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No other race track, certainly in Europe, engenders the same universal passion as Spa-Francorchamps. As it threads its majestic way through 4.35 miles of the beautiful Ardennes forest, the course embodies some of the most spectacular and exciting corners to be found anywhere. Although the present day Spa is very different from the original long track that went all the way to Stavelot, it retains most of the great features that makes this circuit so unforgettable to drive. In order to attract a sizeable field to do justice to this long circuit I decided to combine the PFO and PFfc cars in a pair of double-header races. It wasn’t an easy decision to make because there would obviously be a fairly high speed differential. All the drivers were aware of the potential hazards and, knowing there was no other way I could make the event financially viable (it costs a fortune to race here) accepted the situation without complaint. Most drivers turned up on the Thursday and took up their allotted places in the paddock and a total of 24 Ferraris reported for duty: 10 'Open' cars and 14 classics. The PFO contenders were split between seven Class C F355 Challenge cars and three Class S machines, the latter being boosted by a guest appearance from my Belgian pal, Maurice Dantinne, in his deafeningly noisy 308GTB/4. Charlie White, having at long last got his F355/Ch in race order after its argument with the barriers at Brands Hatch when being shared with another driver, was going great guns, setting pole in the Open division with a 2:47.992 before he came into the pits with a split hose on the car’s power steering system. Mike Reeder was bang on form with his yellow 355/Ch that had shown such speed at the previous Open event at Rockingham in brother Graham’s hands. Mike always shines at Spa and he posted the second quickest time, albeit three seconds shy of Charlie’s but just a soupçon ahead of Mark I’Anson. Classics were divided between six Gp2 cars and eight lightly modified Gp3 Ferraris. It was good to see Nicky Paul-Barron back on the circuits again following a sabbatical from racing. He has now acquired the ex-Shaun Bealey, ex-Hew Dundas, ex-Richard Allen 328GTB. With all these ‘exs’ this car is quite famous, not least for being inverted at Shelsley some seasons back when in the stewardship of RA. Gary Culver grabbed the classics pole position with a scintillating 2:57.985, almost three and a half seconds quicker than the second placed Nicky P-B in his Gp2 car. Two hours or so later the Ferraris assembled once again for their second
qualifying session which would set the order for Race 2. By this time
the sun was high in the sky and temperatures were really hot. Tris Simpson’s
328GTB lost all gears apart from 3rd. He was understandably not best pleased
and duly cancelled his mechanic’s hotel room. “He won’t
be needing it if he’s working all night on the car,” was his
pragmatic explanation. When the results appeared, it was Mark I’Anson’s
name at the head of the list (2:48.398) just ahead of Charlie’s
2:48.875. In PFfc, Culver was again the quickest in 2:58.957, although
slightly slower than his Q1 time. Graham Reeder had speeded up to take
the other front row place, in 3:00.831. Race One Despite the efforts of the German Clerk of the Course at the previous day’s briefing, the exact starting procedure for our race was still unclear to both officials and drivers. When we finally arrived on the grid – in total disregard of all we had previously been told - the Open series cars were gridded up ahead of the PFfc Ferraris. At my insistence, two marshals with yellow flags were stationed between the two groups of cars so that the classics didn’t rush off when the red lights were first extinguished. This seemed to work reasonably well and Mike Reeder surged away to head the Open field from the grid. Then it was the turn of the PFfc. With the first batch safely away and climbing out of Eau Rouge, one light came on, then a second. We were waiting for a third but nothing happened. Then, with hardly a pause, the lights went out and off we went. In Open, Charlie White latched on to Mike Reeder’s tail, with I’Anson and Furness in close attendance. On lap 3 Charlie took over the lead when Reeder started experiencing trouble in selecting the right gears. Reeder soldiered on in second spot for two further laps before disaster struck. The unfortunate Mike buzzed his 355’s engine when he found 2nd instead of 4th and brought his car to a halt on the Kemel straight. Without bothering to look under the engine deck, a broken crank or a rod through the side were his immediate fears. With Reeder gone, Charlie came under pressure from Tim Mogridge, who was going great guns now he was more familiar with the circuit. Unfortunately they made contact with each other at the entry to Les Combes, each suffering some body damage but nothing serious enough to slow them down. Behind, I’Anson, in third, and Furness were having a grand tussle in their Challenge cars. With one lap to go, Furness found a way into third position and caught up with Mogridge. The chequered flag came out to greet Charlie White’s first victory of the season, taking the flag a mere second ahead of Mogridge, with Furness just a couple of seconds further back, in third. Pullen, his 328GTB lacking power up the long straight, came home in 5th overall to take a Class S win. The fastest lap was recorded by Tim Mogridge in 2:49.490 In the classic part of the race, as we have seen so often this season, it was Gary Culver all the way. From pole, he was never headed despite the best efforts of the rest. And the rest put on a stunning display of fast, close racing. A spectator described it as like watching the Red Arrows, with positions being swapped on almost every lap. At Les Combes, on the first lap, an ambitious Richard Atkinson-Willes spun under braking, fortunately without collecting anyone. Then, after one tour, N P-B was locked into a battle with Graham Reeder, with Tomlin always waiting to pounce. A lap later, Reeder had taken second from Nicky and Tomlin, with Bartholomew,
despite his continuing brake problem, in 5th ahead of Nigel Jenkins, Sam
Whitman (having his first race in the ex-Mike Spicer 328GTB) and William
Jenkins. Your scribe, after a pathetic start, had been passed by Richard
Mosley in his Gp3 308GTB. Culver set the fastest lap, at 3:04.131 – significantly slower than his qualifying lap on account of all that oil. If we look at the fastest laps of the next four: Reeder, Paul-Barron, Tomlin and Bartholomew – 3:05.533; 3:05.928; 3:05.456; 3:06.644 respectively, you will appreciate just how closely matched these drivers were. I managed to get the first three drivers from each series onto the podium. In charge of presentations – the official title was Siegerehrung which I think means ‘Honour the Victors’ – was an athletic looking lady called Sandra von Ketteler. She handed over the trophies (although not necessarily the correct ones) well enough although some recipients may have thought she was a little half-hearted with her embraces. Afterwards we had to ask the podium drivers to hand back their prizes to Anne so that we could redistribute them to the rightful winners. Yvonne Preston was selected to do the presentations and she proceeded, unlike the aforementioned Fraülein von Ketteler, to give the successful drivers – and there were quite a few of them – a proper hug and a kiss. Race Two This time it was Mark I’Anson who had the honour of leading the Ferrari field on the green flag lap. We had teased him about throwing his advantage away at Rockingham in the previous race meeting and he was determined not to do it a second time. Indeed, he was so intent on not making a hash of it that when the Pace Car pulled off the grid to go into the paddock, Mark followed it. The flag-waving marshals were dumbfounded and quickly ordered him to reverse back to his proper place. When the Open cars were released I’Anson duly took the lead into Eau Rouge, chased by Furness, White, Mogridge, Marrs, Simpson, Edge and Dantinne. Pullen stopped just after Raidillon for unspecified reasons. On the second lap Simpson’s 328 shed most of its rear bodywork, including its engine deck, on the straight past the old pits, causing his eventual retirement and havoc for the drivers following who had to avoid the sizeable chunks of Ferrari debris. This episode was closely followed by rear suspension failure on Dantinne’s car, resulting in his car being abandoned in the gravel up at Rivage 1. We had now lost all the Class S cars. I’Anson continued in the lead for the next five laps and it seemed that he was set for victory. But it wasn’t to be. On lap 6 his clutch started to slip and he retired as he was unable to change gear. Just as in R1, White then took control from Mogridge and Furness although this time they were rather more spaced out. It was a great double win for Charlie, and the icing on the cake was taking the fastest lap, in a time of 2:48.696. The simultaneous classic race proved to be even more exciting than the first. The start again was a disaster. If the lights came on at all it was for a perfunctory millisecond only. Your reporter was again caught napping as were most of the other drivers. This time it was Graham Reeder who took up the baton, with his mirrors full of Culver, Tomlin, Paul-Barron, Whitman and Bartholomew. Swift was an ignominious dead last. As the field came round for the first time, N P-B had climbed up to second and Culver had dropped down to fifth, just behind Bartholomew. It was on lap 4 that Culver decided he had better get a move on and squeezed past Reeder to take the lead. The ding-dong struggle at the front simply never abated, and Culver and Reeder swapped places several times before the flag brought the exciting contest to a conclusion, with Culver winning from Reeder by about a car’s length, and Paul-Barron again taking third from a hard driving Tomlin. Of the others, after Swift had recovered his composure to move ahead of Watson, Hathaway and the two Moseleys, the old blue 308GTB slowed with failing brakes, the driver having to pump furiously to get the thing to stop. This time it was 3rd and 4th placed drivers, both in Gp2, who vied for fastest lap. Nicky managed 2:04.789 but this was topped by David Tomlin’s 2:04.776. The podium ceremony went rather better this time. I had had a word with the lady in charge and explained that we English chaps expect rather more than a peck on the cheek when we had done well in a race! It had been a great race to conclude a fabulously enjoyable weekend of racing on what is still the most sublime circuit in the world.
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