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This page compares a number of situations from the time that “Nivelles-Business Park” was “Circuit Nivelles-Baulers” with the current situation. It gives a good idea how the abandoned Nivelles-Baulers circuit turned step by step into a business park.
The start of a lap at the lost Nivelles-Baulers circuit
Above the Start/Finish straight in 1998. Under the sand humps on our left hand was an additional chicane which optionally could reduce the speed before the hill. In practice, it was only used sometimes to change the circuit layout for some variation. The photo below was taken almost at the same place in 2014. On this section they doubled the main road, the old straight was in the center of this road.
Turn One
The first corner of the Nivelles-Baulers circuit in 1998. Then a kink with a very small radius.
The site of Turn One 17 years later. The original corner was on this parking lot. The road in the background is the rounded version of the corner. This new corner is further inside, on the site of the trees at the 1998 photo.
The finest part of the Nivelles-Baulers circuit
The Big Loop in 1998.
Construction of the new road in 2003, on the site of the Big Loop.
The Big Loop today, the road still has the same shape like the circuit once. A little consolation…
Turn Four
Above Turn Four in 1998, below the actual situation.
Site of Turn Four in 2013. Work in progress…
Same site in 2015 when the work was finished.
In 2013 it was easy to recognize where Turn Four was, on the space between the trees…
Now it’s much harder to recognize!
The back straight
The old back straight in 2014, when it still was an untouched circuit ruin…
This photo has been taken on the back straight in the summer of 2017. As you see, the work is in progress to turn this part of the former Nivelles-Baulers circuit also into a business park.
The last remains of the Nivelles-Baulers circuit…
The photos above and below were both taken at thelowest point of the Nivelles-Baulers circuit. They show Turn 8, seen against the driving direction. The photo above is from 1998. You can see the Control Tower on the background. The photo below was taken in 2017. Even if the trees wouldn’t block the view you couldn’t see the Control Tower, because it was already demolished in 1999.
In 1972 and 1974 Emerson Fittipaldi was here underway to the chequered flag. In 1998 it was me on the same place with my VW Scirocco (above). Now there’s a roundabout (below)!
This is the last piece of the Nivelles-Baulers circuit. How long?
In the video playlist above you can see how the Nivelles-Baulers Circuit changed into a business park.
The pit lane
The pits and Start/Finish above in 1998 . Below the same place in 2014.
The backside of the pits in 1998. Underneath the Control Tower was a passage to the pit lane.
The site of the passage in 2013…
And this is how it looks today!
Above the tunnel to the paddock and the pits in 1998. Below the site of the tunnel in 2014. The road is still there but is now leading to a garage!
The aerial above shows the situation of a couple of years ago. Only the fast chicane and the hairpin are still there, and the last one is covered with tons of earth! A new connection will be build just before the S-bend to the roundabout.
This most recent video shows how Nivelles looks in 2022…
Read the full history of this lost race track in the main article >>
© Text & photos: Herman Liesemeijer
Aerial: Vincent Mahieu Source: www.pixelsbw.com
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