An integral part of the Spa Ferrari Days, and with much-increased sponsorship, this series is divided into categories for drum and disc-braked cars and provides two races for each category. The first two were on Saturday afternoon and the second races on Sunday afternoon. Drum-braked cars compete over seven laps and disc-braked for eight.

Qualifying took place on Friday and Saturday morning and the weather throughout was unseasonably cold and wet, giving added meaning to the word Challenge.

Thirty cars were entered for the Drum-Braked class and twenty for the Disc but a combination of bad weather and mechanical maladies reduced the field significantly for Saturday's race and even more so for Sunday.

Saturday's Drum 1 had only 16 starters, with several well-known entrants missing, notable Burkhard von Schenk with the Maserati 300S, David Franklin with the Ferrari 750 Monza and Gary Pearson with a newly-rebuilt Ferrari 375MM which made it to the meeting but did not compete. Thomas Bscher led from start to finish in the 250F Maserati, with William Binnie second in the 300S Maserati and Carlos Monteverde third in a 250TR.

Saturday's Disc 1 had thirteen starters and was won by Jon Bosch driving a Ferrari 512M from William Binnie's 312PB , with Thomas Bscher's Birdcage Maserati third. Only these three completed the full tally of eight laps, having lapped the rest of the field. The winner's margin of 55 seconds over the second placed man, who was ahead of third by a similar margin, bears testament to the difficult track conditions.

Sunday's Drum 2 saw seventeen starters make it to the grid. Thomas Bscher spun the 250F Maserati on the first lap leaving William Binnie to inherit a 30-second lead in the 300S Maserati with a hard-charging Robert Fink second in the P3 Alfa. Carlos Monteverde's 250TR started from the pit lane but finished fifth, some 14 seconds behind the winner after a very determined drive. Another car worthy of particular note was Stephen Dudley's 250 TDF, which replaces his old war-horse, the blue 166/195 which is taking a well-earned rest this year. Stephen and his wife Lyn found time to race at Spa between the Tour Auto and the Mille Miglia retro - that's enthusiasm!! By the closing laps it was clear that Robert Fink and the Alfa were on a charge. He closed the gap to less than a second at the finish, with Christian Taber's 250 Ferrari taking third place.

Sunday's Disc 2 saw further attrition with only nine starters lining up for what was to be a streaming wet race. Peter Hardman was driving Harry Leventis' Ferrari 246S so we knew we were in for a spirited drive. The only contretemps involved the front of Frederico Kroymans' 250 GTO and the rear of Carlos Monteverde's 206 Dino but given such conditions it is a tribute to the entrants that they raced such valuable machinery. Jon Bosch powered on with the Ferrari 512M to win by 64 seconds from William Binnie's Ferrari 312PB, Peter Hardman taking third place with the much earlier 246S.

Under such adverse racing conditions it is always invidious to pick out a driver for particular mention but, aside from Jon Bosch's masterly drive, one must mention Robert Fink's efforts in Sunday's Drum 2 with the 1932 Alfa P3 single seater. I have know the car in question for many years - firstly as the re-bodied Multi-Union of Chris Staniland and later driven hard by the Hon. Patrick Lindsay and sold from his estate and subsequently returned to its present P3 configuration. I have never seen it driven so effectively to finish within one second of a car 24 years its junior on a circuit like Spa in the wet. It just shows that the validity of Vittorio Jano's pre-war design and Enzo Ferrari's management of Alfa Romeo's racing interests can still produce remarkable results after all these years.

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pics by Paul/Fotografia Corse, CMDigicams and Ferrari