Nissan Motor Co.'s Infiniti is reportedly seeking for a trademark in the United States for the name "Eau Rouge," a famous bend in the Belgium Formula One race track and also the name of the company's upcoming luxury car worth over $100,000.
The Eau Rouge bend is an uphill portion of the Spa-Francorchamps race track that was built back in the 1920s. The bend is known as "the most beautiful and dangerous" in car racing, as said in A.J. Baime's Go Like Hell: Ford, Ferrari and Their Battle for Speed and Glory at Le Mans.
Eau Rouge means red water, with the name given to the racing track bend coming from a stream that goes through the race course and into the Ardennes forest.
Eau Rouge is also the name of Nissan Infiniti's latest luxury car project. Named the Infiniti Q50 Eau Rouge, the vehicle is currently a prototype. The company is still testing the car's components and is still deciding whether to begin production of the so-called super sedan. Even the car's name is not yet final, according to Infiniti spokesman Stefan Weinmann.
Weinmann, who added that the biggest market for the Infiniti brand is in the United States, said that he did not know of any objections regarding the use of the Eau Rouge name from the Spa-Francorchamps race track, which has been owned by Belgium's regional Wallonian government since 2005. The regional government paid a sum of about $20 million to keep the annual Formula One race at the race track after the announced bankruptcy of the event promoter.
Infiniti has brought the Q50 Eau Rouge prototype to the Eau Rouge bend, confident that the vehicle can conquer the bend without any trouble.
The first man behind the wheel of the Q50 Eau Rouge vehicle in an attempt to successfully navigate the bend is Infiniti Director of Performance and four-time Formula One world champion Sebastian Vettel, followed by American professional racer Parker Kligerman and Chinese billiards world champion Pan Xiaoting.
Vettel has been a part of the development of the super sedan, which uses the same drivetrain and engine of the powerful Nissan GT-R. With these under the car's hood, the Q50 Eau Rouge can reach supercar speeds, aided by its Formula One-inspired aerodynamics.
The Eau Rouge bend should be taken on by drivers with the fastest speed possible to be able to maintain good momentum as their cars blast through the corner.
