My Story of Spa-Francorchamps
1997
Last update: 11.1.2010 - moved page to Alice
It rained often. The 'famous' Pommes Frites or French Fries (called somewhat different in Belgium) were no good at all. A bronze weekend ticket costs 250 DM. No single tickets were available for friday or saturday. The youth hostel near Malmedy (altough it looked nice from the outside) is a bit of a nightmare. I think it's ok not to mention the name to be polite. Our room (somewhere in the dungeons) stinks like hell. After 4 hours nearly without air to breed and without sleeping I went to the Camping Familial in Malmedy (here's the address) which was just great to stay for the whole time. Sounds not so good so far. Why not just sitting at home in front of the TV - without wet clothes and stuff. Well it's the whole atmosphere which is I have to say just great. Last time I watched a real F1 Qualifying as a kid in 1978 at Hockenheim. This was also the first time I got my hands on the 'Motorsport Aktuell' - I suscribed this superb mag for nearly 20 years now... (for those who are into german) So I couldn't wait to see (and hear) the F1 cars of today. They sound just great but without ear plugs you have to be crazy (Hallo Peter) or a fan of Napalm Death. The sound of the Stewart Ford Zetec V10 was quit strange with lots of flames at the back. And the few V8 left in the field had lots of misfires. The speed is just amazing - at the long full throttle part to the Bus-Stop-Chicane (it's a mickey mouse one) only 6 Meters away from the F1 cars flying by with 300 km/h and more. It's just great!
Saturdays qualifying was very hot and humid. I made two mistakes. 1st I had
beer only to drink (so I had no problems to be drunk 1 hour before qualifying)
2nd I had no folding chair or something like that to sit on. Numbered seats
for 250 DM - you're kidding. This is the modern F1 of Bernie.
Download this pic called Disaster Area and you'll see. It's shot right behind Des Fagnes.
So I lay down in the grass at Rivage to wait until 1 o'clock when the
Qualifying will start. BTW: Here's a map of the track.
Ok Schumacher screwed up a bit (but he won the race as you know). I lost
my pals Peter and Kaspar in the crowd and had to watch the Formula
3000 race and the huge shunt before Bus-Stop alone. Frightening to watch
it on the big screen at Pouhon. A miracle that Kristensen had no major
injuries. BTW: Watching F3000 in the rain in qualifying on friday was great.
To see many drivers sliding over all wheels at Blanchimont - that's racing.
The F1 cars looked like driving on rails at the same point on the circuit (in the
wet!). Download a Picture showing Villeneuve in his Williams
(in the wet at Blanchimont).
In the evening at Camping Familial (stupid name but a very nice place to stay)
there are two opportunities. 1st drink very strong Belgian Beer 2st drink
more beer and 3rd (ok 3) throw little arrows at the wall (I know it's called
Darts). Not very exiting. And poor Lutz had to miss Rainer W.Schlegelmilch.
Ever heard this Name? Yes - one of the best F1 photographers of the past
20-30 years stayed at Familial for one day. I noticed it on the last day -
too late - Schlegelmilch seems to be a friend of the owner of Camping
Familial. Schlegelmilch will promote his new book at his place next year
before the GP (I think on Saturday).
Later after a few (very strong Belgian) Beers, Jens (from East-Berlin)
iiiis celebrrrating the pilot frrrom USSR (?). Jens is showing
his Flag (ok it's mine) in front of the pool at the Camping Familial.
which is BTW close to the Circuit of Spa-Franchorchamps. Sometimes you
should even hear the engines of the cars.
Well the race itself: Schumacher won as you all know and Villeneuve screwed
up. Peter is happy that Haekkinen is allowed to go back on his
grid position on this pic. That's the place were we decided to watch the whole race were the cars brake from
over 300 km/h to 80 km/h in less than 100 meters. But we had to get up
very early to get a good position at the fence.
The red glow from the breaks look pretty especially in the rain at this point
of the track. BTW: Rain. 20 minutes before the start I prayed for rain -
without rain it would be hard for Schumacher to beat Villeneuve. And it
happened- it rained cats and dogs (Ai learned it from a buk :- )).
Take a look at this high quality shot. IMHO you got a very good impression of the amazing
speed of F1 cars from this pic. It's Mika Haekkinen in the wet at
the entrance of Blanchimont at high speed (224k). It's from my pal Peter 'Polaroid' Berger :-)
One of the most impressive things for me was to see Michael Schumacher
in the part from Bus-Stop-Chicane to Start/Finish in the wet. You could
really see how much better he is then the rest. He seems to have amazing
car-control especially under these conditions.
What kind of people go to see F1 races? You have the fat guy with mustache
and red face who is 3 days drunk (no picture yet sorry) -- beautiful girls
, Ferraristi tons of Dutch fans for Jos Verstappen
and of course lots of Germans with Michael Schumacher Flags. Those two seems two have
more fans than any other driver in Spa. Have a look at this superb picture. Many people shout 'MIKAAAA' at Peter
after seeing his Haekkinen flag. I'm no particular 'FAN' of a driver but I like
Michael Schumacher. I miss racers like Nigel Mansell or Nelson Piquet in todays F1 - so
I'll miss Gerhard Berger next year. One of my all time greatest is Jackie
Stewart - to show it I had my official 'Stewart Racing Team Umbrella' (bought
for 10 DM in Hamburg - auf der Reeperbahn :-)) - but it looks (for me) similar to the
original colors. BTW: I really don't understand how people could spent so
much money for shitty team caps not worth more than a few bucks and all those
other merchandising stuff. The Teams (or who?) seems to make lots of money
with those t-shirts and so on... Well back to my favourites. One ist definitly
John Watson (nearly F1 Champoin 1982) and well known and saidly missed as
Eurosport F1 commentator. So why wearing silly 'Original Team dresses'
in Spa? Not my way...
Kaspar (his is studying in Rostock but he is from Hamburg like me) is
not so familiar with F1 but seems to like the live F1 experience alot.
Peter is a big fan of the Flying Finn Mika Haekkinen and he's studying in Munich. Both came with Kaspar's Citroen 'Ente' CV from Munich to Belgium.
Peter is also into photography and very good IMHO as you see if you have
a look at his photos at this page. I went with my car with Jens his cousin and a friend
of him all the way from Berlin (where I'm studying). So a big meeting of
students from all over the country... It's a shame that Jens, Mirko and Kirsten
coudn't get tickets for Friday or Saturday because none were sold (!).
What the hell is the reason for that???
They were lucky that they found a way to see the F1 cars on Fridays practice
for free. Some nice people build sort of a stand behind the fence at Rivage
- thank you very much - in the name of mmyy pals. And they had a great view
at the track!
I haven't mentioned yet that we walked around the track on thursday (laptime aprox 60 minutes)
- it was sooo hot and I had to rest on tthhe way to Rivage (uphill the wrong way
around the track) I took this shot towards Pouhon.
Damon Hill came across a few minutes before with his Vespa grinning to me
like he wanted to say "hey you - you should know me" . Well I recognized
him too late :-) (so no picture - sorry)
From the F1 drivers parade I got this picture - not that good quality and quite
big (104k) but worth to have a look. Look at the gap between Ralf Schumacher (next
to his brother - right) and Giancarlo Fisichella :-)
BTW: With bronze 3 day tickets your banned from start finish, La Source
and all the way to Eau Rouge. Especially not to see the cars flying trough Eau Rouge is
a shame.
You have to get silver or better gold tickets - but that's too
expensive IMHO. With bronze tickets you could explore nearly the whole
(except above places) track. Other good places to view are at the
Kemmel straight, above Rivage go to Pouhon - great view from a hill down the
track. Le Combes is IMHO not so good. At Pouhon are two giant tv screens - good
for the qualifying session. Blanchimont is great for free practice- your're
very near to the track all the way up to Bus-Stop-Chicane.
It's important to know where to you stay before the sessions begin because the track
is very long (6.9 km) and it takes lot's of time to go to a differnt part of the track.
I hope this will help.
Want to have a nice Ferrari Postcard? It's here.
Actually it's the door of a Ferrari transporter.
Now a series of HQ shots from Peter Berger. Every pic worth the download
time. He took this superb picture (385k) of a car in the mist going through
Eau Rouge. This is one of my favourites - Michael Schumachers Ferrari (329k) in
a close up view.
Here a few new scans (16.4.2001) they didn't made to the story in 1997: A great picture of
Michael's Ferrari. Here's the perhaps most beautiful car in 1997 - the Prost (428k - but IMO worth the download time) .
Now the two Jordans (Ralf and Giancarlo). Animals at the Grand Prix Weekend? Well,
get this picture! Here's a pic of Nobbie Haug. This is another fantastic shot (a camera man in front
of a giant screen). Download a pic showing fan of Ukyo Katayma at the fence.
I puzzled a view pics together (now in full size) to a picture called clone (123k).
I hope it's sort of a reflection of the atmosphere at Spa-Francorchamps -
one of the last old type circuits.
For example the new 'A1-RING' (THE NAME!) in Austria is compared to Spa just crap.
Was it worth to go to see the F1-Race at Spa after all - spending lots of money
for stinky hamburgers (and rooms), warm beer, getting wet in the rain
and so on? Yes!
The museum in Stavelot is worth a visit. They got a Leyton House March from
1990 IMHO (have a look in the cockpit+ diffusor) and a Ligier Renault-Turbo from the 80ties
(a monster compared to those tiny F1 cars of today). There are lot's of other cars from different decades
and series combined with interesting historic pictures and facts.
Malmedy is a beautyful smalltown a few kilometres away from the track. I love
this town with his restaurants and it's unique atmosphere - it's very peaceful
and surprisingly quite in town at race weekend. I you want to have ramba
zamba :-) than go to Spa itself. On Saturdays there's malmedy's middle
age market with music and so on.
Comments and guestbook signing are greatly appreciated.
