Spa Classic

Spa Classic – an event in itself

„Eau Rouge and Blanchimont have always been flat out”

It was the same at the Spa Classic, and he'll be 72 in August. Together with Richard Shaw, he had secured third place on the grid for the U2TC race in a '65 BMW 1800 TISA, and with Gary Pearson, he had earned fourth place for the Trofeo Nastro Rosso race in a '60 Ferrari 250 GT SWB. Oliver was, among other things, a Formula 1 driver for Lotus, BRM, McLaren, and Shadow from 1968 to 1977, competing in 50 Grands Prix, and from 1978 to 1995, he was team principal for Arrows/Footwork. Without a doubt, you had to see it.

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Among other things, Jackie Oliver was a Formula 1 driver for Lotus, BRM, McLaren, and Shadow between 1968 and 1977, and then team principal for Arrows/Footwork from 1978 to 1995.

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On the grandstand at the entrance to „Eau Rouge,“ you can see the wheat being separated from the chaff. And Jackie Oliver was also standing there – with the unmistakable wine-red jet helmet – giving it full throttle up the hill through the whole passage, after he had taken over the BMW 1800 TISA from the second-placed Richard Shaw for the final turn in the first U2TC race on Saturday afternoon. And even though the gap of originally about 2.5 to five seconds to Alexander Furiani in the „65 Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GTA, who had been leading since the start, increased to 22 seconds by the checkered flag, no one came up behind Oliver. The third-placed Dominik Roschmann in the Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GTA ultimately had more than a minute's deficit to the English “Formula 1 retiree.„ And he – hobby sport or not – didn't get out after the race to have a cappuccino, but rather gave the team a detailed report about the BMW's handling with his sweaty jockey figure, making gestures with his hands, apparently not entirely satisfied – old school. “The BMW is very fast compared to the Cortina Lotus, we could definitely keep up with them,„ Oliver concluded. “But compared to the Alfa GTAs, about 250 kilograms more homologation weight is a handicap. Moreover, about 60 percent of it is on the front, and so my front tires wore out more and more.„ Any respect for the track? ‚No, Spa is a fantastic race track today. It used to be much longer and more dangerous, but ‘Eau Rouge‚ and ‘Blanchimont“ were also full-throttle passages even then – in Formula 1."

It looked „easy,“ but it probably wasn't? Alexander Furiani, the sole victor in this race and a pronounced expert on historic Alfa Romeos, who also looked after several customer cars in Spa, had the fastest practice time (2 minutes 58.74 seconds, the only one with an average speed of over 140 km/h) and was right on Richard Shaw's tail in the 1800 TISA for several laps with gaps of two to 2.5 seconds. „I actually had it well under control; in the first 20 minutes of the race, there were a few corners where Shaw was faster, and in others, I was better,“ Furiani reported. „But it was incredible to see how Shaw handled the BMW, especially in the braking zones. You also can't forget that the BMW has about 40 hp more power. Towards the end of the race, I was able to ease off, shifted earlier, and drove home with lap times around 3:05 minutes.“ In the evening, in race two, he once again won convincingly together with Frank Stippler, with David Tomlin/Martin Stretton in the Ford Cortina Lotus and Marcus Mahy/George Haynes in the BMW 1800 TI trailing by 1 minute 52 seconds and 1 minute 57 seconds respectively. Furiani set the fastest race lap in both heats.

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Briton Martin Stretton, fourth in the first U2TC race, was once again among the multiple starters in Spa. At the second event of the HSCC (Historic Sports Car Club) Historic Formula 2 Championship, the winner of both races in Hockenheim, with his 74 March 742, secured third place on the grid in qualifying (2:22.664 minutes) behind Irishman Darwin Smith in a 72 March 722 (2:21.664, average speed 178.0 km/h) and Frenchman Philippe Harper in a 77 Ralt RT 1 (2:22.200), with whom he had previously won both races in 2012 on the same occasion. This trio was about seven seconds faster than anyone else. The reigning champion, Frenchman Robert Simac, with his 71 March 712 M, was the fastest of the older 1600cc cars, starting from sixth place (2:29.655). In this Class A, the only German in the field, Klaus Bergs in a Brabham BT 36, started from 13th on the grid (2:48.894).

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„I'm still having a few adjustment problems after my Formula 3 outing at Donington,“ he explained.

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„I'm still having a bit of trouble adjusting after my Formula 3 stint in Donington,“ he explained. „I first need to get the feel for Formula 2 again and reacquaint myself with the shift gate of the five-speed gearbox. At first, my revs were still too low in various corners; the chicane before ‚Start-and-Finish‘ and ‚La Source‘ are taken in the first gear. I'm also still a bit scared of the double left-hander ‚Pouhon‘; you have to enter it in fourth gear at 7,000 to 8,000 rpm and then exit in fifth.“ After two races were tallied, he did, however, manage to score his first three championship points of 2014 with a sixth and a fifth place in the class. Harper, like in 2012, won both heats in his Ralt, each time ahead of Stretton, and also set the fastest race lap with a time of 2:21.926 minutes. The winner's podiums were completed by Sweden's Bo Warmenius (77 March 76 B) after the first heat, and Monaco's Grant Tromans (78 Chevron B 42) after the second. The reigning champion, Simac, won Class A in both races. .

The „Spa Classic“ has also become a traditional festival for fans of sports cars and Group 5 vehicles. Both Classic Endurance Racing (CER) and Group C Racing held their second event of the season here – 25 years of endurance racing car development at a glance. In CER 1 (sports cars up to 1971, GT cars up to 1974), Britons Neil Primrose and Scott Fitzgerald secured pole position with a two-liter Lola T 210 FVC (2:31.224 minutes, average speed 166.7 km/h). Behind them, teams with six Lola T 70s from the years 1966 to 1970 lined up their „bullies“ with lap times between 2:32.5 and 2:36.6. In the one-hour race, there was a double victory for such Lola vehicles, with Belgian Eric de Doncker in a T 70 Mk III B winning solo, 14.5 seconds ahead of Frenchmen Yvan Mahe and Richard Mille in a sister car, and 2:07 minutes ahead of Swiss Serge Kriknoff / Marc de Siebenthal in a two-liter Lola T 212. The GT1 class was won by Hans Hugenholtz in a '65 Ford GT 40.

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„Guy is currently six to eight seconds per lap slower,“ Regout reported. „But we have a camera in the car and will analyze later where he's losing time. I can then give him tips regarding the correct line.“

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The CER 2 was dominated by Frenchman Patrice Lafargue in his 1979 two-liter Lola T 298-BMW (pole position with a time of 2:22.495 minutes, averaging 176.9 km/h). He even left two three-liter sports cars behind him: the Swiss Philippe Scemama in his 1972 Lola T 290-DFV and Paul Knappfield/Jamie Campbell-Walter in the March 76 S-DFV. This time, former Belgian endurance pro Hervé Regout helped out compatriot Guy Lauwers in his Lola T 297-BMW, securing sixth place on the grid (2:28.596). „Guy is currently still between six and eight seconds per lap slower,“ reported Regout. „But we have a camera in the car and will analyze afterward where he's losing time. I can then give him tips on the correct line.“ Lafargue, driving solo, also held the upper hand in the race, finishing 23 seconds ahead of the three-liter March. Third place went to Swiss Yves Scemama in the 1976 two-liter Sauber C5, ahead of Regout/Lauwers. Also supported by a former Belgian endurance pro, Jean-Michel Martin, Swiss Marc de Siebenthal won the GT2 class in his Porsche 935.

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In the second Historic Group C race of the season, the 1989 Mercedes C 11 driven by Britons Gareth Evans and Bob Berridge was once again unbeatable, They won after 24 laps with a lead of about 1 minute and 35 seconds over the 1990 Nissan R 90 CK driven by the Japanese-Spanish crew of Katsu Kubota and Joaquin Folch, and about 1 minute and 50 seconds ahead of the 1988 Spice SE 88 driven solo by Briton Mike Donovan. With a time of 2:14.360 (average speed of 187.7 km/h), Berridge also set the fastest lap of the weekend. The two races of the Trofeo Nastro Rosso for Italian sports cars and Gran Turismo were somewhat deprived of their appeal when, immediately after the start of the first race, the two fastest cars in practice—the 1964 Ferrari 250 LM driven by Carlos Monteverde and Gary Pearson and the 1966 Ferrari 275 GTB C driven by Vincent Gaye—collided at „La Source.“ While Gaye was only set back to the end of the field after spinning out, the event was over for the crew of the 250 LM, which had sustained damage to its front left side. Subsequently, Gaye squeezed every ounce of performance out of his Ferrari and even went on to win by a margin of 30.6 seconds over Stanislas de Sadeleer and Christian Traber in the 1965 Bizzarini 5300 GT and 34.7 seconds over Carlo Vögele in the 1955 Maserati 300 S. On Sunday, Gaye repeated his success with a lead of more than a minute, again ahead of de Sadeleer/Traber in second place and Jan Gijzen in a 1966 Ferrari 275 GTB 4 in third place.

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The „Spa Classic Endurance 1 – 60’s“ race for Granturismo and post-war sports cars up to 1965, held over two hours on Saturday evening, offered the usual visual and auditory treat in terms of both quantity and quality, with 54 teams at the start. In the overall standings, Cobra teams once again battled it out amongst themselves; David Hart/Hans Hugenholtz and Yvan Mahe, driving solo, crossed the finish line as first and second after 40 laps, separated by just 15.5 seconds. The third-placed 1964 Jaguar E-Type of Carlos Monteverde/Gary Pearson was almost two and a half minutes behind. Among the fine driving performances was that of Dr. Afschin Fatemi, also driving solo, who had been the fastest Porsche 904 driver in qualifying, even getting under three minutes, and won his class as sixth overall in the race. Both rounds of the „Spa Classic Endurance 3 – HTC“ race for former Group 2 and Group A touring cars were an unsurteprised domain for BMW drivers. In the first heat, three CSL coupés finished first, second, and third in the order of Eric Mestdagh/Alain Thibault, Dominik Roschmann, and Adrian Brady. In the second heat, Dominik Roschmann won ahead of Mestdagh/Thibault and Philipp Brunn/Siegfried Brunn in their 1984 Group A BMW 635 CSi.

Curbs' goal: Hervé Regout

Hervé Regout, from Liège, is an elegant figure—slender, nearly 6 feet 3 inches tall—who, in civilian life, always dresses with impeccable taste. He is what one might call a handsome man in his prime. In historic motorsports at Spa-Francorchamps, too, the nearly 60-year-old has been a fixture for years; here, too, he is repeatedly hired by car owners—even for Group C race cars—as the driving force behind the wheel. Regout speaks softly but firmly and is a good listener. His advice and analysis are in high demand. „Basically, I’ve never really taken a break from my racing career to this day—that alone has kept me in shape,“ says the man who, at this year’s Group C Racing opener in Barcelona, once again drove his compatriot Christophe d’Ansembourg’s Porsche 962 C—driving alone—to a third-place and a second-place finish. His most successful years as a professional race car driver, particularly in endurance racing, were the 1980s and early 1990s. „Among other things, I’ve driven nearly every Group C race car that was manufactured at the time—the Porsche 956 and 962 C, Courage-Porsche, works Mazda, Nissan, Sauber C8, Spice, Cheetah-Aston Martin, Peugeot 905, Lola T 92—and at the Silverstone Classic in July, the Jaguar XJR 9 will be added to the list for the first time,“ he lists. He competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans nine times between 1980 and 1994, finishing seven times, five of which were in the top ten overall. After his 1987 race in the Cougar C 20, he stood third on the podium here; in 1981, he had won the class while finishing fifth overall in the Pozzi-Ferrari 512 BB LM. „At Spa-Francorchamps, you have to get into the car knowing that the car is definitely stronger than you,“ he says, describing a key challenge of the track. „I have everything under control here, but I recommend not driving beyond your confidence in your own abilities and in the car—don’t push to a 100 percent limit, but at best to 99 percent.“ His own best lap time in the Group C Porsche is now 2:13 minutes—even faster than his previous 2:15 minutes—because there’s no need to conserve fuel anymore, and the car’s electronics now deliver up to 860 horsepower. „I really enjoy the atmosphere in historic motorsports; I don’t necessarily drive any differently today than I did back then, but the pressure regarding results or sponsors is gone—now it’s just fun.“

Swimming twice a week for fitness is still a must. At the 2014 Spa Classic, he assisted his compatriot Guy Lauwers in his two-liter Lola T 297-BMW – fourth in the CER 2, fastest race lap under 2:30 minutes.