Now if there is one place in Belgium where you can never be sure of the weather it is the Francorchamps circuit. During this centenary of the circuit, they have spared no expense at Peter Auto to make it as interesting as possible for visitors.
We see the classic races returning every year and that well-known recipe always makes for great starting fields. The Classic Endurance Racing 1 provides the largest starting field. With 66 entries, the track shakes on its foundations during the start.
Clubs are also part of Spa Classic every year, this year was no different but bigger. There was a big gathering of the Porsche 914. With BMW too, the clubs did their best. For instance, there were no less than 9 classic 8 series and I have never seen that together during Spa Classic before.
According to Peter Auto, around 1,300 cars were expected during this weekend. And if we took a good look around, it could be true.
On Friday, the weather gods were really bad to us, from the moment we arrived at the track it rained incessantly until we drove home. It gives a different and sometimes spectacular kind of images but we still prefer to keep it drier. This kind of weather also made us move a little less.
We kept it mainly near the Raidillon, Eau Rouge, La Source and the Bus Stop. And of course the pit lane where there is always something to do. We are happy to take you along for a while.
The Pit Lane
Ready for a trip in a time machine? The offer ranges from a 1951 Aston Martin DB2 Sports to a 2011 Ferrari 458 Italia GT3. So we’re talking 60 years of motorsport history here. If you have never visited Spa Classic before then you should definitely consider it. The pit lane, which by the way is freely accessible, is buzzing with activity.
Teams prepare their car for free practice, qualifying or the race but always with full focus. Just changing a gearbox or throwing open the whole engine. You can experience it all here!
After driving e.g. qualifying, there is usually not much time to relax as the car has to be back in tiptop shape for the race.
Peripheral animation & Automobilia
I personally have been coming to Spa Classic for 10 years now and Joris even longer and never before have we seen so many exhibitors.
On Friday, however, we feared the worst for the many vendors. It literally varied between raining and pouring all day! As a result, there were also rather few people and the stalls remained empty.
However, on Saturday the weather turned and around noon we could see that we may never have seen so many people at Spa Classic before. So clearly things can change. The number of visitors also shows that the level of Spa Classic is clearly high enough to make so many people enthusiastic about coming down to the circuit.
At times, there was simply no getting through as witnessed by the picture above.
Porsche 917 expo
The Porsche Motorsport department designed the 917 Group 4 sports car specifically for the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the World Championship. The number one was built in 1969 as the first of a total of 25 examples required for homologation. The 917-025 was the last 917 built and was sold to the Zitro Racing Team in July 1970.
The 917/10 we see above is in Can-AM livery and driven by Jo Siffert at the time.
The main successes the Porsche 917 can add to its record are, of course, victory at the Le Mans 24 Hours in 1970 and 1971. In 1970, it was Hans Herrmann and Richard Attwood with the 917KH #23. In 1971, the previous success was confirmed by Gijs van Lennep and Helmut Marko with their 917KH #22. Not only did they win the 24 Hours of Le Mans, they also set two records that lasted for no less than 39 years. They achieved an average speed of 222.3 km/h and covered a distance of 5,335 kilometres in 24 hours.
At the Expo, we were able to admire a total of five Posche 917s. Fewer than predicted but still impressive to see these standing together. Our reporter Joris made a report on this recently.
The races
We were present on Friday & Saturday so saw mostly qualifications and some races on Saturday. Like every edition, we are always amazed at how far they push their sometimes really expensive machines to the limit. Pushing the limits and the urge to still get that podium is what makes motorsport so challenging and exciting.
Porsche 2.0L Cup
A starting field with 26 competitors and pre-1966 as one of the conditions, for the rest every car is quasi identical. That is the cocktail that can still make this kind of race interesting. That of course gives a race where it comes down purely to the pilot. And you can notice some big differences there. For instance, we saw Andrew JORDAN set the fastest lap with a time of 3:02.676 and an average speed of 138 km/h. The slowest’s fastest lap sat at 3:23.713 which is still over 20 seconds slower and that with the same car. The winners of this race were the duo Matthew HOLME/Andrew JORDAN
Classic Endurance Racing 1
With 66 participants at the start, this was the largest group with cars from 1966 to 1974. The period when big names like Jacky Ickx, Henri Pescarolo and Gérard Larrouse ruled the roost. The variety of cars here is greater than ever. Here, for instance, we see the mighty Ford GT40 battling with the rather modest Chevron B19. The Porsche 910, the Ferrari 512M or the many Lola T70s also battle it out.
We could even enjoy the exceptionally beautifully lined Ferrari 312P. Pole was for the duo Max BANKS / Andrew BANKS with their 1968 McLaren M6B
They unfortunately could not convert the pole into a win as they had to narrowly beat the Lola T70 Mk.3B of David & Olivier HART after an exciting battle.
It was in this series that we were able to mount our Go-Pro on the No.55 Chevron B19 of the duo François RIVAZ/Frank STIPPLER.
The video was made during qualifying where they managed a creditable ninth place. During the race, they still managed to climb up to sixth place. The mirror may be a bit in the way but it gives a good idea of how the pilot experiences the whole thing. The car was prepared by Complete Motorsport Solutions
Classic Endurance Racing 2
In this series, we see GTs and Prototypes from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s. Here we see the Porsche 930 and 935 turbo making their appearance. From the 1977 season, the Porsche 935 was offered to teams competing in the Brands World Championship. Thus, you saw the 935 mainly in the IMSA GT championship and in the German DRM. The 935 also managed to win the 1979 24 Hours of Le Mans.
We could enjoy the BMW M1 with its fantastic-sounding inline six. But Erik Qvick’s BMW 320i Turbo, which featured our Go-Pro last year, was also on hand. He took pole with a whopping 3.3 seconds ahead of second!
Erik too could not convert his pole into a win during the race. The top spot went to this Lola T298 of Stéphane Nguyen.
The Group C surprise
Initially, Group C Racing was not expected so it was a pleasant surprise that they were included in the programme last minute after all. With 15 cars entered, it was a nice starting field. Qualifying took place in the rain. It does make for some nice images but with these kind of cars on a wet track is not really simple it seems to us.
Pole went to Olivier HART with his 1990 Jaguar XJR-11 but the win went to this 1990 Mercedes-Benz C11 with Kriton LENDOUDIS at the wheel.
Endurance Racing Legendsi
The combination of LMP, GT1 & GT2 makes for a downright impressive starting field. Believe us, when 54 cars of this calibre throw everything open, the whole of Spa-Francorchamps shakes. Bringing these three series together again gives you great variety.
We cover a time span from 1994 to 2011 and go from an Aston Martin to a Zytek. In the GT2 range, we could even briefly enjoy this exceptional 2005 Spyker C8 Spyder GT2R.
Much more impressive was the battle of the Bentley Speed 8 above with the Dome S101. It would be the Dome S101 of the VERCOUTERE / Alex MÜLLER team that would take pole. It is also one of the few that would also walk away with the win during the race.
In the GT2 series, pole went to Philip KADOORIE with his 2009 Ferrari F430 GTC Evo. And as in the LMP series, the race win here too went to the pole owner. Philip KADOORIE completed his fastest lap in 2:46.782 with an average speed of151.2 km/h.
Classic Touring Challenge
This series focuses on the first models that participated in various touring championships before 1966. This includes e.g. the British Saloon Car championship but also European Touring Car championship.
Greater contrasts than in this race could not be found at Spa Classic. The tiny minis fight against the giant Ford Falcons. Pole was taken by an Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GTA of the duo Max BANKS & Andrew BANKS but the Austin Mini with start number 84 picked up fourth place nicely anyway. During the race, the supremacy of the Alfas was overwhelming, with the first five places all being for Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GTAs.
Heritage Touring Cup
As always, this series is dominated by BMW and Ford, the occasional Alfa seems to be almost ‘accidentally’ in between. However, it does not take away from the fact that this is always a very exciting race. As such, the Ford Capri’s are really formidable opponents for the BMWs. Once again, Yves Scemama’s Ford Capri RS3100 took pole. The Capri had a lead of 2.9 seconds over the first BMW.
The top three in qualifying were exactly replicated during the race as it was won by a wide margin (29 seconds) by Yves Scemama’s Capri RS3100.
Sixties Endurance
Shelby Cobras, Jaguar E-Type’s, Lotuses, Austin-Healey’s etc…. Yes we are clearly in the 1960s here. With 64 cars at the start, this is the second-largest starting field.
Even though the Cobras seem supreme it is Jonathan MITCHELL’s Jaguar E-Type that wins the title on a two-hour race with a mere 8 seconds’ lead.
The Gentlemen Challenge
Possibly the oldest star field, most of the cars date from the 1950s to early 1960s. The drivers follow some golden rules, respect and fair-play.
However, that does not mean slow driving though, most know the throttle well.
They may be the oldest cars but they may also be among the more expensive, we see an Aston Martin DB2/4, several Ferrari 250GT SWB, some Porsche 904/6, some Listers but also the stunning Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ2. This is a group we see growing every year, this edition there were 56 entries.
The clubs
Every year, of course, there are plenty of clubs present. Only this year it really stood out to us. Maybe they were better placed but to our feeling there were just more of them and they packed big. We never saw such a large collection of Datsun 240Zs together before.
The Morgan, BMW, Ferrari, Ford, Jaguar, Mazda, Porsche, Triumph and a number of other clubs also signed present.
Conclusion:
Peter Auto does it again, we thought this edition would literally fall into the water. Fortunately, the weather gods decided otherwise and Saturday was an unprecedented success in terms of attendance. Over 25,000 petrolheads (or at least most of them) came to enjoy the spectacle. The appeal of the Spa Francorchamps Circuit and the cocktail served by Peter Auto are clearly catching on.
Appointment next year sometime in the month of May.
