Abandoned Race Track Nivelles Baulers 2019 - Police Encounter

Abandoned Race Track Nivelles Baulers 2019, with a Police Encounter!
On September 15, 2019 I made a visit to the abandoned race track of Nivelles-Baulers in Belgium.
I filmed the section which is now public road by car. And I explored the abandoned section by car, walking and with my DJI Mavic Air drone.
During the lap also information about the old Nivelles kart track and the World Championship Karting, where Aytron Senna competed and Michael Schumacher was a spectator!
This race circuit was home of the Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix in 1972 and 1974. After a lot of financial troubles it closed it's door after the 1981 season. Since then the track was left abandoned for the next 17 years.
In 1998 I visited the abandoned race track twice. Just in time before the demolition started and the reconstruction works.
Today, most of the circuit is a business park. But there is still a piece of the abandoned race track left in the woods.
When I want to enter this section I was surprised by a Police car coming from the abandoned race track. I decided to park my car by a nearby company on the old backstraight.
But the Police stopped and wanted to know what I was doing there...
For the rest of the story you have to watch the video ;)
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Special thanks to Simon Smith from Higher Plain Games for the voice-over and the hilarious jokes. Visit also his channel: / higherplaingames
Some more about the abandoned race track of Nivelles:
The Nivelles Circuit opened in 1971 as a safer alternative for Spa-Francorchamps.
Nivelles hosted the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix twice, in 1972 and 1974. Both races were won by Emerson Fittipaldi.
But because the circuit was only 2.3 Miles long, with huge run off areas, it was not very popular by the drivers. However, there was a very challenging section called the Big Loop.
Actually the track was never finished. The design foresaw in a longer track. But the owners could not bring up enough money to buy the neccesary land. They decided to built a short circuit First, to expand it later.
That was a huge miscalculation. Once the circuit was there the land owner want more money. So the Nivelles Circuit was never completed.
The circuit came in Financial trouble and closed it’s doors in 1981. But that was not the end of the story… After the closure it was used for illegal racing.
In the spring of 1998 Herman visited the abandoned Nivelles Circuit for the First time. He was just in time before the demolition started. The fate of Nivelles inspired him in 2003 to start a website about lost circuits. The name, “Circuits of the past”.
Today the old Nivelles Circuit is a business park. The public road follows parts of the old circuit layout, like the Big Loop. And in the woods is still a part of the abandoned track. But it is only a matter of time until that part is also converted into a business park.
Thanks for watching this video.
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[@Circuitsofthepast]

I hope it was an entertaining video ;) Please let me know it in the comments!

[@air8orne734]

It is! Awesome :)

[@Circuitsofthepast]

Thank you :)

[@StraightOuttaPaddock]

you doing great job, need more attention, you deserve it! Love those old tracks

[@Circuitsofthepast]

@@StraightOuttaPaddock Thanks!

[@glenchapman3899]

I am glad I am not the only one fascinated by stuff like this. A pile of bricks in the middle of nowhere and I start trying to figure out what was there, what did it look like etc etc.

[@BoyFromBelgium99]

I'm Belgian and I love every Belgian track. Yes Spa and Zolder are more famous but Nivelles was certainly also a nice add to the list. It's sad that they abandoned this track. They could've made something else out of it like a karting circuit...

[@pitmanzek5436]

I live in Nivelles, I was searching the location of the old circuit and found your video. I'm walking right now on the older track in the business park. Thanks for your video. I know more about this place.

[@Circuitsofthepast]

Great you post a message from the track :) But look out for the police as there is a police station right on the old Start/Finish Straight ;) By the way, the road where you enter the circuit is where the grandstand used to be.

[@joachimcieters-photo3499]

I do really love your content! The nostalgia, the lost feeling, the memories, this really shows that motorsport isn’t just a sport. It’s more like a culture. Thank you!!

[@Circuitsofthepast]

You're welcome!

[@brianwhitson6615]

Very interesting video. Quite amazing how a major structure such as a race track can disappear in a few decades. In my home city of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, we have had two race tracks disappear. One hosted a Can-Am race for a few years while the other one hosted a series of INDYCAR races. Neither venture was a financial success so the land was sold and the bulldozers soon arrived.

[@gotham61]

I was there for the Grand Prix in 1974. I went with my father and a couple of school friends, and sat in the grandstand on the outside of the hairpin. This was my first Grand Prix, although I also went to the British Grand Prix a couple of months later. We lived just a few miles away in Waterloo. Very sad to see how it looks today.

[@Circuitsofthepast]

Yes, sad the circuit is lost. But cool you saw it in it's short glory days. When I visited Nivelles for the first time it was an abandoned track, short before demolition.

[@robsonrcv]

Memories, i drive here on the circuit in 1995 with my honda nsr 50 and an airplane landing on the long straight stretch of road.

[@Circuitsofthepast]

Sounds interesting.

[@juanjosanchezludena5106]

I have just discovered this channel and I highly recommend it for anyone who has profound interest for the history of motorsport. Please keep up the great content and greetings from Peru!

[@Circuitsofthepast]

¡Muchas gracias!

[@leeanderson1837]

i learnt to ride a motorbike there nice long roads and no one about , there was no trees just a bit of small bushes and a lot of broken glass around 1986

[@freejrs]

Amazing and slightly sad now to think of Emerson Fittipaldi driving to victory on that asphalt now overgrown and soon to be lost forever.

[@teed58]

Thank You for all the hard work that goes into making these, to me, very nostalgic and informative videos. Please keep up the fine work.

[@Bojanmarsetic]

Having a house just near an old F1 circuit must be quite an honor.

[@Circuitsofthepast]

Or a police station ;)

[@DaniFold]

i've always wondered, are there houses near/inside brands hatch?

[@davidherber4233]

Always enjoy your videos of abandoned F1 tracks. Thank you for sharing these and making them!

[@Circuitsofthepast]

You're welcome. Glad to hear you enjoy them.

[@mozilla2576]

I totally agree. Great videos and excellent work by Simon for the audio. Thanks to you and your team at CotP.

[@teed58]

Thank You for all the hard work that goes into making these very nostalgic and informative videos. Please keep up the fine work.

[@Circuitsofthepast]

You're welcome

[@brendanwilliams7291]

Great stuff, that’s one circuit that you will never see used for racing anymore.

[@Circuitsofthepast]

Only for a revival on a part of the site.

[@Kimi38]

Thank you for watching these circuit who was 26 miles away from my home.

[@Circuitsofthepast]

The first time I came here was in 1998, when the track was left abandoned. The fate of Nivelles inspired me to start the Circuits of the past project. In this video the full story: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hqmVlZKvj76gpqc

[@Kimi38]

Thank you very much, i'll see it. Continue your channel like that 😉

[@Circuitsofthepast]

Thanks.

[@williamford9564]

I still have a book published in 1973 " Motor Sport Yearbook 1973" by Barrie Gill that chronicles the 1972 Formula 1, Sports Cars and Rally championships. I started following F1 and other racing series on TV in 1972 as a 13 year old. The first F1 race I saw was a broadcast of the Monaco Grand Prix three weeks before this that Jean Pierre Beltoise won in a heavy rain storm. Emerson Fittipaldi took the pole in the 1972 Belgian Grand Prix here at Nivelles. Clay Regazzoni led early, but Fittipaldi took the lead on lap 9 and ran away from there. Regazzoni in a Ferrari blocked teammate and BELGIAN driver Jacky Ickx for many laps before Ickx jammed a throttle and had to drop out. Regazzoni later got punted out by a frustrated Chris Amon. Francois Cevert finished second, Dennis Hulme 3rd and Amon sixth after he had to pit for fuel with 7 laps to go in an era where the cars were supposed to be fueled to run the entire race. The race was also noteworthy in that Jackie Stewart missed his first race since 1966 due to an ulcer.

[@muzzy1965]

Terug een zeer mooie reportage Herman ! Back in the nineties I did the same like Herman did. Also visited on my own the old remains of the buildings, walking in the pitsboxes, riding under the tunnel with my motorbike, etc... Even the podium was still there at that time (around 1995 - 1996) Was a little bit scary but glad I did it. Took a lot of pictures. Nice memories !

[@Circuitsofthepast]

Bedankt! Yes it was a little scary because it was illegal to enter the site. But once I was on the track I forgot it :)

[@placeyplacey]

I wonder what the police had been up to down that dead end! Hiding from work...

[@Circuitsofthepast]

Maybe they slept there :)

[@baktru]

And this was the hardest part... What WE got at the start was a map of the actual old track layout and instructions we had to follow that as close as possible until we hit the roundabout for the second time... Then we got tulips for the rest. (From what I remember at least...) We had some confusion at this spot :p kzbin.info/www/bejne/p6PGgqudo89jnbc

[@Circuitsofthepast]

Thanks for the information! Nex time you don't have to paste the whole link. Just insert the time in the text, like this 2:13. It will create an automatic link to the scene.

[@someguyfromthenetherlands394]

Great video!

[@Circuitsofthepast]

Thanks!

[@steffenlauge]

Very good video!

[@Circuitsofthepast]

Thank you!

[@mozilla2576]

Herman 1.....Police 0. Hurray for Circuits of the Past!!

[@tksiro87by]

This circuit would be good nowadays but it’s already been demolished

[@neilwilliams2883]

I find old abandoned race tracks sad lol

[@Circuitsofthepast]

Sad and cool at the same time

[@caspardejonge5902]

Goed gedaan!

[@Circuitsofthepast]

Goed aan de politie ontsnapt? ;)

[@YuriBruschi]

Ciao Herman! I waited a day to make sure I got the KZbin translation, and read Simon's funny story. Did the cops also join your channel? I hope so, ahaha!

[@Circuitsofthepast]

As far as I know they didn't ;)

[@YuriBruschi]

@@Circuitsofthepast your videos, with overlays, Simon's reports, the drone etc. are improving in exponential quality! I recommend, the next purchase for your channel I recommend a folding bike! Strictly from good Dutch ... haha!

[@happysoul1907]

Home Circuit!

[@angelsone-five7912]

A shame but good for Herman.

[@baktru]

And on that same day we had a Regularity Stage that started right there as well ;) Opinions from competitors were.. Yeah that wasn't very interesting actually. It's just an industrial park with a weird corner somewhere...

[@Circuitsofthepast]

Two of these weird corners are the Big Loop. The coolest and most challening part of the track.

[@Kestrel-zc1du]

interesting

[@Circuitsofthepast]

Yeah, a very interesting encounter with the police ;)

[@baktru]

Our start was around here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/p6PGgqudo89jnbc. Across the roundabout follow the old track across the roundabout again and then on for some 6 km more in the rural roads nearby for that stage.

[@DodgeCharger900]

Gelukkig deed de politie niet al te pietlullig (Pietluttig)

[@Circuitsofthepast]

Inderdaad, ze hadden me ook weg kunnen sturen want ik was al een bordje "privéweg" gepasseerd.

[@fabrizioleonebarbosa1036]

It is a pity that history is being erased in this circuit that Brazilian drivers traveled and won

[@mp24x]

I was creating the old circuits from the google Earth

[@Circuitsofthepast]

For a video game?

[@mp24x]

@@Circuitsofthepast no, for my collection 😁

[@karlkonigshofer2629]

How did the police get there? Were they driving through the woods? 😂😂😂😂

[@Circuitsofthepast]

At 4:13 you see them already in the distance. They took the same route like me and turned at the end.

[@SinisterServal]

5:17 how does one day, “God dammit!” In Dutch?

[@Circuitsofthepast]

What's your question? How to say #@%&* in Dutch?

[@SinisterServal]

@@Circuitsofthepast Yeah it was just a funny question because if I was in the same situation at 5:17 I would’ve said the same thing.😅