If women can have spa treatments, men should too. Spa-Francorchamps is my chosen spa treatment thanks.
I try to get here once a year for 2 days or more. This October it was with Goldtrack. They are an outfit I have been running track days with for 15 years, concentrated in the UK or western continental Europe area.
The circuit is in Belgium, about 1.5 hours east of Brussels airport. This is USA7s so I will assume if you are visiting you are coming from the USA and it will be the usual overnight flights that arrive early in the morning. You roll through the usual immigration formalities but with a difference. When I get asked why would I bother coming to Belgium, I explain its for a track day at Spa-Francorchamps. It never fails to get those immigration officers excited. You can actually see them think "Wow! Someone actually wanted to come to Belgium!" Its a change I suppose as the country was expressly created for being a place for other countries to come and fight wars - Britain, France, Prussia/Germany, the Dutch, etc.
Speaking of which, because I rolled out of Bwussels airport at 9am in the morning, I drove the 20 miles to the Battle of Waterloo historical site to explore. Good way to absorb some time.
I like to start my Spa-Francochamps visit off by getting in a day early to do a track walk and blow the jet lag away. #exerciseforthefatbloke
Its free access. You park at the designated lots just outside the Ster Gate and walk on in. There is a pathway that weaves around the entire circuit. The terrain is exceptionally rugged reflecting the elevation changes on the circuit.
Of course, afterwards, once you have worked up a thirst (Belgian beer is world-renowned you know), you can always adjourn to the circuit bar, atop the F1 Pits complex. The gift shop is also here but I will warn you, it is NOT cheap.
So what if you wish to come here and try your skills out on a world class drivers' track like Spa-Francorchamps?
Well, there are options for renting cars. RSR Spa have a very good selection available from their magnificent on-site facility (website at references section at end). A number of USA7s members have rented from them over the years. I once rented an Alfa 75 from RSR Nurburg back in the early 1990s. They can also provide instruction.
But this is USA7s, so you will want a seven. That leaves you with one option really - TFL Racing UK. They now have two rental Caterhams. There is a Caterham 420 race car. Its the same formula as the old R300 race model - a 180hp Duratec, 6 speed sadev, S3 chassis, full cage, stripped out to save weight. It has been rented by a number of USA7s folk over the years at a number of locations but mostly Spa. They also now have recently acquired a Caterham 360 race car as a rental. 150hp Duratec S3 chassis.
But this is Spa - try for the 420 race car - the Kemmel straight is very long.
TFL Racing UK is based in the midlands around Stratford UK. Phill and Sarah look after 40+ Caterhams (including mine) and will usually be trucking a number of Caterhams to various circuits at any point during the year. This year they supported me in France, Portugal and Belgium. For this event, they had 5 Caterhams in the truck although only 4 were running in the track day event. I have known them both 15 years or so from their days at Bookatrack. While Phill is not a fan of Caterhams to drive (he prefers VW Fun Cups but each to their own!), Sarah was a successful Caterham racer some years back and was an instructor for a long time.
There are a ton of accommodation options around the circuit. Best option I have found over the years is the town of Spa, about 15 minutes drive from the Circuit. There are a number of restaurants within walking distance of hotels. Other options to look at are the towns of Francorchamps, Stavelot, or Malmedy.
TFL Racing organize a garage for its customers. This is essential in the Ardennes Mountains as the weather changes quicker than a political opinion. We were based in the F1 pits for this event.
I was running my silver Caterham 420R which has served me well over the years.
Richard, a long term TFL customer who I have known since the old Bookatrack days, had his orange Caterham R300 race car in attendance, an ex Bookatrack rental car like mine.
Then there was the rental 420 race car below with Phill standing behind it. This year it was rented by Steve, a USA7s member, who was ticking off his driving bucket list. This is a bit of a step up from his Caterham crossflow and his Mallock!
In the background above, you can see a pearl green Caterham. This was powered by a Honda engine and was part of a small production run of 4 cars by a well known Caterham mechanic. Interesting to check out the very neat professional installation. Its a tall engine (with about 250hp) so was dry sumped for ground clearance. Sadly it ended its day early with a head gasket failure - bit annoying as it was a newly built engine. Incredibly quick when it was going!
There were a few other Caterhams present, all from the UK.
In the seven-esque department, there was a KTM X-Bow, although I did not reocgnize it given the new wrap around windscreen which made the thing look awfully gawky. It was also slow as I always seemed to come across it trundling up Eau Rouge/Radillion at the worst time.
There was a substantial contingent of BMWs. Sadly these were mostly the experience day types of cars, where you arrive, an instructor takes you around a few laps, then you get in to drive on track for the first time without having a single clue what to do. So I would pile into a corner only to find Driving Miss Daisy ahead of me going 40mph.
This example below was an exception - I thought it was well driven and quick.
This pair of McLarens was located in the garage next to us. Just a couple of older retired guys having one hell of a fun time on track.
Then you have the usual hot hatch contingent. Most of them are very quick.
A unique vehicle found in Europe is the VW Fun Cup car. Space frame chassis. 2L 4 cylinder VW/Audi in the rear. Fiberglass body. Very light and remarkably quick. Butt ugly to look at though.
They even had a Holden HSV ute present - this was one of the ones Walkinshaw Performance sold through Vauxhall UK dealers. It would have been tail happy in the cold wet conditions on day 1. Actually forget that - its tail happy no matter what.
Then there was this one. Manthey modified Porsche. Owner was using a zimmer walking frame to get around. Lap speed was predictably slow as a result.
Goldtrack have track day rules that are strict on paper - keep right, passing with point by on left, no passing in corners, etc. Usually in the UK they last till about 3pm. But this is Europe, by 10am those rules have gone out the window and anything is fair game. So its pass in the corner. No point by. I used to hang on the right side at the end of Kemmel Straight to be able to out brake into Les Combes esses and then be in a position to hold all the more powerful cars off until Blanchimont area. Lots of cars are fast in a straight line but not much could hang onto a Caterham once it turned twisty other than some full on race GT cars with fat grippy grooved intermediate race tires.
But the grip was compromised. Day 1 was supposed to be dry but it was wet. Temps were high 40sF. Literally I could come in after an hour and the tires would be lukewarm. The Toyo R888s were useless with front end grip. I slithered about looking for grip.
The pit exit photo tells the story of the weather. I had family with me - teaching for his first time on track at Spa. In predictable form, we are trying to fix the mirror which chose exactly that moment to flop over. I have always believed mirrors are unnecessary if you are fast enough.
This is mid way through the Double Gauche (Double Left). Treat the two left handers as one corner. Tap brakes on the steep downhill entry. Trail the brake to initially assist in keeping the tail anchored as you turn in. Then transition to throttle. Before the exit of the first corner your throttle should be on the floor. You then hang on as the steering wheel stays static and the rear end yaws around under full throttle. One of the most immensely satisfying corners of any track anywhere. On exit of the corner I am at 7200rpm in 4th gear - incredibly quick.
Then the signature corner at Spa-Francochamps - the renowned Eau Rouge/Raidillon sequence. Where else do you get intense positive Gs and then negative Gs on track in the space of 100 feet?
You exit Las Source (turn 1) up near the F1 Pits. You then run up to 4th gear 7300rpm and accelerator pedal is on the floor as you flick left over the Eau Rouge rumble strips then flick right to head up the hill before edging left again to clip the apex for Raidillon at the top of the hill. As you go through Eau Rouge you cannot see Raidillon - its totally blind. I line up on a particular tree top I know. There is no lifting of throttle. There is no braking. If I do it right then my 7300rpm at Eau Rouge has scrubbed off a bit to 6900-7000rpm at Raidillon despite having buried the right foot accelerator to the firewall. I then build back up to 7300rpm along the uphill Kemmel straight and hold it there on the throttle. Thats my redline. Changing to 5th is useless. Because it is so uphill you actually lose speed going to 5th - you can see the revs drop slowly off.
Here I have Steve @bball7754 with me so I know it was early Day 1 when he came out to get a sense of the track before he drove the rental Caterham. Unfortunately, I made a hash of it on the out lap. At Rivage in the downhill braking section I just could not stop the car so sailed off to the outside and had to wait for the traffic to go past to re-enter safely. The Rivage /Bruxelles corner was the absolute worst on day 1 - zero grip and you spent your time bringing in opposite lock. The corner following was a close second worst as I spent a fair amount of time drifting the rear end through it.
Steve managed a spin in the middle of Eau Rouge/Raidillon - somewhere half way up the hill. That would have been terrifying.
This is later in the day on Day 1 when it dried out a bit and I could start to push. Here I have avoided one of the mobile chicane BMWs.
Day 2 was a far better proposition. Track was dry. Temperature was still cold. But you could at least start to push hard on track. It was never going to be a quick lap day. My best GPS lap time was 2m53 and that was with the car sliding everywhere. On a warm sunny summer day, on Avon ZZR Xtreme compound tires with a passenger on board, I have done a 2min47. Still I was having a blast and not caring about the lap times.
This is exiting the Bus Stop corner on the pit straight.
Leaving Eau Rouge and heading up the hill to Raidillon.
Looks to be apexing the third last corner in the Les Combes sequence at the very top of the circuit. I can tell it was my last session of Day 2.
And then it all went pear shaped. Around 3.30pm, I felt a clunk as I came around La Source. Could not see anything wrong and all felt ok so I pushed on through Eau Rouge/Raidillon, along Kemmel Straight, on the brakes for Les Combes at the marker, then just before the right turn in at Les Combes, I was engulfed in white smoke through the bonnet louvres. I bailed straight ahead into the run off realizing I may be losing coolant (as it was white smoke) and stopped.
Oops!
The end of the Kemmel Straight can be seen in the background with Les Combes running off the left. I am actually stopped on the original circuit that led to Bourneville but is no longer used today.
Took a long time to be recovered as someone hit the wall in the Bus Stop at the same time I was stopping at Les Combes.
So what happened? Well, the alternator bracket failed. The photo below shows it wedged into the chassis tube. Luckily I did not lose it on track as they are expensive.
This then threw off the serpentine belt that powers the ancilliaries, including the water pump.
In the space of a mile this over-pressurized the cooling system so it blew the cap on the expansion tank. It was so quick, I never saw the temp gauge move. It was in the normal range as I was stopping at Les Combes. Given the amount of cold air flowing around the engine, I imagine that helped keep the engine cool.
Overall it is a resonably easy fix. New alternator bracket. New serpentine belt. Flush the cooling system and replace coolant. New expansion bottle cap. A good reason to go with an outfit like TFL Racing is that it has the spares in the back of the truck to fix something the usual types of problems - this is common as the alternator bracket is a known failure point. So I could have gone back out. However, given it was 4.30pm in the pits I elected to call it a day and be happy as it had been three hours on track that day.
Thats the end of my UK/Europe track days planned for this year. Dates are starting to be scheduled for 2025. April looks to be Portugal with two days on track at Portimao and one day at Estoril. Then I have two days at Zandvoort planned for September. More track day operators will be releasing their calendars in the coming month and I will be filling in boxes on my calendar.
If you want to scratch your bucket list track in Europe or the UK get in touch with me. Its not cheap but then bucket list items rarely are.
References
TFL Racing - Caterham rental for track days at Spa-Francorchamps and elsewhere in the UK and Europe. Contact Phill and Sarah at:
RSR Spa - Non-Caterham rentals for track day at Spa
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