My visit to the 24 Hours of Spa 2016

The 24 Hours of Spa is now the onofficial Worldchampionship Race for GT3 Cars.

Its 65 cars that are closely matched to each other. Whereas the 24 Hours of the Nurburgring gives roughly 30 GT3 cars the opportunity to race against each other in a field that also includes slower cars like Renault Clios, Ford Fiesta ST, etc., Spa 24H its a lot of extremely fast cars and an even bigger amount of top drivers than at the Nurburgring.

Of course the nature of the track is different from the Nurburgring, the weather is much more alike. The teams always have to expect rain, sooner or later.

I visited the race only on saturday, with some very good support races and of course the start of the main event.


First I made a walk through the paddock, My favourite starting point, for the rest of the day.

It was also the startpoint for the Safetycar.

One of the races was the Lamborghine Blancpain Super Trofeo. The details show that it are genuine racecars. And no fancy streetcars with just a rollcage.

Most Tracks that I know, still hold that strange mixture of High and Low tech. From very special Porsches, fancy hospitality-units to rather messy places where some of the racedrivers had parked their campers. And very posh Audis where cleaned with just a bottle of water.

This is the campingsite for the Marshalls. They come from different countries, like Czechia, France and England.

The crowd al positioned around the end of Kemmel Straight into the chicane called "Les Combes". A very male affair indeed.

But a few drops of rain during dinner time sent most of the spectators of to their caravan, hotel or straight home.

Its just impressive watching these cars at about 280kp/h do some close racing at Kemmel straight.

And than, slowly the sun sets. And the track gives a special, more intimate feeling. 

Darkness divedes the public into 2 groups. The people that come, just to watch the race. And those that also want to see some show and entertainment and hear some very loud music. The Spa 24H provides both. 

I had a great day (An F1 driver would say: "For Sure"). Lucky with the weather. And already plans to visit again next year and then a couple of days. 

Don't know what my next trip will be. But, hope to see you soon at a racetrack in Europe.

24 Hours of Spa 2015

This time, the weathermen and -women were right: it was windy and extremely wet. The spectators arrived already pre-soaked. The first races of the day, were all shortened in length, racing became to dangerous.

And one moment, even on the grandstand, spectators had to put up their umbrellas.

For the men that had to mount the billboards, the rain was no problem. Best apply a sticker with water.

These women don't care. Rain or shine: just keep smiling and keep the spirits up. What a great attitude.

Then the Starting grid got its shape.

The McLarens get the last attention from the mechanics.

 And in top motorsports, every detail is just as important. The mechanics dry the shoe soles of the drivers.

A phenomenon for GT Racing: allowing the crowd the have a look for themselves on the starting grid. And just like at the #N24h there was a brassband to lift the spirits.

But then it was just before 16.30. Time to race. Of course it was a wet race. Organizer Stephane Ratel took position at the startlight (left side, under the umbrella). And with the Belgium flag waved, the cars got on their way for 24 hours of battling with track, opponents, weather and themselves.