From September 15 to 17, 2017, the "Spa Six Hours", the best historic racing event in Spa for many motorsport fans, took place. Over 650 vehicles were registered for the start and divided into 12 racing fields. Untypically for Spa, the weather was actually sunny throughout, of course the mornings were always characterized by fog, but this always cleared during the morning. On the roof terrace in the building of the new pit lane, many spectators enjoyed the Belgian beer in the evening sun, their eyes following the great play of light and shadow of the passing racing cars.
The 6-hour race as the highlight
What every spectator was probably waiting for was the start of the "Spa Six Hours Endurance" endurance race, which was given the green light at 16:00 on Saturday. 126 cars started at the same time, and the queue of vehicles that built up behind the pace car was impressive! A sight that you probably won't see anywhere else.
Even during qualifying, many an observer might have suspected that the 6-hour race could be close. Pole position went to the German team Nolte/Funke and DTM driver Frank Stippler in the inconspicuous gray-painted #9 Ford GT40 (best time: 2:42.651, 155 km/h average). The British team Ward/Smith followed one second behind in the likewise gray #55 GT40. And that's exactly how they approached on the first lap.
It was easy to imagine that one of these two would be the first to cross the finish line, but the fact that both would be on the same lap right to the end surprised many a spectator! In the end, the British team with the #55 Ford GT40 was the winner. Frank Stippler and his co-drivers crossed the finish line with a gap of just under one lap.
The GT40 armada mainly took the front places in the final classification. The fastest non-GT40 was the Friedrichs/Hadfield/Mallock Aston Martin DB4 GT in 6th place, while the Lotus Elan 26R and Porsche 904 also made it into the top 10.
Top 10 of the 6-hour race
- 1st place: Ford GT40 #55, Ward/Smith
- 2nd place: Ford GT40 #9, Nolte/Stippler/Funke
- 3rd place: Ford GT40 #1, Wright/Wolfe and Swiss driver Michael Gans
- 4th place: Ford GT40 #17, Lynn/Haddon
- 5th place: Ford GT40, #3, Dirk Adorf and Graf von Oeynhausen/Verdonck
- 6th place: Aston Martin DB4 GT DP214, Friedrichs/Hadfield/Mallock
- 7th place: Lotus Elan 26R #13, Wilson/Sitrling/Pittard
- 8th place: Porsche 904, Fatemi/D'Ieteren
- 9th place: Ford GT40 #5, Wood/Stretton
- 10th place: Lotus Elan 26R #26, Davison/Morris
Good mix in the endurance race
But what made this 6-hour race the highlight of the Spa Six Hours was the number of cars. After just a few laps, the first lappings began and mixed groups of cars formed, racing wheel-to-wheel towards the next corner. Duels or even three-way battles were very frequent and extremely attractive for spectators.
Due to the long duration of the race, the vehicles really heated up. Exhaust systems were almost glowing and fire bursts from the exhaust pipes were not uncommon in some vehicles.
When visiting the Spa Six Hours, you absolutely have to go to the pit lane in the evening and during the 6-hour race. The hectic hustle and bustle, screwing, pushing, shouting and banging in the otherwise spacious pit lane is like the chaos of an Italian marketplace.
16 Ford GT40s at the start at the same time
If you include the GT40 Roadster prototype, there were 16 GT40s at the start of the 6-hour race at the same time - a unique number! This number was probably only exceeded at the Goodwood Revival 2013 , when 26 GT40s were on the grid as part of the Whitsun Trophy.
There were only four of the GT40 Roadster, all of which were built by Ford. We were able to take a close look at one of these roadsters at Spa, incidentally it was the one that was used for the test drives at Le Mans and later raced in the Targa Florio. During the Targa Florio, this car lost a wheel and suffered massive damage. The car was then deposited and not seen again for a long time. The chassis was not recovered until 2006/2007.
According to the current owner Rui Macedo Silva, around 80% of the original roadster could be reused for the restoration. Some of the badly damaged parts could be located and purchased. With access to original drawings of the roadster, the car could be completed with newly built parts.
There are always discussions as to whether the GT40s are originals, replicas or recreations. From a technical point of view, this may be interesting, but from a spectator's point of view, the only thing that counts is the look and the engine sound, which was right on all sixteen GT40s.
Alfa Romeo versus Ford Lotus Cortina
The U2TC (Historic Motor Racing News) race was also a real battle. Starting from pole and crossing the finish line first were Alfa Romeo specialists Maxim Banks and Andrew Banks in Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GTAs. There were heated duels between these two and Pheysey in the Ford Lotus Cortina over several laps. Due to an unscheduled pit stop, the latter finished 13th overall.
Women at the wheel - Katarina in a special E-Type
It happens quite automatically: in otherwise male-dominated motorsport, female drivers simply stand out immediately. Either because a blonde head of hair is revealed when the helmet is pulled off or because the car stands out in an unmistakable way. Rhea Sautter's turquoise-colored E-Type ( photographed last year) belonged to the latter category.
This year, however, our gaze first wandered to perfectly painted fingernails on a (still) gleaming white racing overall.
This is Katarina Kyvalova, who took part in the 6-hour race together with the Englishmen Keen/Minshaw in an E-Type Lightweight. In the GTS12 field, in which she started together with seven other E-Types, she was the third fastest of the E-Types (best lap time 2:53.399)!
Kyvalova is by no means new to historic motorsport. She has been taking part in races for 15 years and even finished third in the Freddie March Memorial Trophy at the 2015 Goodwood Revival.
The (short) history of her Lightweight E-Type, with which she competed in the race, is interesting. Jaguar originally planned to build 18 Lightweight, chassis numbers 1 to 18 were born. However, only twelve Lightweight were built. In 2014, Jaguar decided to rebuild the rest, 100% according to the original at the time. Katarina Kyvalova was lucky enough to buy chassis number 15.
Experts often agree that the rebuilt Lightweight E-Types are much closer to the original than some of the remaining Lightweight E-Types, as these have often been restored due to many motorsport uses, and not always completely true to the original.
Australia visits Europe
We encountered a real rarity in the paddock, at the very bottom, almost at the end of the large area in the starting area. There was Paul Eaton's place, who brought the only still existing (and above all drivable) Holden Commodore from the Australian Group C (not to be confused with the more well-known "Group C" prototype class here) to Spa.
The mechanic spoke enthusiastically about the construction of the vehicle, probably also because Spa was the debut race for the rare racing car. The last original vehicle had disappeared, so this was a replica, but to his knowledge the only one in the world. The replica was the so-called HDT VK Commodore Group C, as driven by Peter Brock at the time.
This Australian Group C was held from 1973 to 1984 and was based on road cars. However, these were allowed to be heavily pimped according to a fairly open set of rules. The Commodore in Spa brought 450 hp to the track!
The Holden Commodore was at the start of the Historic Sports Car Club race with many sub-classes. In Group 10, the Holden finished in third place with a best lap time of 3:03.102, while the overall winner in the Mazda RX7 (#66) also clocked the fastest lap time of 2:51.333.
Rare endurance classics at Spa
Spa Six Hours is considered a historic motorsport event. Nevertheless, there was one race group for which an exception was made, namely the "Masters Endurance Legends". It was mainly racing cars from the new millennium at the start, but there were two cars that we particularly liked, as they are rarely seen: the two Frenchmen Romain Rocher and Gerard Bouvet each drove a Venturi 400.
Long-distance fans, however, were delighted to see the classics of this group driving again. The 22-strong group included an original works Peugeot 908 from the 2011 season, an LMP1 Aston Martin (DBR1-2), the German Peter Schleifer drove the rare Pilbeam MP91, the Swiss Michel Frey drove an Oreca 03 and the GT field included Ferrari 550 GT1 and 575 GTC, a Dodge Viper GT2 and other GT cars.
Historic Formula 1 without decibel restrictions
Most of the race groups were specified with a volume limit in the program. This was not the case for the historic Formula 1 races, which simply said "unlimited". It could get correspondingly loud if, for example, you were standing almost directly on the track just before Les Combes or before the Double Gauche.
The winner of the first race was Deman in a 1980 Tyrrell 010 (best lap 2:14.547), the second race went to Lyons in a Williams FW07B (best lap 2:17.563). There were some original racing cars in this field, such as the ex-Jochen Mass ATS HS0, a rather rare Formula 1 candidate, and the very often but always popular ex-Jackie Stewart Tyrrell 001.
An insider tip for many spectators
We can only congratulate the organizers, the race fields were always well filled in terms of numbers, varied in composition and there was almost always something going on on the track. There were no major interruptions, and even in the event of accidents, the course could be reopened very quickly. The only point of criticism: the spectators were only treated to culinary delights in the start area, there was not a single catering option along the course.
While the racing fields were very full, the grandstands were mostly unoccupied. Of course, Spa offers plenty of space for spectators to spread out, but it was noticeable that too few motorsport fans know how great this event is. But the bottom line is that this was also an advantage: you could move around freely in the pit lane during the races and there was enough space in the paddock to take photos and talk to people.
So if you love historic motorsport and want to see races that really get down to business, you should make a note of Spa Six Hours 2018 in your diary.
You can find all the results from Spa Six Hours 2017 on the official website .
