{"id":2808,"date":"2017-10-23T16:24:46","date_gmt":"2017-10-23T14:24:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/slickpix.de\/curbs\/?p=2808"},"modified":"2017-10-23T16:24:46","modified_gmt":"2017-10-23T14:24:46","slug":"spa-as-it-was","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/slickpix.de\/en\/insights\/spa-wie-es-war\/","title":{"rendered":"Spa as it was"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201eRodriguez sets the example, and we followed.\u201c<\/h2>\n

The relentless advancements in race car technology also saw average speeds at Spa-Francorchamps increase horrendously throughout the 1960s \u2013 on a circuit of closed-off public roads that had fundamentally remained unchanged since 1951. By the end of the decade, the average lap speeds of the fastest racing cars of that era were between around 230 and 240 km\/h, and at the end of \u201eMasta Straight\u201c before the village of Stavelot, they reached top speeds of 300 km\/h and more, whizzing past a row of telegraph poles standing immediately at the roadside \u2013 no further words needed.<\/p>\n

\u201eIt was with great satisfaction that I achieved a perfect round there.\u201c<\/h3>\n

Even limiting the Formula 1 engine displacement to its lowest value in history at a \u201esmall\u201c 1,500 cc (1961-1965) and consequently initial engine outputs of 80 HP or more, could not slow down the speed increases at Spa for long. Even the average race speed of the winner of the 1961 Belgian Grand Prix, Californian Phil Hill in the \u201eshark-mouth\u201c Ferrari Tipo 156 V6, at 206.2 km\/h was less than ten km\/h slower than the winner of the previous year, Jack Brabham in the 2.5-liter Cooper T53-Climax 4. And just one year later, the qualifying record of Englishman Graham Hill in the 1.5-liter BRM Type 57 V8 at an average of 214.2 km\/h was already very close to Brabham's 1960 race average (215.4 km\/h). Phil Hill, the winner in 1961, was among those who apparently felt particularly comfortable on the fast track. \u201eI really loved that track,\u201c he once explained, \u201ebecause it was very fast and required high precision at the wheel. It was incredibly satisfying to nail a perfect lap there. I only raced at Spa in the Ardennes Forest a handful of times, similar to the N\u00fcrburgring woods, but it was just as beautiful as it was challenging.\u201c In stark contrast, Scottish driver Jim Clark, the benchmark driver of that Formula 1 era, always harbored a strong aversion to Spa, having narrowly missed crashing into his fellow racing driver Chris Bristow, who lay dead on the track, in his very first Formula 1 Grand Prix there in 1960. In his eight Formula 1 appearances at Spa between 1960 and 1967, he only started from the front row twice \u2013 yet he still won the Belgian World Championship race in Lotus-Climax V8 versions from midfield starting positions, even four times in a row, twice in the rain in 1963 and 1965, and in 1963 with an almost unbelievable 4 minutes and 54 seconds lead over New Zealander Bruce McLaren in the Cooper T66-Climax V8.
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