After almost two weeks, I've finally got round to reporting in detail on my experiences at the Spa Summer Classic 2024:
The first thing to note is that summer and April in the Ardennes don't really go together. In the night from Thursday to Friday, the temperature dropped to around 3°C. Fortunately, the feared rain didn't materialise for most part of the event.
My weekend began with a short test session after the usual administrational and technical scrutineering. I was on the Spa circuit for the first time in two years and was able to see for myself that Gran Turismo 5 is only of limited use as a simulator. In the weeks before, I had driven a Lotus Europa S2 on the Playstation with the same power and the same gear ratio over and over again on this track. This is good for practising the cornering sequence, but it's better not to derive braking points from it.
Unfortunately, the test session was riddled with red flags, so I couldn't get into a flow. At least I now knew the basic braking points and the gears for the corners for qualifying. I had only tested the new gearing in Zolder up until then. Qualifying was scheduled for Friday and again there were several interruptions due to red flags. The green flag came out about ten minutes before the end of the session and very few of the participants had even completed a timed lap. Now a light drizzle set in in the start/finish area. The bus stop chicane and La Source were slippery AF. Due to the general hustle and bustle in the field, I only managed one reasonably clear lap and finished 41st out of 53 participants in the overall classification with a time of 3:15.2 minutes. In the 1600 cc group, I was third out of five starters.
Overall, I had the impression that the Belcar Historic Cup field at this race was above average. I've rarely been so far back in the overall field, although of course it's clear that a 160-hp car from the 60s can't keep up with former DRM, DTM and Super Touring Cars. However, the high-calibre cars were clearly over-represented at Spa. Even BMW M3 E30s and Mercedes 190s had a hard time making it into the top 10. Spa, with its long (uphill) straights, is naturally a circuit where engine power is the trump card. At the next race in Zolder, I hope I won't have to look in the rear-view mirrors quite so much.
The first race started at 11 o'clock on Saturday morning. The first safety car of the season came out on the second lap of the race. A car went off at Blanchimont. Towards the end of the clean-up work, another car left a considerable oil slick in the same corner, meaning that the safety car phase had to be extended. When half of the race time had elapsed, the green flag finally came out again. In fifth gear, I now noticed the clutch slipping occasionally. Unfortunately, I couldn't establish a pattern because it didn't occur regularly at the same point on the course. At least I quickly realised that the problem was not affecting the other gears and especially the gear changes, so I decided to continue. About three laps before the end of the race, I noticed that the engine noise had become much louder. I therefore drove very carefully to the finish and didn't push any lap times - 3:17.1 minutes was my best time. I was always worried that the problem with the exhaust could cause a fire.
The rear silencer had come loose and fallen onto the run-off. This was possible after I changed the suspension of the silencer on the advice of the engine builder. Previously, the exhaust had always been additionally bolted to the gearbox with a rubber mounting. During the dyno run, I was advised to replace the rubber mounting with a rigid screw connection. The rigid screw connection so much that it broke the weld seams. This taught me something I already knew: never change a running system. Fortunately, attentive track marshals found the silencer and we were able to fit it again for race 2. With a rubber mounting, of course.
At the end of this mixed race, I was in 40th place overall and in second place in the 1600cc group. This was also the starting position for the second race on Sunday. The clutch problem was easily solved by adjusting the cable. The new clutch is slightly different in its design, so the old setting was not exactly right. In the second race I was able to drive without any technical problems. This time I had a duel with a GT40, in which unfortunately I first ran out of talent and then the road. You've already seen the video in my last post. The spin cost me about 12 seconds, but I managed to catch up with the Porsche 911 and the Ford GT40 thanks to another safety car period. Unfortunately, a queue of very fast cars had built up behind me, because of the safety car. In the final phase of the race, I was therefore more concerned with avoiding traffic than battling with the two aforementioned opponents. But as neither of them were in my class, that's not so much of a big deal.
In the end, I finished 36th overall and second in class again. Considering that the Europa was the oldest car in the class, I think that's OK. The cars behind me were built between 1988 and 1998. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to improve on my best lap time of the weekend. This was partly due to the fact that the GT40 was holding me up in all curvy sections of the track. I had my best times in sectors 3 and 1 directly after the spin, when I had a clear run. On the other hand, I drove too inconsistently overall. My best sector times together would have been 3:13 minutes. But it wouldn't be over here either. I think that I could have achieved a time of around 3:10 min with more free laps in a row. The momentum I lost in Eau Rouge / Raidillon alone cost me at least one or two seconds up to the braking point before Les Combes.
Unfortunately, the gap to the class-winning Toyota Celica is hugely demoralising. The driver has known his car for decades and drives much better than me at Spa. Of the 16-second difference (fastest lap), I take a third or maybe half of it on my head as the driver. But the Toyota also has a clear performance advantage. As far as I know, it is a two-valve engine with two overhead camshafts. According to the driver, it produces around 200 - 220 hp from a displacement of 1.6 litres. With 160 hp, of course, I lose a lot - despite my weight advantage. When comparing the measured speeds on the long uphill straight, I clearly lose out with 183.4 km/h compared to 195.7 km/h. The Toyota's speed is as high as that of the fastest 2-litre Alfa GTAM and outperforms the 16V Escorts in our starting field. Even the super-fast and light Alpine A110 from the 2-litre class is not significantly faster. That's quite something.
Nevertheless, I had a good weekend in Spa and was able to put in some kilometres with the new engine and the heavily modified gearbox. There were also quite a lot of championship points thanks to the 2nd places. I'm really looking forward to the next race in Zolder, which takes place on the Whitsun weekend.
