I’ve been to Spa-Francorchamps and the wonderful Circuit de l’Ardenne countless times, but I’ve never experienced it as hot as it was at the Spa Classic by Peter Auto this weekend. Everyone – drivers, mechanics, spectators and even us photographers – was doing their best to find a bit of shade.
As always, the quality of this fantastic event was impressive. The starting grids felt packed with the very best that the various racing series have to offer. From the Gentlemen’s Challenge and the Sixties Endurance with their GTs from the 1950s and 1960s right through to the GT3 Revival, a wide span of motorsport history was covered.
Naturally, I have my favourites among the various classes. These are, firstly, the Classic Endurance Racing 1 with the sports prototypes built between 1965 and 1975, and secondly, the Historic Touring Cup 1 with the touring cars from the same era.
There, of course, a number of Ford Capri RS 3100s competed against BMW 3.0 CSLs, accompanied by Ford Escort RS 1600s, a couple of Alfa Romeo 1750 GTAs, and, as a ‘speciality’, a 1972 Toyota Celica. A total of 30 racing cars lined up on the grid in this class. As usual, the Capris were the fastest.
An incredible 53 sports prototypes lined up on the starting grid for Classic Endurance Racing 1. These included numerous Lola T70 Mk.3 and Mk.3B, Chevron B8, B16, B19 and B21. Porsche, the marque that shaped and, to some extent, dominated this era, was represented by several 911 Carrera RSR 3.0s, a 908/3, a 908 long-tail, a 910 and a 917 KH.
The 917 KH, in its traditional GULF livery of light blue and orange, is said to have been the winning car from Daytona. It had an additional window fitted in the roof to improve visibility in the banked corners of the Daytona Speedway.
Unfortunately, the 917 suffered engine failure during qualifying, meaning it was unable to take part in Sunday’s race.
The Porsche 908/3, also known as the ‘Flunder’, was presented in silver with blue and red MARTINI stripes. In stark contrast, the pristine white Porsche 908 Langheck was, for me, the most beautiful prototype of the weekend. It’s hard to imagine a more beautiful racing car; the perfect proportions of the bodywork are simply unrivalled. When you see this delicate racing car driving in front of a Carrera RSR, the 911 almost looks like an SUV.
A total of 35 racing cars from the period between 1973 and 1981 lined up on the starting grid for Classic Endurance Racing 2. The LOLA marque dominated the field with ten prototypes, whilst Porsche was represented by a number of 934s and 935s. The starting grid was rounded off by a stunning Ferrari 512 BBLM, a Lancia Beta Montecarlo Turbo in MARTINI livery and a Ford Capri Zakspeed Turbo in Jägermeister Orange.
The Endurance Racing Legends were the fastest and most modern on the track with the GT3 Revival racing cars. Amongst others, three Maserati MC12 GT1s in three different liveries took to the track. These racing cars are, of course, equipped with all the latest electronics such as ‘fly-by-wire’, semi-automatic gearboxes that can be shifted at full throttle, and much more, which significantly increases the workload in the pits. You can also see the mechanics sitting there with their laptops, reading out the telemetry.
As always with Peter Auto, everything was perfectly organised; despite a few red flags in many races, the schedules were almost always adhered to. It was a top-class event featuring fabulous racing cars, some driven by very prominent drivers such as Jan Magnussen and Rob Huff, to name but two, and some very exciting races.
As mandatory pit stops had to be completed within a specific time window in practically every race, the order was constantly being reshuffled. Some were lucky with yellow flag periods or full-course-yellow, others were not. In some races, this meant that the lead built up during the first stint wasn’t quite enough after all. And there were certainly some wheel-to-wheel battles too. In short, everything that defines both classic and modern endurance racing was perfectly showcased to the numerous spectators on site during this hot weekend. The historic Spa Francorchamps circuit provided the perfect stage for it in glorious summer weather.
For further information, we recommend visiting the Peter Auto website here. And for next year, you should definitely make a note of this event – it’s guaranteed to be worth it.
