I used to hate Belgium. Several years ago I was driving from Bordeaux to Assen for the Dutch TT when, while stuck in a traffic jam around Antwerp, I was the victim of a hit and run. A scooter rider apparently late for FP1 was weaving through traffic and somehow failed to see my stationary Chevy Aveo rental, plowing into the back and causing a surprising amount of damage. I guess unlike the rest of us he actually had somewhere to be since he didn’t hang around to exchange information, and I was left with a hefty repair bill. ‘Horrible little place,’ I’d tell anyone who’d care to listen, ‘half of them speak French, and the other half let them.’
So it’s a good thing I’ll try anything twice, because now I love the place. It’s got waffles, and I like waffles. It’s got pommes frites too, and I like them as well. They even do moules et frites, for those who think that regular pommes frites could be improved with un petit quelque chose de la poissonnerie (like me). It’s also home to the legendary Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.
Known colloquially as simply ‘Spa’, Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps is a beautiful, flowing track carved into hillsides in the Wallonian forest. Huge elevation changes accompany long sweeping curves that test the limits of adhesion, and with them the fortitude of cars and drivers alike. Along with one of the most anticipated rounds on the F1 calendar, it’s home to the Spa 24 Hours, being run for the 66th time.
This year’s edition included entries running the latest GT3 customer weaponry from Audi, BMW, Porsche, Aston Martin, Ferrari, Bentley and McLaren, as well as a lone Lamborghini, while many factory race programs made drivers available. As is often the case in endurance racing there were multiple classes running concurrently, with the titles of Pro Cup (three professional drivers), Pro-Am Cup (four drivers with a mix of professionals and amateurs) and Gentleman’s Trophy (four amateur drivers) all up for grabs.
The start of the race consisted of the usual jostling for position, particularly between the faster Pro-Am cars and the slower Pro cars, and it wasn’t long before the safety car was deployed. What followed could kindly be described as a farce.
After the safety car was brought back into the pits and the green flag waved another major accident less than a full lap later caused it to be sent out again. Then again. And again. Over the 90 minutes leading up to the 4 hour mark, not a single lap was actually completed under green flag conditions. In an interview with Radio Le Mans the following morning, Briton Matt Griffin, driving the #54 Ferrari 458 Italia for AF Corse, suggested that the sidewall construction of the Pirelli control tyre was to blame. Under safety car conditions, he reasoned, the tyres would cool down and hence lose pressure. This would allow for more tyre deformation once the race was restarted, meaning they would lose grip more suddenly than they would at a higher pressure, when they would start to slip progressively before crossing the limit of adhesion. He was also not the only one to suggest that the driving standard of several of the amateur drivers was less than ideal: ‘it’s like they weren’t even treating it like a 24 hour race,’ he said.
As dusk made way for darkness a sixth safety car was deployed, however this time the accident that caused it was worse than the others. The race was ultimately red flagged around 9:30 pm and parc ferme conditions were imposed by race direction so as to allow an air ambulance to air lift Marcus Mahy of the #111 Kessel Racing Ferrari 458 Italia to hospital in Liege. There he remained in a coma for a number of hours, however regained consciousness around 2pm on the Sunday, much to the relief of teams, drivers and fans alike.
The race was restarted around 10:30 pm, and (relatively) regular programming resumed.
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| The #3 WRT Audi leads as the race is re-started |
Throughout the night the number #77 BMW Z4 of Marc VDS Racing traded the lead with the number #1 Audi R8 LMS of WRT Audi, however never on track; due to being out of sync on fuel, as each pitted the car behind would inevitably overtake.
Each car had its troubles; due to an electronic problem, the BMW had no ABS, traction control and was down on power, increasing tyre wear while reducing lap times. In the mean time the Audi developed a fuel pick-up problem, meaning it wasn’t able to use the last several liters of fuel in the tank, shortening the number of laps it could complete each stint – and hence more time spent in pit lane.
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| V8 Supercars champ Craig Lowndes pilots the #52 Ferrari 458 Italia of AF Corse around Bruxelles at night. |
Forty minutes from the end German Rene Rast took the wheel of the number 1 car and drove like a man possessed, hunting the #77 car down and closing the 20 second differential over only 10 laps. Finally the lead changed out on track. Rast continued to build a lead, but after just a desperate stint of driving needed to add a splash of fuel to make it to the end. Could all have been for naught?
After 24 hours, the number #1 car won from the #77 car by just 7 seconds, with another WRT Audi rounding out the podium. In the Pro-Am class AF Corse's #53 Ferrari 458 Italia took out the win, with their #52 Ferrari and V8 Supercars hero Craig Lowndes on the Pro-Am podium.
I’ve been lucky enough to visit a number of iconic tracks, and I have to say that Spa is one of the most breathtaking. Eau Rouge is a down-then-uphill left-right kink taken flat out, bottoming out suspension as it leads into the blind crest left hander known as Raidillon. Four-wheel-drifts are the norm around the long, blind-entry Blanchimont. One hundred and four meters in elevation above Eau Rouge at the track’s highest point, Rivage (also known as Bruxelles) consists of a downhill, off-camber, double-apex-180-degree right into another downhill, off-camber 90-degree left. It’s relentless. Just like endurance racing.
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