2023 - Returning to Spa-Francorchamps - Part 1 - Track Day Reports

Its been a quite a few years since I was last at Spa, since COVID and work got in the way. This time I was bringing a few USA7s folks to enjoy the trip. Bruce (of Beachman Racing) and his local Caterham customer, Cem, were also making the trip and renting a Caterham 420 race car from TFL Racing, who support my Caterham 420R for these events.

We arrived on Saturday ahead of the event starting Monday, to give us some time to recover from jet lag and get a track walk in. RSR Spa were running the track days for Monday and Tuesday. Then GoldTrack UK were running the Wednesday and Thursday track days.

So for Sunday it was track walk time. Fortunately there was a major race event going on with free admission. We also had the opportunity to do a Monday morning track walk at Eau Rouge/Raidillon and Double Gauche with Ron Simon, CEO and Founder of RSR who were running the Monday and Tuesday track days. I rented an Alfa 75 from Ron at Nürburgring in the mid-90s. He loves his Lancia’s, Alfas and Fiats.

Spa is a big track 4.2 miles or 7km around. Its nestled into a valley in such a way to maximize the elevation gains and losses. Its creation is a little bit of an accident as it was originally just using local roads but the really high speed sections were eliminated and a new section added to make it the configuration it is today.

Not that it is now slower. There are still vast stretches of track where a Caterham is flat out and many corners where the speed through is above 100mph. It is old school and requires a lot of driver courage to be fast. There is a reason it is one of the best circuits (or the best – depending on who you talk to) circuits in the world.

Track Walk Around Spa-Francorchamps

Starting with the modern F1 start finish line, the first corner is La Source. A 120 degree tight corner. In my 420R with the Miata 5 speed box, it is second gear, leading on to a steep run down hill past the old Endurance Pit Complex. You accelerate up to 4^th gear (1:1 ratio) and foot is on the floor and the car is at roughly 115mph speed.

You then reach corners 2, 3 and 4 – the famous Eau Rouge and Raidillon – one of the truly great race track corners anywhere in the world.

Without lifting (in a Caterham 420R that is) you flick the car left onto the striped curbing, then an assertive turn right to track to the steep uphill apex. Now you feel the track compression and the positive G’s from the forces on the car. By this time you are looking uphill but all you see is sky and tree tops. The next apex on the left – Raidillon - is not visible. But still you flick the car left to track over the apex at Raidillon and let the car run wide to the right. The crest sees negative G’s and the pit of your stomach knows it. All this time the foot is on the accelerator flat. The 115mph or so you started with at the bottom of the hill has scrubbed off to around 105mph now. You need to push hard in this corner as the next part of the track, the Kemmel Straight, is a long uphill rise which makes it hard for a Caterham to gain speed.

This is where the weakness of my 420R comes in. With the 5 speed Miata gearbox, the 4^th gear might be 1:1 but the 5^th gear is an overdrive. The diff ratio is 3.9 so I will be holding the car at redline in 4^th gear about three-quarters of the way along the Kemmel Straight. I find if I go for 5^th gear, the uphill gradient causes me to lose speed so 4^th gear it is – about 125mph.

We then reach corners 5, 6, and 7 – Les Combes and Malmedy. This is a relatively fast left right left sequence, in third gear for me. This is where you see a Caterham make up significant time and track on bigger cars. We are at the highest point of the circuit now. Its all downhill from here.

Corners 8 and 9 are Bruxelles (also called Rivage) and the newly modified Speakers corner, for which there are two track options now.

Bruxelles is a 180 degree steep downhill right hander. It is off camber. I use 3^rd gear. There is not a lot of time to gain in this turn but lots to lose. The bigger cars will make it a two apex or very late single apex corner but nearly all experience understeer from the off camber nature. The Caterham line is to hug the inside curb as there is a V-shape profile where track meets curb which helps to sustain speed. Its impossible to build up speed for turn 9 as, if you are a bigger car, you cannot easily exit fully on the left from Bruxelles and so speed is compromised. A Caterham can go all the way to the left on exit and come back in time to make Speakers corner.

Speakers corner is still steeply downhill with a very slow technical entry, continuing to hold 3^rd gear. There is very little run off on exit although the curb on exit is favorable for use. Trying to get a clean exit helps in maximizing the speed on the downhill straight that follows.

Corners 10 and 11 are the Double Gauche (Double Left) or sometimes known as Pouhan. This is one of the greatest corners you will find on a track anywhere. Treat the two corners as one big long corner with a double apex. The entry is limited in sightlines and I find the turn in feels early. Dab the brakes, turn in, hold 4^th gear – as you will need it by the mid point of the corner – and then go for throttle.

You will build speed throughout and you know you have it right if you are at full throttle by just after mid point of Double Gauche and the wheel is held static in your hands while the car just tracks one arc through to exit, rear end slightly yawing from the speed being added. Immensely satisfying as a driver. A Caterham can absolutely fly through here as you are around 110-115mph before the braking zone at corner 12.

Corners 12 and 13, called Fagnes or sometimes Pif-Paf is a sequent of right and left S bend approached I use 3^rd gear and really can get on throttle as the camber is quite favorable.

For corner 12, sacrifice the first right hander to enhance exit speed from corner 13. Riding the curbs will assist in adding speed from the wider corner lines that are possible, however, a caution on the apex curb for turn 13 in that I find it makes a Caterham rotate rear end. The good news about that is you can maximize turn 12 more, take an early entry to corner 13 and rely on the use of curb to rotate the car on exit of corner 13. Of course, there is zero run off on the exit of corner 13. You get it wrong and you are into the gravel instantly.

After exiting Fagnes, there is not a lot of time to transition your car to the left ready for entry to corner 14 called Campus. However, I found I was using that stretch to pass quite a few slower cars as this is a part of the circuit where the Caterham is very strong.

Corner 14 or Campus is a slightly downhill 90 degree right hander. A later entry with trail braking helps as cars tend to be prone to understeer here. Exit speed is critical. Lots of gravel here if you make a mistake plus the walls are very close.

Use the curb on exit and hold that curb all the way until your turn in point for corner 15 Paul Frere. I also make a short shift to 4^th gear here as I am adding speed all the way through corner 15.

Paul Frere opens up on exit. Entry and exit curbs are flat so use them to widen the corner line and maximize speed onto the long winding “straight” plus Blanchimont corners which are taken flat out (in my Caterham).

Corners 16 and 17 are Blanchimont 1 and 2. In reality Blanchimont 1 is just a slight bend in a straight. Blanchimont 2 is a serious corner. It is a no lift foot flat on the throttle corner for a Caterham. Camber is favorable so I do not experience understeer. I did not see any car through there faster than a Caterham on my three days. A few tried to match me through there (Porsche Cayman Gt4, VW Fun Cup, Lamborghini Gallardo) and two of them ended up in the gravel on the right needing recovery. The other ran way wide but avoided the gravel. It is a sensationally fast corner.

This leads us to corners 18 and 19 – the Bus Stop and last two corners on the track. This is a very slow S bed. It is called the Bus Stop as when it was still used as a public road (as late as 2000), there was an actual bus stop for public transportation. This is the heaviest braking point on the track.

Sacrifice the first corner with the aim of maximizing the exit speed on the second corner. Its slow – get used to it. Throttle is useful for rotating the car on exit. Complicating matters is that this is pit entry so you will have to navigate slower cars.

Then you are back on the start-finish straight and the fun begins again.

RSR Track Day

RSR operates a very high-end event. Lots of Ferraris, Porsches, Lamborghinis, McLaren’s, Mercedes, etc. RSR rent a lot of cars for use on the track so it is not unusual to see a Golf GTO or BMW M2 circulating. So it was appropriate that TFL Racing turned up with 10 Caterhams and a Ariel Atom.

This is the sign on garage. Nice sofas. Complimentary croissants and pain-au-chocolat along with fresh espresso of your choice at breakfast and during the day. This is where they would hold a champagne reception at the end of day – proper French champagne in glass champagne flutes. Lunch was included. For those who have experienced the USA7s event at the NJMP Drivers Club, this is many notches higher in the quality department again.

The Cars at an RSR Track Day

When I said RSR ran a high-end event, look at the quality of the cars present:

Sound limit for the day was 108db drive by. That led to some interesting exhaust modifications on the Porsche brigade.

And I just have a simple Caterham.

TFL Racing brought 10 Caterhams and an Ariel Atom. The Caterhams, for the most part, were 420 race cars – S3 chassis, 2L Duratec engine at around 210hp, a 6 speed Sadev sequential gearbox with the 3.62 rear end. Most were running the Avon ZZR extreme compound. They also are 60kg lighter than a road car as they are stripped out.

The only exception to this was the 420 race car being rented by Bruce and Cem – it was running Toyo tires as it had been running the Toyo 7 Race Series. Their car:

My car was also an exception being a 420R SV road car. Same engine but running the 5 speed Miata gearbox and a 3.9 rear end.

TFL Pits

TFL had subscribed for the garage option - 700 Euros a day...ouch!

Phil and Sarah who own and operate TFL Racing, frequently bring their daughter Milly to the events. She is perfectly comfortable around the pits and wears noise headphones when things are running. Here she is checking the torque on the wheel nuts.

Out on Track

At one point during the day there was a yellow flag across the start-finish straight but I could not work out what the problem was. On entry to the pits I understood. A raccoon was running around and was eventually caught in the pits.