The Guide goes racing: The elegance and speed of Spa-Francorchamps
By Straight-Six, published on 3 June 2011
There’s a precise location and moment of truth at the spectacular Spa-Francorchamps race track. It takes place at Eau Rouge, a section of the track which you approach from a long, downhill straight going as fast as your little car will take you. Just before you reach the dip at the bottom of the Eau Rouge “valley”, the track twists left left and then right before you’re sling-shot up an incredibly steep hill whose exit you cannot see given it lies over a crest. The moment of truth is when you decide whether you’re going to brake, or lift off the accelerator. Or go flat-out. And you haven’t driven properly on a track until you take Eau Rouge flat, folks.
So it was that on a sunny day in March Straight-Six found himself back at Belgium’s formidable Spa racing track after a couple of years away from circuit driving (thanks, little Sixes!). He was eager to once again face his own moment of Spa truth after having, on previous occasions, gone over the top of Eau Rouge sideways and even backwards…
Organised by the ever-professional and cheery UK-based BookaTrack, this track day boasted a host of fabulous cars: besides the more obvious Lotus, Porsche, Ferrari, race cars and single-seat terrors a host of tasty metal was present, including a Porsche Carrera GT, Lamborghini Murcielago SV, Ferrari F40 and, most incredibly, a white Ferrari 250 GT SWB! A lovely selection, you’ll no doubt agree.
In the company of the friendly and still vertically-challenged owner of a Lotus Exige Cup 260 and two former Toyota colleagues who had, um, “borrowed” a super-charged Corolla, Six was positively rearing to go. He’d schlepped the family down to Spa from Brussels the day before and fulfilled his parental responsibilities to the T. And now, it was time to make the freshly-fitted Michelin Pilot Sport 2 tires on his M3 scream in agony!
You should know that Six first discovered the sweeping majesty of Spa after being driven round it by a former F1 British driver for the launch of the Ferrari 360 Modena. So, a while back. Fast, open and quite simply glorious in terms of speed and the need for precision, Spa is considered by many to be the greatest circuit track around today. Over its 7-kilometre length, F1 cars hit speeds in excess of 300 kph, and the current lap record is an astounding 1 minute 47 seconds set by Sebastian Vettel in 2009. Respect due.
But enough of champions, legends and history. This post is all normal schmos like us and you tasting the magic of a spectacular track like Spa and pushing ours cars to the limit. And push it we did.
There were moments of hilarity: watching the Corolla get so bent out of shape it was lifting wheels and frying through its brakes…completely. Moments of fear: Six running wide on the La Source hairpin before pulling back onto the line without realising the Lotus Exige had snuck in next to him. And moments of sheer magic.
When you drive on a track, there’s so much to remember, master and keep track of that it can often mask and disrupt the overall experience. It’s when you start to forget about the mechanics and feel sufficiently comfortable with the track that you start to enter somewhere special. A place where it all falls into place without a single element standing out, without you even consciously thinking about what you’re doing. You simply understand the why and dismiss the how. Really great drives are akin to moving into another plane altogether.
This is by now sounding rather artsy fartsy to you all, no doubt, but those who’ve been there will know what we’re talking about. Past the fear, the physics, even the car itself lies a moment of absolute focus in which it all blends together. And you sit at the core of it.
The result? Well, Six drove faster than he’s ever done before, with a 3:09 lap time. And the Lotus Exige? He couldn’t get past. Sure, Six’s lap time is almost double what Vettel posted (nobody’s perfect), and there were far faster rides that monstered the little one. Completely.
But we can assure you that no-one else drove a car equipped with two child seats in the rear at Spa on that glorious day in March. The same car that put the frighteners on a Porsche 996 GT3 MkI so badly its driver started to make mistakes. Don’t get us wrong: we still lust after the purer metal of a GT3 or Lotus Exige. But it speaks volumes that an 8 year-old, glorified 3-series coupe can still hold its head high on the track, before turning the airco and tunes back on and easing the entire family back home.
This was a long ways from the first time Six hit the track. It was back in 2000, and he’d managed to get his hands on a Porsche 911 Turbo press car with well-worn tires and an interior beaten up by the car hacks that had monstered it for some 26,000 kilometres. Six and his buddy Ed decided to head out to the Nordschleife (loosely known as the Nurburgring, or the Ring) for a couple of laps. As one must.
This is the kind of silly shit you pull in your early twenties: without a care in the world, you head out to the world’s most dangerous, fiercesome circuit on a public track day and decide to “go for it” in a 420-horsepower supercar when all you’ve driven is Ford Fiesta from the late 70s.
But go for it they did, before rounding a corner at 120 kph only to discover maintenance vehicles in the middle of the track. Porsche’s stability control and brakes have never been so well tested. Neither has the liquid-resistance of the Turbo’s seats. Lesson learned.
In the years that followed, Six decided some serious driver training was required, courtesy of a former European Rally champion (Wolfgang Weber) and Peugeot’s dedicated 3-day course. Much more car testing followed (many RUFs were savoured) and other race tracks were discovered, including Hockenheim and a charming little track in Northern Italy whose name has long since been forgotten. Six even returned to the Ring, this time in Toyota Celica, with Herr Weber and did things a little better this time round.
But if driving the Ring is akin to getting thrown into a big bag with a snake, an angry wild cat and a pack of rats, Belgium’s very own Spa-Francorchamps race circuit is akin to receiving an invitation to attend a black-tie gala dinner. Seriously.
This track day was, in many ways, a trip down memory lane, with all the advantages and compromises that have marked time since the last trip to Spa. But the circuit remains undimished in its greatness. Don’t ever let it be said the Belgians can’t do anything right. We have the race track (and the beer) to prove you wrong.
But there’s nothing like seeing what really happened on that day, is there? So, without further delay, feel free to tuck into the adjacent video that shows a lithe, little Lotus Exige Cup 260 filming, uh, Six’s ass as he puts in a decent lap time – albeit not perfect. The latter part of the video shows a particularly frustrating sequence in which an asinine Lotus Exige driver (look at the colour of his ride, fer Chrissakes!) repeatedly blocks Six from passing when he’s clearly the faster car. Anways, bless the M3 CSL that came tearing through to put things right!
The Guide goes racing: The elegance and speed of Spa-Francorchamps
It’s not all luxury watches and three star meals ’round here. Oh no. Every now and then, we like to put our lives in our own hands and hope for the best. Straight-Six has been doing just that: blasting ’round one of the world’s greatest race tracks at ludicrous speeds in his M3. Unfortunately, he lived to tell the tale. Not to mention brag about the incredible video footage he brought back too…
5 Responses to “The Guide goes racing: The elegance and speed of Spa-Francorchamps”
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My pleasure, Uncle Ian! And where might you be driving and in what?
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I will be whizzing my way around L’Anneau du Rhin in Alsace in a Forumula Renault 2000. I suggest that the authorities in Alsace warn the population to stay indoors that day!
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You lucky man, you! Worth getting a sporty rental car given the roads in Alsace are tremendous. Pounded up and down them in a RUF several years back, in a caravan of 500 hp+ RUFs driven by big-bellied, middle-aged farts. Nice guys, but not many knew how to drive hard…
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Sounds fantastic, Uncle Ian.
I look forward to reading your full report of the day on The Prodigal Guide….
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Ian Skellern
17 June 2011
Fantastic article thank you Straight-Six. I read it as research for my own track day next week.