mario laguna
From 20 to 22 September 2013, hundreds of teams came to the Francorchamps circuit to compete in the 6-hour endurance race, one of the toughest on the international calendar in its specialty.
Although this competition is the highlight, many other activities are integrated into a rich program throughout the weekend. The scheduled races were as follows:
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→ British Sport category; GT Challenge
→ Masters Tourism category (Top Hat series)
→ Woodcote and Stirling Moss Trophies
→ FIA Masters Formula 1 Championship
→ U2TC Historic Motor competition
→ Masters Gentlemen Drivers
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Credit: Daniel Ferry, from Vimeo. Among others, he makes videos of the races he attends, and the truth is that they are not bad at all. Look for financing.
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→ Historic Grand Prix Cars Association
→ CanAm Interseries Challenge
→ Historic Motor GT until 1963
→ Historic car club Sport category
→ FIA Masters Championship Sport category
→ 6 hour endurance race
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Since Friday morning the engines roar in practice and in the timed sessions to form the order of the starting grids on Saturday and Sunday. The dance of the mechanics, trucks with trailers, unloading of cars, parts and tires, occupation of the assigned spaces and organization of all available areas in the paddock, they are in themselves a spectacle comparable to the announced races themselves.
On Saturday morning, serious things begin at nine o'clock and will not end until late at night with the finishing flag of the 6 o'clock race, which takes place between four in the afternoon and ten at night.
Saturday is the longest night in Francorchamps as, after the race, the teams celebrate and discuss the events of the day in their specially prepared tents, often in expensive trailer trucks similar to those used by modern teams. of Formula 1 where comforts are not lacking.
ENGLISH FLAVOR
On Sunday the day is shorter, activities ending at 6 in the afternoon, to allow the British to arrive on time for the ferries that cross the English Channel. It should be noted in this regard that the 6 hours of Francorchamps are an eminently British party, since the teams of that nationality represent ninety percent of the total participation.
Whenever the occasion presents itself, the English show their interest and their long tradition in classic car competition and Francorchamps is the closest circuit outside their borders. In addition, there is never a lack of pretexts to find commemorations and ephemeris in its long history in competition.
The year 2013, for example, marked the 55th anniversary of Jim Clark's first participation in an international career outside of Great Britain. It took place precisely on the Belgian track in 1958, where he raced with a "used" Jaguar D-Type, his first truly racing car. Despite being one of the most beautiful natural circuits in the world, Clark never liked it and saved while he lived a bad memory of a fatal accident in which one of the participants died, precisely in that first important race in his sporting life.
The Jaguar D he drove, white from its origin and preserved as a cult object, returned to Francorchamps to compete for the Woodcote and Stirling Moss trophies. Its current owner, the Brazilian Monteverde, managed to rise to a creditable seventh place, facing cars like the Maserati 200SI, Lister Bristol or the Lister Costin of the winner Ward.
The category reserved for CanAm cars, from the famous Canada-America series, was very spectacular, as the protruding intake trumpets sporting such vehicles announced with great roar.
The follow-up of the different races allows us to discover many aspects of greater or lesser interest but that, in any case, contribute to enrich the days and the better knowledge of the participants, both vehicles and drivers. For instance, much is said about the superstition of some pilots. It is true that many use amulets, more or less hidden or exposed. In the category of the self-confessed superstitious, the driver of a Ferrari 250GT SWB attracted attention with a shoe stuck to the tail of the car.
Six-hour races and Historic Formula 1
The 6-hour race, a tough endurance test where the teams do not give quarter, is a long-awaited confrontation on the international calendar and recalls the 24 hours of Spa-Francorchamps in compressed version.
From the long list of participants, 102 teams managed to qualify, but the differences between the first and the last of the final list were abysmal. The powerful Ford GT40 circulate at average speeds of the order of 151 km / h, while the modest MGB are satisfied with averages of 128 km / h.
Let us mention in passing that in the 2013 edition there was no Spanish team registered, although there were some from the Iberian Peninsula, arriving from Portugal.
To illustrate the results of the endurance race, suffice it to mention that out of the top ten places on the starting grid, eight were Ford GT40s. Result that was also reflected in the final classification, with seven GT40s in the top ten.
They managed to check the dominance of the Ford a Chevrolet Corvette - helped by the driving of Jan Lammers, winner of the 24 hours of Daytona and the 24 hours of Le Mans -, second classified, and a surprising Lotus Elan that reached finish in seventh position, running at an average of 142 km / h.
The winner of the test was Leo Voyazides at the wheel of the GT40 in the colors of the Filipinetti team, which repeated its success from the 2012 edition. At the beginning of the XNUMXs, the Swiss George Filipinetti founded one of the most famous private racing teams in the world, comparable to those of Luigi Chinetti (NART) or Jacques Swaters (Francorchamps). Their cars continue to win victories in historic categories.
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Credit: Pilot Patrick Simon, from Youtube, in the first laps of 6 o'clock.
It contrasts the higher average speed of the historical Formula 1, which is of the order of 186 km / h, but in races lasting 25 minutes.
In this specialty the young Michael Lyons proved to be stronger, the only participant younger than the car he drives, a 308 Hesketh 1975E. Lyons largely dominated both Saturday and Sunday races. Confirming his excellent results at other circuits, Lyons is listed as the most promising driver in the historic FIA Master Formula 1 championship.
Reading carefully the regulations of this championship, leaving aside the sporting and technical aspects, we draw a happy conclusion for the sponsors who placed advertisements on Formula 1 cars in the seventies and eighties.
This requires that the cars respect their original configuration, both technically and in terms of their external appearance, colors, decorations and advertising. In other words, the sponsors who paid the teams to carry their advertising for a season will have perpetuated it for over a hundred years - assuming the cars survive and continue to participate in an FIA championship; the initial investment was ultimately cheap. In this way, the FIA also intends to preserve the historical environment and environment in the recreation of Formula 1 races of the aforementioned period.
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Credit: Daniel Ferry, from Vimeo.
The beauty of Spa-Francorchamps
It does not stop repeating itself in all the chronicles that Francorchamps is one of the most beautiful circuits in the history of motorsports, statement with which we do not disagree on The Escudería.
Despite the fact that the original 14 kilometer route was reduced to 7 for safety reasons, the Belgian route preserves a natural setting of great ecological wealth, since a balance has been maintained between the new facilities and its mountainous and wooded environment. The area is very rich in water and, precisely, this is the most famous in the world of motor racing.
One of the tightest corners of all Formula 1 circuits is located here and is called The Source -the source-, while the descent and the curve of l'Eau Rouge -red water- is possibly one of the places where the most famous duels in the history of motorsport have taken place. Red water gets its name from the color it appears to take when running over rocky terrain with reddish tints.
La Source is at the end of the main straight, so the cars are approaching their maximum speed, making the brakes work brutally. The right front wheel lock is very characteristic, with the sharp curve to the right, from where a downhill starts to Eau Rouge. The passage of the CanAm cars at La Source, with the stall engines spitting flames from the exhaust pipes and the brakes gripping the discs, requires a certain skill to emerge gracefully from the trance.
A l'Eau Rouge follows the steepest slope of the circuit that curves to the right, known as Raidillon. From the lowest point on the bridge that crosses the stream at the start of the Kemmel straight, also uphill, the cars clear a sudden drop of 24 meters in approximately one hundred meters. The climb continues on the Kemmel straight, but with a less pronounced unevenness. It is therefore a circuit where the power of the motors can create big differences.
A walk through Francorchamps allows us a historical approach in each relevant corner of its route, as well as immersion in a place of great natural wealth.
Full-size images (1.280 px. Approx.)
No 2 uncovered
chassis No 2453
origin of the nickname «Cage»
(or bird cage)
by La Source
bus chicane
top model, another incentive
from the paddock
it is a very precious object
on fast circuits
of wind
his appetite in air, the trumpets favor
suction
and already working
practice the method
foolproof to boot
