ROUND 2 Track Highlight
Spa Francorchamps is nestled in the Belgian Ardennes countryside near the town of Francorchamps, in the municipality of Stavelot. Spa is currently home to the Formula 1 Belgian Gran Prix, Blancpain Endurance Series: Spa 24 Hours, Would Endurance Challenge: 6 Hours of Spa, and the Spa-classic. The Formula 1 layout, that most of us are accustom to, is 4.35 miles long with 20 turns. The current lap record of 1:47.263 was set in 2009 by Sebastian Vettle driving for Red Bull. Spa Francorchamps has had over 6 total layouts since it was designed in 1920. Now that we have discussed the basics lets dive into the magnificent history of this track.
In 1920 two individuals by the names of Jules De Thier and Henri Langlois Van Ophem, designed the original pre-war layout. The original triangle-shaped course used public roads between the Belgian towns of Francorchamps, Malmedy, and Stavelot. These public roads were lined with houses, trees, electric poles, barnyards, fields, and other obstacles. Prior to 1970, there were no safety modifications of any kind done to the circuit and the conditions were virtually identical to everyday civilian use. Jackie Oliver was quoted as saying "if you went off the road, you didn't know what you were going to hit". The first race was held in 1922, and in 1924 saw the first running of the 24 Hours of Francorchamps. The first Grand Prix took place in 1925. During this time Spa was considered to be the fastest road circuit in Europe. Drivers would be almost flat out for entirety of the 3 - 4 minute lap. Most corners would be taken at speeds upwards of 180 miles per hour. Like the Nurburgring and Le Mans circuits, Spa became notorious for fatal accidents. To give historic prose to the danger, during the 1960 Belgian Grand Prix 2 drivers, Chris Bristow and Alan Stacey were both killed within 15 minutes. Alan Stacey's accident was caused by a bird hitting him in the face. During that same weekend Sterling Moss had crashed at Burnenville during practice and was severely injured. Due to the high risk of danger, and the lack of safety modifications Formula 1 boycotted the circuit in 1969. This would be the last time Formula 1 raced at Spa until 1983 on the modern layout of Spa.
After World War II Spa Francorchamps went under some changes. In 1930 the chicane at Malmedy was elimnated, making the course even faster, but the was eventually re-installed in 1935. In 1939, "Virage de Ancienne Douane" was removed and cut short, thus giving birth to the Eau Rouge / Raidillon uphill sweeping corner. In 1947 Spa had more extensive changes done. The chicane at Malmedy was again removed, and was made part of the Masta Straight. The slight right-hander that was originally Holowell was eliminated. Finally, instead of going through a slight left-hander that went into the town of Stavelot and a sharp right-hander at a road junction in Stavelot, a shortcut was built that became a very fast, very wide right-handed turn that bypassed Stavelot. After all of these changes the final configuration of "Old" Spa was 9 miles long. In the final days of the "Old" configuration drivers were able to average speeds of 150 miles per hour around the circuit. In 1979 the birth of the modern configuration began. The length was cut down from 9 miles to just 4. The start/finish line was moved from the downhill straight into Eau Rouge, to the straight before the La Source hairpin in 1981. The modern layout of Spa is still a fast hilly route through the Ardennes with speeds in excess of 205 miles per hour. Spa Francorchamps as a circuit has an illustrious history, but there are a few sections of the circuit that truly define Spa.
Eau Rouge / Raidillon combination is by far the most stand out feature of this beautiful circuit. If anyone says "Spa Francorchamps" I bet Eau Rouge is the image in your head. To be specific Eau Rouge is only the left-hander at the bottom and the following right-hander that leads steeply uphill is Raidillon. Fernando Alonso explains this section best "You come into the corner downhill, have a sudden change of direction at the bottom and then go very steep uphill. From the cockpit, you cannot see the exit and as you come over the crest, you don't know where you will land. It is a crucial corner for the timed lap, and also in the race, because you have a long uphill straight afterwards where you can lose a lot of time if you make a mistake. But it is also an important corner for the driver's feeling. It makes a special impression every lap, because you also have a compression in your body as you go through the bottom of the corner. It is very strange - but good fun as well.".
Blanchimont is the high-speed left-hand turn, present in both the old and new layouts of the circuit. This turn and the approach to it have caused serious accidents over time, the most recent in 2001, when Luciano Burti lost the front wing of his Prost due to a clash with Eddie Irvine's Jaguar, losing front downforce and steering, leaving the track at 185 mph and piling into the tire wall, the impact knocking him out and burying the car into a mound of tires. Problems have also happened in lower classes of racing with Tom Kristensen have a very violent crash in Formula 3000 car in 1997. After running wide on the entry to the Blanchimont turn and subsequently hitting the wall effectively throwing the monocoque back out in the middle of the track, where it was hit by numerous cars before coming to a complete halt. Lastly, Blanchimont was the scene where in 1992 after Erik Comas had crashed heavily during Friday's session, Aryton Senna stopped, disembarked his car and sprinted to help the injured driver, with other cars driving past at racing speeds.
There are very few circuits with as much history, legends, and myths as Spa Francorchamps, probably only being out-shined by the Nordschliefe and Le Mans. So this Wednesday as we all speed around this circuit maybe we can make a little of our own history, even if it is only a game.
