Another Belgian Race and Rally Weekend

Report by David Harbey

18 May 2023

The FIA World Endurance Championship and it’s predecessors have raced at Spa for many years. This year was rather special as it was the first time the full top class of Hypercars had visited the iconic Belgian track including the new Ferrari, Cadillac, Porsche and Vanwall entries alongside Toyota (last year’s champions), Peugeot, and Glickenhaus.

With easy access to Spa by Channel Tunnel and toll-free autoroute, reasonably priced local gite accommodation and a Belgian Rally Championship round just down the road the following day, it seemed like a good idea for Andrew and I to check it out. Andrew also found time to stock up on a wide variety of Belgian beers. It was also time to get some information to enable us to update the PistonClick Circuit Guide for Spa following the opening of the latest new grandstand

You can find the updated guide here – A Photographic Guide to Spa Francorchamps. There was a good number of fans walking the circuit during the 6 Hours of Spa. Official numbers suggested an attendance of 72,000 over the three days and ticket sales were quoted as up 50% on 2022. Certainly, when we joined the queue over 5 km from the Circuit while still on the autoroute we were both pleased (that it was so popular) and disappointed (as it meant we would miss the pit walk).

So, what’s the Class of ‘23 like ?  Well, the Ferrari looks gorgeous, the Cadillac sounds awesome and the Toyota keeps winning !  We found seats in the Grandstand opposite the F1 pits for the build-up to the race. This gave an excellent view of the cars lined up against the pit wall. It was distinctly damp with a little drizzle in the air and important decisions were to be made over choice of tyres. In the event the overcast grey clouds gave way to an eventual hint of blue sky and sunshine by the end of the race.

Once the race was underway, we started to walk the track anti-clockwise. It’s a fine judgement at Spa with a significant elevation change whichever way round you walk. As mentioned above, we have updated the PistonClick guide so here’s our postcard of what we saw on our travels.

The day finished with frites - we were in Belgium!  Sunday dawned bright and clear for our day at the Rallye de Wallonie, a round of the Belgian Rally Championship and based in Namur. Like the East Belgian Rally we had seen last year, the programme (€5), provided full information for the two loops of the four stages for Sunday.

There were specific areas with catering provided by local organisations and the full rally route marked up. It was a bit like going back to RAC Rally planning in the eighties with the RallyPak and OS maps.

The first location was a hairpin left on the edge of the village of Hemptinne.

The entry didn’t seem to be as big as last year and there seemed to have been a number of retirements on Saturday. Nevertheless, the sun was warm on our backs and it was essentially a bonus event for us.

For our second stage of the day, we drove to Nannine, an industrial estate south of Namur. We parked up close to the stage and joined the large crowd near a roundabout which the competitors had to circumnavigate one and a half times with varying degrees of skill and tyre squeal.

For our final stage we drove to the edge of the village of Bolline where the competitors had a fast straight followed by a 90-degree right hand turn and another fast straight across open country. To stand so close to cars at speed remains an exhilarating experience – and there’s no fences!

Now we don’t want to sound like the Belgian Tourist Board, but if you live within reasonable distance of the Channel ports, it is worth considering a trip to Spa or the Belgian Rally Championship. Equally if the idea of the huge crowd (and cost) at Le Mans puts you off, it is worth thinking about the WEC at Spa.

Yes, the weather will be more of a lottery than La Sarthe in June, but arguably the track is more interesting and certainly more accessible than Le Mans. There will be more from Spa on two, three and four wheels in the coming months.