Located in the Walloon region of Belgium, not far from the German border, nestled in the hilly landscape of the Ardennes, the Spa Francorchamps circuit is one of the most spectacular and beautiful racetracks in the world. The nickname Ardennes Rollercoaster describes the character of Spa Francorchamps very well.
The Belgian racetrack can look back on more than a hundred years of eventful history and is therefore actually older than the Nürburgring. Surprisingly, however, the circuit has only been a permanent race track since 2001. Originally, the races were held on public country roads.
Roughly speaking, the first circuit layout described a large triangle between the towns of Francorchamps in the north, Malmedy in the south-east and Stavelot in the south-west. The track was 14.863 kilometres long. The original layout featured many long straights and ultra-fast corners. In the area after the Eau Rouge depression, the track turned sharply to the left before heading uphill to the right in a subsequent hairpin bend.
It was not until 1939 that this section of the track was changed and the legendary and equally infamous combination of bends from Eau Rouge and Raidillon was created. This measure made it possible to achieve even higher average speeds. I think this world-famous left-right-left combination is one of the most spectacular things that motor racing has to offer. For the spectators and especially for me as a photographer, it is one of the most versatile corners in terms of viewpoints and the associated images. When I stand in the hollow of Eau Rouge, the little river that flows under the track, looking uphill and taking pictures, all I can see is the sky and the tops of the fir trees in the background. In the racing car, sitting low, you can probably only see the sky, with no orientation as to where and when to turn left. An absolute curve of courage. And when I’m standing at the top of the hill at the exit of Raidillon at the start of the Kemmel straight, I can really see the enormous difference in height between the entrance and exit of the bend.
Dan Gurney is supposed to have said that Spa Francorchamps separates men from boys. There’s certainly some truth in that. Stefan Bellof was one of those men who had the courage and audacity to use this bend to overtake, unfortunately he paid for it with his life in 1985.
It has to be said that Spa Francorchamps was extremely dangerous in its original layout. Road signs, lampposts, house walls – many things were unprotected and close to the track. In addition, the weather is still unpredictable today. Sunshine and rain showers sometimes alternate by the minute. If it was dry at the start and finish, three kilometres further on it could be pouring out of buckets and the asphalt could be under water. You can get a very good impression of the ‘old’ race track, the road conditions and the dangers, in the John Frankenheimer film ‘Grand Prix’, a large part of which was filmed there. In this wonderfully staged racing film, you can get an idea of how fast the Formula One racing cars in particular were driven there.
These obvious dangers and the emerging safety awareness of the racing drivers, led by Sir Jackie Stewart, led to the last Belgian Grand Prix being held at Spa Francorchamps in 1970. The race was won by Pedro Rodriguez in a B.R.M. with an incredible average speed of over 241 km/h.
While Juan Manuel Fangio’s lap record in 1956 was a time of 4:09.8 min with an average speed of 203.49 km/h, in 1970 it was only 3:27.4 min with 244.74 km/h, driven by Chris Amon in a March Ford. And that for a distance of 14.1 km. These figures alone show how the rapid development of racing car performance overtaxed the course and caused it to fall out of time.
Due to the withdrawal of the lucrative Formula One, the organisers were forced to react and shorten the circuit to a length of 6.949 km. In its current form, the circuit is 7004 metres long and is once again an integral part of the Formula One calendar, which is a good thing.
I myself have been visiting Spa Francorchamps regularly several times a year for the historic motorsport races since the end of the 1990s. A lot of money was invested there during this time, including a new pit building with a media centre and all the comforts that modern race tracks have to offer today. The starting line was also relocated and today the races start on a flat straight in front of the La Source hairpin. In contrast to the past, where the start was on the downhill section to Eau Rouge, always with the foot on the brake to avoid the risk of a premature start. The old pit lane is still there, but is still used, especially for historic motorsport, but also for the legendary 24-hour race.
This year at the ‘Peter Auto Spa Classics’, the sports prototypes of the Classic Endurance Racing Grid also started there. With 56 racing prototypes, it was such a large starting field that I felt transported back to the great days of the 1000 km races of the 1960s and 70s.
Today, Spa Francorchamps is ultra-modern with huge run-off areas painted in bright colours and state-of-the-art grandstands. Nevertheless, the circuit has lost none of its uniqueness, character and charm and there are still the really old things, such as the spectator tunnel under the track in the Eau Rouge area. When I walk along there, I always think that Fangio and Moss are about to meet me. I would love that.
If you’re a real motorsport fan and have never been to the circuit at Spa Francorchamps, you should definitely put this on your to-do list. I can only recommend a visit, every fan’s heart beats a little faster here.
Incidentally, the absolute fastest lap on the 7004-metre circuit was set by Lewis Hamilton during qualifying for the 2020 Grand Prix with a time of 1:41.252 minutes and an average speed of 249.03 km/h in his Mercedes F1. Of course, he won the Grand Prix in 2020 as well as in 2024, putting him in second place on the record winners’ list together with his idol Ayrton Senna with five victories each. Only Michael Schumacher ranks ahead of them with six wins, his first victory was at Spa Francorchamps in 1992, as was his first Formula One race a year earlier. Find out more about our photographer Ralph Lüker.
