What Happened To Belgium's Factory Rooftop Test Track?
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- Опубликовано: 6 май 2024
- Yes! It's the second - and therefore almost certainly final - episode of my exciting new series about 1920s factory rooftop test tracks. And today, we are visiting the village of Nessonvaux in Belgium to find out what happened to the old Impéria factory and its historic circuit...
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MORE INFO
Excellent video by @Retroschaft exploring more of the track and its history - • ABANDONED RACE TRACK &...
Article by DHnet announcing plans to redevelop the site (from 2019) - www.dhnet.be/archives-journal...
IMAGE CREDITS
Historic images of the circuit by Musée Impéria - profile.php?...
Next week: "Hello and Hola from Buenos Aires!"
All we need is a cheap plane ticket and a time machine and we can make this happen
@@TheTimTraveller Not sure about cheap plane tickets, but I should have a rubber boat somewhere you can borrow. You're on your own about the time machine though.
@@Thiesi That would be novel, crossing the channel in a dingy in the opposite direction.
You should look for that missing E to become the Time Traveller again.
@@ThiesiHe broke the "time traveller" in the intro, no hope anymore.
This is my favourite 1920's test track on top of buildings youtube channel.
It's also my favorite "highest point in flat European countries" RUclips channel.
@@Gebieter And my 'but of course we are not here to see any of that' RUclips channel
But I still miss the second train whizzle beep from the intro.
Ha! There are MUCH BETTER test track on top of buildings youtube channels. I feel like I’m slumming when I come here.
Easily top three.
Belgium and "no-one around, nothing seems to be happening" is the longest running gag in history. There are highways with roadwork project signs along the road dating back to the 2000's, lol.
In this case it really depends on when it was last sold. If you are going to redevelop it, you'll have to draw up plans and get them approved before you can start any work. That alone will easily take up over a year on any decently sized project.
@@Hans-gb4mv This phase can easily take decades to complete in Belgium.
"nothing happening" is a normal workday in Wallonia.
And the Paleis de Justice scaffolding that was so old it was condemned as unsafe, removed, fresh put up and still the Court renovations didn't move 🙃
@@alan-sk7ky Yeah, was thinking the exact same. One of the biggest neo-classical buildings in Europe, and it is just caged for decades by pure neglect
Tonight on Tim Gear:
Some trees get in the way
We learn the history of Belgian car production
And Tim uses his finger to demonstrate how cars drove around the test track
Hi from a train driver who operate from Liege-Guillemins! I can see the circuit from the train when I ride towards Liege on the railway line 37 (from the curve you can see in the background at 04:40), the one you used to get to Nessonvaux. By the way, the tunnels on that line were excavated in 1841, and are probably among the oldest still in use in the world...
There are older tunnels in the UK.
@@simontay4851Certainly, yes, as it's the country were railways were invented, but I wonder how many tunnels of this age were in continuous use for the originally intended purpose up to this day.
Argh, why do you say that? Now Tim has to come back for tunnel nerding. 😂
@@simontay4851 He's not claiming they ARE the oldest. Thank you Train Driver for the interesting info.
@@simontay4851 Yes, but not many, and not by much. There are a total of four that are older, three of which are still in use as railway tunnels (and have been continuously, as far as I can tell). These are the four oldest railway tunnels in the world:
- Fritchley Tunnel (constructed in 1793, but no longer in use, so it doesn't really count)
- Thames Tunnel (constructed 1825-1843, and still in use)
- Liverpool Lime Street Railway Tunnel (constructed 1838-1841, and still in use)
- Box Tunnel (constructed 1838-1841, and still in use)
NQR-9000's tunnel is the fourth oldest worldwide. I think that's pretty good!
The Soundtrack:
1. Jessica - The Original Top Gear Theme
2. The Tim Traveller Theme
3. Tintin theme (this is in Belgium after all)
4. Tomorrow's World theme.
5. The Chain - Fleetwood Mac (Grand Prix theme)
6. Ghost Town - The Specials
7. Wish you Were Here (UK TV Series) theme
Utter class as usual. Thanks Tim.
And nobody thus far has mentioned the small matter of himself playing these tunes on the ol' Joanna for our delight, delectation and why not, degustation aussi‽
In German Tintin is called "Tim und Struppi"!
3:28 This isn't *the* Tomorrow's World theme --- the well-known one. It's some new one used from 1987 to 1993, according to ruclips.net/video/yc9v1vfBlHs/видео.html
Can't wait for Tim to have an excuse to play "Twilight Cafe" on one of his videos (and if he's already done it, please direct me to whichever videos they are! Yes, I am a Fassbendian, how did you guess?)😅
Isn't the Tim intro tune a piano cover of "Jenni Vartiainen - En haluu kuolla tänä yönä" ? I've always thought so, since it's a song in Finnish and the original intro video included him in Finland (Suomenlinna, in Helsinki).
Poke-Your-Camera-Through-The-Gaps-O-Vision is my new favourite method of documentary cinematography. Well done Tim.
I liked that comment too!
I really hope they keep that old castle-like building as well when redeveloping the property. It looks just too cool to be demolished.
Love the subtle Tintin cartoon-theme in the background as you put the journalist hat on.
Came here for this comment. Absolutly lovely.
Such a great little nod! Particularly being in Belgium and all that!
As a Belgian it makes me proud to learn we were 100 years ahead when the Pieper was introduced.
Never heard about this brand until today.
Thanks for the video !
I guess they were squeaking a bit too much... 😂
We also invented the first working car (minature) and the first combustion engine using fossil fuels. Too bad it was gas and the world went with Benz his gasoline engine.
The drone footage saved this video else we'd all be wondering what it looks like now. Nice work, TIm!
Not to mention the Put-Your-Camera-Through-The-Gaps-O-Vision!
I was about to say "Tim needs a drone".....and then he delivered.
Yeah but he could make a drone footage of the whole circuit, when no one was around :)
@@exleguswatch out!!! They are a lot of hunters there ... and drones ... ducks ... it’s the same, it fly ...
The easter eggs in your background music are always appreciated!
3 this time! 🙂
The Chain?
people getting angry!
@@kchorst5037 topgear (start) , bbc f1(4.15 , indeed the chain) and tintin ( 2:36 )
Not to forget Ghost Town by The Specials
Nessonveaux fait partie de la commune de Trooz et a effectivement été une des communes les plus touchées par les inondations. La rénovation du site a été votée en janvier 2024, selon le journal la meuse : La création d’un hall omnisports et d’un musée sur le site Impéria va être réalisée. La façade classée sera conservée, ainsi qu’une partie du circuit sur le toit." Mais le fait d inscrire les travaux dans le budget de la commune ne veut pas dire que les travaux vont forcément débuter cette année. Cela dépendra de l avancement des projets de la même enveloppe budgétaire... et des résultats des élections communales d'octobre 2024. Si la majorité change, les travaux peuvent aussi changer...
In other words: It will take ages something happens.
About the Tintin background reference: in the German translations, Tintin is named Tim. Chapeau!
in Dutch TinTin is called " Kuifje, de razende reporter " kinda like Tim :)
Once again, Tim has some of the best music of any RUclipsr.
I want that Intro Theme!!!
5:43 The _banking_ , blistering barnacles!
Proper steep, especially the second bit from this angle.
And no seatbelts back then.
Formidable.
The colours covering Liège-Guillemins station are a temporary installation by French artist Daniel Buren which was supposed to be removed in October 2023.
Instead they plan to remove them in June 2024. (imo it should become permanent, the station looks much better with it, but oh well.)
@@shirou9790 Agreed-while Calatrava's all-white designs are spectacular when newly built, the colours are a good distraction for the fact that things in the real world don't stay clean.
Mons isn't finish being built yet, and we already got orange rust stains on the white paint in places.
Thanks Cala...
@@hugobouma Oh but they do. We pay hundreds of thousands of euros every year for workers to risk their life to climb on the structure at night and hand-clean every single window pane.
Calatrava doesn't do practical, but he'll be damned if he lets his creations become dirty.
Similar in Mechelen (the small part that is new for now, work in progress, like a lot in Belgium)
Tim, coming from a Belgian, thank you for being the only living human being able to make Belgium look like a legit tourist destination. :P
Don't hesitate if you ever are lacking "original" destinations ideas, I've a few industrial (let's say "peculiar") places to recommand to you. ;)
Going to Italy this fall and mentioned to my non car loving partner that, IF we are in Turin I'd like to drop in on the racetrack. We now have 5 days booked in Turin lol.
Turin is often overlooked in favour of flashier Italian cities (Rome, Florence, Venice) but it definitely has its own thing going on. And if you get bored, Milan is a short hop on the high-speed train, or Genoa is a slightly longer one but still perfectly doable as a day trip. Basically you can't go wrong in Italy! 😎
If you're a car--nut and going to Turin you must carve out time to see their car museum "MAuto" also! It's probably the best car museum i've visited, and I've been to a lot 👍
In Herstal, near Liège, the factory SAROLEA of motorbikes also tested the motorbikes on their roof.
From the blocks of concrete piled against those doors it looks like someone was expecting Hindenburg and Ludendorff to show up any minute.
Good thing Christiansen got there first.
lol. Knowing the Bundeswehr of today, they probably would get stuck at the Border on our own Dragon Teeth Leftovers from WW2...
@@derauditor5748 sssst, dont wake them up ... its quite now in our region ...
I live in nessonvaux ! Would have loved meeting you there :) great to see my abandonned village on this channel!
Bjr. Voici mon commentaire qui vous intéressera : "Hello, my family (mother side) comes from Nessonvaux. My aunt worked in Imperia as a secretary in the beginning in the years '40. 3:06 : the river is "La Vesdre". 4:01 : The door of the old factory cannot be destroyed and is "protected" to maintain the heritage and the "souvenir". 3 years ago, unfortunatly, the Imperia Museum (NOT located in the old factory and not in Nessonaux but in Fraipont (6 km downstream along the river "Vesdre")) was totally destroyed with big mentionned floodings (all the valley from Verviers to Liège was destroyed)."
Now we just need to get this man on a flight to Argentina.
Any day with a new Tim Traveller video is a good day
You should visit the remnants of the abandoned test track at the old DeLorean factory in Dunmurry, outside of Belfast.
Yes, Tim has to go Back to the Future!
Looking forward to the inevitable piano rendition of the _Back to the Future_ theme, should that happen. 😎
Don't forget going back in time to see what it looked like when it was running 🙃.
@@amrastheluckywoof5524 Colin Furze could lend him a his delorean for that trip XD
A time machine would help Tim cover the Chrysler track too.
Another Easter Egg: Look at the map at 8:20. Up in the right-hand corner you can spot a bit of the Vennbahn, which was also the subject of a Tim video.
...and next to it, the Hautes Fagnes, home to Belgium's Highest Mountain ;) There's three or four other videos that are only just off the map too. This little corner of Europe has an unusually high concentration of Tim-video-material!
@@TheTimTraveller Yes, it would appear that the people living there have had more than a fair share of "interesting times".
@@TheTimTraveller It's Belgium... what do you expect?
@@TheTimTraveller Are you by any chance secretly being paid by the Belgian tourist board?
@@TheTimTraveller Neutral Moresnet is even showing on the map as its old border crosses through Kelmis!
Just a note on the Arms Manufacturer. Liege was historically a very important European centre for Firearms manufacture, from small one man enterprises to large conglomerates. It produced everything from cheap Pocket Pistols to elaborate high-end civilian arms to large quantities of military weapons.
These days that legacy remains with FN Herstal having their HQ there. They are a large multinational that owns firms like Winchester and, obviously, the famous FN. And it is all owned by the Regional Government of Wallonia.
Nothing unusual - all standard for Liege 😆
There is so much quality and effort in this channel, and its views do not match the brilliance in the content.
I live in Liège, and seriously I'm so happy to see someone speaking about the town nicely.
And by the way, it's impressive how you say the name of towns (and the station "Guillemins"
who's phonetically more a curse than a gift even for french speaking people) without slaughtering it at all. Hat down!
By the look of it, it's not so much a factory with a test track on it but a a test track that happens to go over a bit of the factory..... The "rooftop" element seems to be rather more a banked curve with some sheds underneath (If i was a guessing man, I'd imagine they were mainly storage....)
I'd even say it was mostly a stretch of viaduct between two factory buildings.
Tim, have you ever considered doing a video on Brooklands racetrack? There's a lot to see there, including the car, bus and plane museum, with a Concorde, and there's also Mercedes Benz World. But the cool bit is the abandon banked F1 racing circuit, which you can actually walk up.
I visited this place last friday, just because of your last video. Looking forward to this one. 😊
Love the topgear, bbc f1 and tintin piano easter eggs...
On tonight's programmmmm....
Tim rides a Train
Tim climbes a hill
and Tim peak's through a fence
Tim Peake's through a fence? The astronaut programme is getting a bit low to the ground! ;-)
Nice nod towards the British car industry with a bit of "Ghost Town" as well.
I love the usage of the Tintin track, seeing as this is an adventure about 1920s Belgium. As well as you doing some investigative journalism.
Thank you for keeping these videos the perfect length. And special props to your renditions of "Jessica" and "The Chain". Well done as always!
Merci pour ce moment. 😊 C’était vraiment très intéressant. Et j’ai beaucoup aimé l’utilisation de la musique de Tintin pour accompagner le journalisme d’investigation en Belgique !
wow! I live close and never heard of this place, will visit soon!
Tell us if you find locals who do know anything more.
My first thought at around 5:35 was "This looks like it's made when reaching through a barred gate", nice to get it confirmed later in the video. Also, really impressive work to not just filming through the gate but getting your second hand in there to correctly point at things. Now I'm rather curious as to how it must've looked to anyone passing by with you reaching far inside the gate with both hands 😀
James Herriot ?
Always love the quirky, humourous and informative style Tim - the music choices always make me smile too! Nice one! ☺️
I love your great content about my silly little country of Belgium (and also your other content to be honest).
It is good inspiration for myself too. So thank you very much! ❤
Hergé's Adventures of Tim-tim does have quite the catchy theme
With the "Tintin" soundtrack for the "investiagtive journalism" part ! It was perfect !
Who knew there would be more than one rooftop testing track 👏 loving this little series Tim.
3:55 the largest Lego bricks I have ever seen…
Sounds like a challenge....
But i guess this would be to easy for Tim.
I only know of two places that have larger ones. One would be in Kladno.
Fun fact, many of these blocks are made from leftover concrete when the mixer lorry goes back to the plant. Saves wasting it.
There’s definitely some bits there worth keeping - a great find, Tim. I have a feeling it could still look the same in 10 years!
After a lifetime of auto related hobbies...I have not heard of these fantastic looking cars, Thanks for the video my friend
Thank you for your videos. Besides being interesting, they very much add to our mental well being.
7:24 "and Im here in what should be the middle of a working day. There is no one around, and nothing seems to be happening."
Sounds about right for Wallonia 🤭
Another Tim delight - please keep them coming, they're such a joy to watch!
What a cleverly presented and entertaining video this is, many thanks, and keep up the investigative journalism, you make it all work so well
Next time you come around Liège, let me know, there is so much to see !
Thank you for this! Also for so many of your videos that have been so informative and sometimes enabled me to tell my husband things he didn't already know.
I have been years ago. At that time it was easy to enter the testtrack and take pictures. It nice to hear and see that it still exist.
Lmao, with that first view you had me like "why doesn't he have a drone?", then at 4:30 "YEAH DRONE'S HERE!" :D
Haha, I would have loved to fly a drone from that hill at the start, but as you might be able to see from the later shots, it was completely covered in trees. Ever tried launching a drone under a bunch of trees? At my skill level there's no way I was even going to attempt it :)
I love how often Fleetwood Mac’s chain just plays in these videos
It is the theme tune for Formula 1 coverage on British TV.
Dear Tim! Thanks for the great video! INdeed, the floods disrupt here current developments. I assume they pick up the building plans once the floods are forgotten, or alternative flood-proof plans have been proposed.
From above the factory looks like a formwr railway works. Absolutely lovely video tim!
Not me finishing your last video this morning and now you post again! 👌🏾✨
I loved Tintin as a kid and it is just so fun that you have that music.
Very nice to learn about it, thank you. I was there 4 years ago.
It's Belgium, it could take another 50 years to start working there. Those new signs might wither away before anything happens. Especially in Wallonie.
great minds think alike :-)
That makes me think of the scaffolding of the justice palace in Brussels that's something like 40 years old by now, and needs its own renovation. Might be even something for Tim to cover.
@@keesvanreeuwijk7467 40 years temporary? That's nothing compared to this ordinary workman's ladder in Israel. "The "Immovable Ladder" under the window of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem has been in place since 1728 and has apparently remained there since the 1757 status quo arrangement was established for the church (with alleged temporary moves occurring in 1997 and 2009)."
Notice the Top Gear intro in the beginning! Great video once again Tim!
Fascinating as always!
the specials? ghost town? fitting.
Look, he only had the one record in the boot...
@@davidlathrop9360 All stand for the national anthem!
What Happened To Belgium's Abandoned Factory Rooftop Track? At last the answer to the question that has been keeping me up at night since the previous video!
I wasn't banking on that after your great Lingotto video.......
6:26 "the once-great Belgian car industry".... did not know until this second that Belgium even had a car industry....
Audi is producing EVs at their Bruxelles factory.
There must have been at least a dozen Belgian car makers but because of the country's size, they could not compete with foreign makes with bigger domestic markets. You can check out the Wikipedia page in French "Constructeur automobile ayant son siège en Belgique". The Belgian car industry did not end with the bankruptcies of national brands; Ford, Renault, Volvo, Volkswagen had assembly plants for many decades after the war, I believe Belgium was one of the largest car manufacturing countries per capita at some stage. Today, only Volvo and Audi (Volkswagen AG) are still active in the country. Autoworld at the Parc du Cinquantenaire in Brussels has quite an impressive collection of old cars from all over the world, including quite a few older Belgian models on display.
Untill a few days ago they even had a bus industry ...
But who has never heard of Minerva? Charles S. Rolls was a Minerva dealer and Henry Ford was a Minerva driver. 😂
a beautiful piece of industrial archaeology :)
Loved the old-timey piano version of "Ghost Town" - très pertinent!
Great video. Thanks, Tim
You make me learn more on my country .... thank you!
I was so surprised when you got off the train in Nessonvaux, not Buenos Aires.
It'd be cool to have a transatlantic train line, maybe in a couple thousand years.
Hi from Belgium!
And now, Tim is off to Argentina for round 3, so it won't be the last episode at all. Go Tim!
06:58 This Tow-own! Is coming like a Ghost Town! Well played, sir!
I missed Tim... I take this train every days !!!! Just to go to Welkenraedt.
Thanks for the part 2!!! 😁
Thanks for joining my love of history, travel, and motorsport with such an emphasis on the first two. I find a lot of motorsport fans I've met (lol and I'm a former motorcycle track rat and car dragrace pit helper) don't really have a huge interest in the first two, outside of where they concern the last. Yet another banger, as always!
SO COOL! THANK YOU FOR THIS!!!
Two recommendations for one the next videos:
1. Go to Essen in Germany and explore the weird quirks of the local transport system. The Spurbus (Track Bus System on line 146), the very interesting combination of a low-floor meter gauge tram and a high-floor standard gauge Stadtbahn, that in a few places even share stations (and provide some other random things such as abandoned tunnels, platforms with the wrong height like at Rathaus Essen), the Hespertalbahn heritage railway and the Zeche Zollverein, a coal mine that has been turned into a museum.
2. Hamburg: Visit Hamburg and try to find the remains of the abandoned underground line to Rothenburgsort. Go diving at the chalk see in Hemmoor (about 45 mins by train) to see a chalk mine, that has been flooded but left like on the last day of operation, featuring cars, roads and even a underwater railroad crossing
Fantastic video sir.
great video thanks!
Amazing how much I have learned about my own country due to your vids!
Lovely video bud! Even better music in the beginning, Top Gear was the best haha :)
Utter fascinating. I had absolutely no knowledge of any of this.
Half the fun of a Tim video is trying to name all the piano tracks used. Nice use of the Tintin cartoon theme tune!
Keep Traveling, Tim! And keep sending reports! :D
again fantastic video, also that you used the tintin theme. I love tintin! thank you for all the great videos you brought us. ❤
Interesting to see. I hope whatever happens in the future the section of test track is incorporated into the new development.
These tracks are just coooooooool. Never knew they existed til recently.
What a fun coincident. FIAT logos @4:18. :)
And doesn't the building in the foreground @7:28 look strangely modern?
Agreed about the foreground building, it looks like a more recent addition. I got the vibe it had been added as a visitor reception / site management sort of building, in preparation for... something that hasn't happened yet.
@@TheTimTraveller It could be a showroom for future apartments.
Wallonia... They'll get around to it somewhere in the next 50 years if enough subsidies are provided.
Merci Tim
Hello, my family (mother side) comes from Nessonvaux. My aunt worked in Imperia as a secretary in the beginning in the years '40. 3:06 : the river is "La Vesdre". 4:01 : The door of the old factory cannot be destroyed and is "protected" to maintain the heritage and the "souvenir". 3 years ago, unfortunatly, the Imperia Museum (NOT located in the old factory and not in Nessonaux but in Fraipont (6 km downstream along the river "Vesdre")) was totally destroyed with big mentionned floodings (all the valley from Verviers to Liège was destroyed).
Bonjour Didier - thank you for the comment, and for the correction about the museum's location.
If you cannot find any more roof top test tracks then perhaps you could widen your scope and include ground level test tracks. Ford have a brilliant facility at Lommel, in Belgium, but it is difficult to get into, big secure fences and big security guards too. Armstrong Siddeley used to have their own test track at Ansty, near Coventry, but it was really an airfield perimeter road with some snazzy car testing extras - although it is now a building site and very likely all ripped up, which is a shame as the foundations for this track utilised debris from the wrecked city of Coventry after it was bombed in WW2. With total confidence I leave it to you to continue this rather wonderful series that you have started.
Then after he’s done the ground level ones, he can move on to subterranean ones, starting with the Catesby tunnel …
As a former, and now reasonably elderly, Danish, Long Distance Walker, I walked a lot in Belgium also, all over Belgium, during mostly 100km walks, last time before the turn of the Century! And to see You walk around gives a lot of good memories.
I never heard of this Track as, sadly I also missed the left over German Tiger 2 in La Gleize, though I/we also looked at many sights and Museums in Belgium. Finn. Denmark
Don't sell yourself short, Tim. That is an awesome view of a thing. As long as by "thing" you mean tree. The tree is totally in focus. Maybe try to get a picture in winter?
Tim the Rooftop Track Expert 👍👍
Bienvenue à la Belgique Tim!
Welkom in België Tim!
Hopefully some day we’ll see you visit the many other quirks of our wonderful little country 😊
I'm not Belge but isn't it more "Bienvenue en Belgique"?
@@Coccinelf you might be right. French is only my 3rd language so not my best 😀
Despite being born in Liège, never heard of any of this.