Cat in Snow - A Caterham Trackday at Spa-Francorchamps Circuit Belgium
Track day at Spa-Francorchamps Circuit in Belgium
In the latest installment of great circuits of the world in a seven, on March 23/24, 2013 I made the trek to the Spa to have a weekend in a Caterham R300 rented from Bookatrack. I have rented this car a few times before having run it at Oulton Park and Silverstone previously.
For those who do not know, Spa-Francorchamps has a long and distinguished history in motor racing. Currently the track is the home of the Belgian Formula 1 Grand Prix plus the Spa 24 hours and Spa 1000km Endurance Race.
Circuit History (from Wikipedia)
“Designed in 1920 by Jules de Their and Henri Langlois Van Ophem, the original triangle-shaped course used public roads between the Belgian towns of Spa, Malmedy, and Stavelot. The track was intended to have hosted its inaugural race in August 1921, however this event had to be cancelled as there was only one entrant. The first car race was held at the circuit in 1922, and two years later saw the first running of the now famous 24 Hours of Francorchamps race. The circuit was first used for Grand Prix racing in 1925.
The old Spa circuit was essentially a speed course with drivers managing much higher average speeds than on other race tracks, a factor that made Spa very popular from its inception. Back then, the Belgians took pride in having a very fast circuit, and to improve average speeds, the former slow uphill U-turn at the bottom of the Eau Rouge creek valley, called the Ancienne Douane, was cut short with a faster sweep straight up the hill, called the Raidillon. Until 2000, it was possible to travel over the racetrack when it was still a public road. At Eau Rouge, southbound traffic was allowed to use the famous uphill corner, while the opposite downhill traffic had to use the old road and U-turn behind the grand stands, rejoining the racetrack at the bottom of Eau Rouge.
The old racetrack continued through the now-straightened Kemmel curves to the highest part of the track, then went downhill into Les Combes, a fast, slightly banked downhill left-hander towards Burnenville, passing this village in a fast right hand sweep. Near Malmedy, the Masta straight began, which was only interrupted by the fast Masta Kink between farmhouses before arriving at the town of Stavelot. Then the track blasted through an uphill straight section with a few kinks called La Carriere, going through 2 ultra-fast turns (an unnamed right-hand turn and then Blanchimont) before braking very hard for the La Source hairpin, and that rejoined the downhill start finish section as opposed to today where the start-finish section is before La Source.
Spa is located in the Belgian Ardennes countryside, and the old circuit was (and still is) used as everyday public road, and there were houses, trees, electric poles, barnyards, fields and other obstacles located right next to the track. Before 1970, there were no safety modifications of any kind done to the circuit and the conditions of the circuit were, aside from a few straw bales, virtually identical to everyday civilian use. Former Formula One racing driver and team owner Jackie Oliver was quoted as saying "if you went off the road, you didn't know what you were going to hit".
Like the Nürburgring and Le Mans circuits, Spa became notorious for fatal accidents, as there were many deaths each year at the ultra-fast track, especially at the 1960 Belgian Grand Prix where 2 drivers, Chris Bristow and Alan Stacey were both killed within 15 minutes (although Stacey's accident was caused by a bird hitting him in the face) and Stirling Moss had crashed at Burnenville during practice and was severely injured. When Armco crash barriers were added to the track in 1970, deaths became less frequent there but the track was still notorious for other factors. The Ardennes Forest had very unpredictable weather and there were parts where it was raining and the track was wet, and other parts where the sun was shining and the track was completely dry. This factor was a commonality on long circuits, but the weather at Spa was always more unpredictable than other long circuits, combined with the fact that it was an ultra-high speed track with all but 1 corner (La Source) being extremely high speed made it one of, if not the most dangerous race track in the world. Multiple fatalities during the 1973 and 1975 24 Hours of Spa touring car races more or less sealed the old circuit's fate, and by 1978, the last year Spa was in its original form, the only major races held there were the Belgian motorcycle Grand Prix and the Spa 24 Hours touring car race; the 1000 km World Sportscar Championship race no longer took place after 1975 and did not come back until 1982.”
Last edited by Croc; 04-13-2013 at 05:56 AM.
Mike
2021 Caterham CSR "CatKong"
2010 Caterham CSR with Cosworth 2.3 Duratec
2018 Caterham 420R with 2L Duratec 210hp at Donington UK
1972 Lamborghini Espada GT
1975 BMW CSL Group 4 (restoration finished - track set up time)
1977 Holden Torana "A9X" (awaiting restoration)
1985 Holden Commodore SS Group A (suspension restoration)
1985 Holden Commodore Group A (suspension set up)
1982 Ferrari 400i (radiator replacement)
1965 Ford Mustang Fastback "Holman Moody"
1992 Ford Escort RS Cosworth WRC (dyno time)
1990 Range Rover 2 door Classic