complete track:

[url]http://www.pbase.com/jefro98/trackwalk[/url]

Last summer we had a look at the track again and most of it is still there.
If you have been there once at a GP you will have no problem to walk the track again.

I will have to do that
I saw the pics on the facebookpage and that really brings back memories. Al lot of mixed feelings to though. Happy for the memories, sad to see that those days are gone and won't ever come back.

Funny thing your comment about the family holiday and later with friends. Same thing goes for me. When i was a kid i went with my father with the camper. One year we were parked next to an old Mercedes car and Benny Jolink from Normaal (you being from Holland should know him) slept in that car lol. When i got older i went with my friends. A bit sad i never got to took my kid to it though. He was only 4 back in 2007.

I'm sure Benny has been there many times too yes hahaha.
In the old days you could camp where ever you wanted around the track. Those were the golden days.

We did a road trip last year and passed Namur on our way up to Lommel GP.
It was awesome to go back.

My son was born in 2008 but I will take him there one day, walk a lap and tell him all the stories I know about Namur.

I went to Namur and luxemberg in 1982 to watch lackey win the world championship, awesome place, watching lackey come out of the woods on to the citadel was amazing, you just new he was the best in the world!

Lucky enough to say I was there in 2006 to see Everts clinch the title... What an experience! I was studying abroad in Germany during college. Dad flew over, we met at the train station in Munich and off to Namur we went!!! It was the father/son trip of a lifetime..

What an awesome place, wish I could have gone to one of those races.

That video of the '91 500 race is awesome. Love the part where going on the outside of one of those back-woods jump faces results in clipping the tree branches/leafs with your helmet. That's some old school stuff. I have a hard time seeing a track layout like this being used for a pro race now-a-days, with large tree trunks lining tight, wooded sections, only one swap-out away from a major collision. Fun to watch, but scary to think about with the speed guys throw down on 450's, scrubbing those hill jumps next to other riders and huge trees. Thanks for passing the link along.

that's a steep section. I wouldn't want to race it.