New Article - a visit to Spa-Francorchamps in a Caterham

[Croc]

 

New Article here:

 

Part 1

 

and Part 2 here

 

 

 

 

 

 

[panamericano]

Wonderful write-ups with visuals.  Thanks.  Love the red paint accents on the red P.  What a German might call a badge of honor.

[Kitcat]

Magazine quality writing and photos, enhanced by featuring high end cars, especially Caterhams, on a historic race track.

 

Ya gotta love a track with corner names like Double Gouche, Pif-Paf, Paul Frere, and Bus stop. 
 

I will definitely reread this one!

[CarlB]

Wow! I do not know what else I can say. In my opinion the best track in Europe and maybe the world. Thank you so much for the pictures and description. As a kid I waited for my Road & Track to read Rob Walker's reports on the F-1 races. Spa had epic races and the pictures like yours were great. Up the hill from the start finish line is one of the most memorable in racing. 

[Kitcat]

Just went through part 2. I am at a loss for words to describe the unforced carnage wrought by the Porsche drivers! Actual racing doesn’t typically cause this level of destruction.
 

How to explain it? Maybe a total lack of track experience combined with indifference to the money consequences of wrecking as a result of having so much $? The cumulative damage to all cars on track during of my 30 years of track days doesn’t equal this several day event.

[Croc]

9 hours ago, panamericano said:

Love the red paint accents on the red P.  What a German might call a badge of honor.

 

The sad thing - something you really cannot see in the photo - but he blew his airbags when he impacted the wall.  Not sure how he drove back as I thought the car was disabled by the computer then?  Either way, that sounds really expensive to fix? 

[Croc]

7 hours ago, Kitcat said:

I am at a loss for words to describe the unforced carnage wrought by the Porsche drivers!

 

I know.  It was staggering.  I have never seen this much destruction at any track day although I can think of a few Bathurst 1000 races with this level of carnage.  Most of it was the first two days.  The organizer of the Monday and Tuesday was horrified as he had never seen such a mess ever at his events.  It was clearly abnormal to everyone.

 

Clearly some of it is the 'fat wallet and no talent' factor.  Some is the nature of Spa - get it wrong and it is so unforgiving.  It is a unique mix of walls in close in places, the incredible average speed around the track (its 90 something mph average for my Caterham), and the mix of slow and fast cars creating potential issues with speed differentials. 

 

On the Kemmel Straight I am tapped out on the redline at 128mph and I have GT3RSs going by at 170-180mph.  There are two corners which are taken at max speed - Eau Rouge/Raidillon and Blanchimont.  Another corner - Double Gauche - is in the 100-115mph range.  The speeds are unmatched by any other track I have driven at except for Mt Panorama Bathurst in Australia. 

[cemaykan]

Great write-up/summary of both events @croc and it was nice to spend some quality time together with you and Bruce! Hoping we get to drive together in the future! 

Btw, we were so lucky with the weather first 3 days, however the last day the skies just opened up - and it was the typicaly SPA weather with rain and patches of fog. Bruce and I also wrapped early on the 4th day with all that rain. To be honest, we were also exhausted from the 3 days of high G corners anyway!

 

SPA was one of my dream tracks and after countless laps on the simulator over the years, i really felt at home! Although the sim doesn't really carry over the elevation changes and the occasional sensation of "am I going to die", it was very helpfull in getting up to speed, no doubt. 

 

On the 3rd day, the track day gods were with me and I had 1 open lap and had to put it all together! This was so much fun,  hoping to make it there again in the future! :)
 

 

[Vovchandr]

I too live my life vicariously through Croc

[wdb]

I finally had a chance to finish the two articles. Fabulous stuff, thank you! A Caterham at Spa sounds incongruous but that is plainly not the case.

 

I'm not sure what to think about the P car carnage. I own a 996 911 and I know folks who track cars of that vintage, and they keep it between the lines. What jumps out at me is how those people were qualified to run cars that powerful, on an open track, shared with much slower cars. At some point just writing a check has to be insufficient to get cleared to drive.

[MoBoost]

Very nice and thank you for sharing your adventure. Will get to Spa one day!

[Croc]

 

Just added another article for the Best of British event from last week

 

 

 

 

[panamericano]

As if we were not jealous enough.  End with: "Off to Goodwood next week."

[Croc]

14 hours ago, panamericano said:

As if we were not jealous enough.  End with: "Off to Goodwood next week."

 

 

Reputedly the last non-member track day as Goodwood is going member only next year.  This replaces an event I had scheduled in 2020 but was cancelled due to Covid.