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
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 :)
Personally, I prefer the Corner With No Name.
Damn I was walking on the old part of the track and never realised!
THANK YOU I’ve been trying to get this across to people for so long..