Changes underway at Spa Fancorchamps
Discussion
https://www.racefans.net/2021/12/23/new-spa-photos...
This looking back towards the drop down from La Source to Eau Rouge (GT pits on the left)
Normally looked like this, all the stuff on the right has gone for now.
This looking back towards the drop down from La Source to Eau Rouge (GT pits on the left)
Normally looked like this, all the stuff on the right has gone for now.
Not entirely though the work in that picture is to build a new grandstand (looks bigger than just that though).
As I understand it, the uphill right hander is moving left and being tightened in order to reduce the speed at Radillon.
They are also moving the barrier on the left of Radillon back and changing the profile so it is less likely to throw cars back onto the track. This work has necessitated the demolition of the chalet.
As I understand it, the uphill right hander is moving left and being tightened in order to reduce the speed at Radillon.
They are also moving the barrier on the left of Radillon back and changing the profile so it is less likely to throw cars back onto the track. This work has necessitated the demolition of the chalet.
Edited by stemll on Sunday 26th December 10:58
The work is to homogolate it for bike racing predominantly I believe.
https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/spa-francorchamp...
https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/spa-francorchamp...
LukeBrown66 said:
Something needs doing to help with run off at Radillon, the accident in the 24 h, how that was not a fatal I will never know, I know we all love Eau rouge, but when it goes wrong there, there either needs to be run off or a slight tightening.
The chalet that overlooks the circuit at Raidillon was demolished some time ago, so I guess something is happening to address the lack of run off there.MitchT said:
LukeBrown66 said:
Something needs doing to help with run off at Radillon, the accident in the 24 h, how that was not a fatal I will never know, I know we all love Eau rouge, but when it goes wrong there, there either needs to be run off or a slight tightening.
The chalet that overlooks the circuit at Raidillon was demolished some time ago, so I guess something is happening to address the lack of run off there.I’ve actually thought an easier way would be widen the course on the left hand side (there’s room) so there is in effect an escape lane with a chicane at the end so you can’t use it as an advantage.
You’d need a gantry at eau rouge with emergency flashing lights so that if anyone goes off at Radillion, the Marshalls hit the lights and the following pack goes left at reduced speed.
Short of killing the corner, I can’t see what else you can do?
LukeBrown66 said:
Something needs doing to help with run off at Radillon, the accident in the 24 h, how that was not a fatal I will never know, I know we all love Eau rouge, but when it goes wrong there, there either needs to be run off or a slight tightening.
It looks like they are making the right hand corner slower, and providing more runoff to the left at the top of the hill. There’s no more room on the right at the top of the hill, as behind the wall there is a steep drop down to a river. As we all said in the many accident threads, more light signals are required, and dedicated marshals with a full view of the corner to operate them. The W Series crash saw six cars go off in the rain before any yellow flags came out.
It is tricky to see how anything really works other than slowing the corner which nobody really wants to do, but there always seem to be huge crashes there, mainly due to people spinning at a very difficult corner, also a blind spot but it has been the case for many years now.
Hiding it behind needing to do bike racing, pah, Spa has hosted endurance bike racing for decades, OK not recently, but this is nothing to do ONLY with them, it is being done I hope to try and minimise the amount of very serious car destroying incidents that happen there.
oddly it seems despite these huge shunts injuries seem to be lighter
Hiding it behind needing to do bike racing, pah, Spa has hosted endurance bike racing for decades, OK not recently, but this is nothing to do ONLY with them, it is being done I hope to try and minimise the amount of very serious car destroying incidents that happen there.
oddly it seems despite these huge shunts injuries seem to be lighter
DanielSan said:
Is it modern F1 safety standards that have ruined so many tracks or is it MotoGP? I'm starting to think it's the bikes.
"and the installation of gravel traps in key areas"It's actually quite contradictory for MotoGP as they don't like gravel traps since they tend to flip bikes and riders into nastier crashes. Unless that's the only option they have because there isn't the space to extend runoffs.
I very very much doubt GP will ever be going to Spa, they would have to make drastic changes to the track in numerous areas.
They have no reason to go there, there are no Belgians doing any good, that is usually the press for it, and unless Spa want to spend a few quid for the hosting fees, which will number quite a few million I doubt it happens. As for the other question about GP ruining tracks, this is possible which is why quite honestly GP does not want to run at F1 venues as the tracks are like bloody bumpstop tests and why f1 not at GP as riders need space to slide if they crash, not flip over into gravel.
a lot of the tracks do not run together, Mugello is historically a GP track and was not changed much for F1, Portimao is really only a bike track, they both ran at Turkey until that fell on its arse, Silverstone obviously, lots of bike issues with surface there, indeed the race was binned there a few years back as the rain made the track unrideable, it was hilarious!!
Catalunya maybe, been changed for bikes, Sepang is no different but off the calendar now oddly, really you know they dont run at many places the same any more, maybe Austin is the worst, track planing caused huge issues there.
They have no reason to go there, there are no Belgians doing any good, that is usually the press for it, and unless Spa want to spend a few quid for the hosting fees, which will number quite a few million I doubt it happens. As for the other question about GP ruining tracks, this is possible which is why quite honestly GP does not want to run at F1 venues as the tracks are like bloody bumpstop tests and why f1 not at GP as riders need space to slide if they crash, not flip over into gravel.
a lot of the tracks do not run together, Mugello is historically a GP track and was not changed much for F1, Portimao is really only a bike track, they both ran at Turkey until that fell on its arse, Silverstone obviously, lots of bike issues with surface there, indeed the race was binned there a few years back as the rain made the track unrideable, it was hilarious!!
Catalunya maybe, been changed for bikes, Sepang is no different but off the calendar now oddly, really you know they dont run at many places the same any more, maybe Austin is the worst, track planing caused huge issues there.
LukeBrown66 said:
They have no reason to go there, there are no Belgians doing any good, that is usually the press for it,
Belgian Team MarcVDS has won 3x Moto2 titles and 38 races almost every year since 2010. Marc Van Der Straten is a billionaire Belgian from the Stella Artois brewing family (now the world's largest brewery AB InBev) who might bring more Belgian money into the sport (because it needs it 
) if they had a home race. Plus it's another European round to avoid the inevitable lower vaccinated Covid problems in other parts of the world next year or after.I do se the point, but VDS has considerably downscaled his teams in recent years, he now only has a Moto2 team while before having teams in every category, so I just think it unlikely for that reason alone, and I do not know if he has any influence on things like dates and rounds, I doubt it.
Spa is an f1 track, most of this work is being done to accommodate the Endurance bike series as I gather, (and also to make a massive amount more money by selling grandstand tickets, something Spa has less of than most big tracks) so perhaps the limitations from them are nowhere near as severe as they would be in GP, but I do think the series is still owned by Dorna, who seem to own just about everything in bike racing these days, hence the series being largely dominated by Spain for the last 20 years.
Spa is an f1 track, most of this work is being done to accommodate the Endurance bike series as I gather, (and also to make a massive amount more money by selling grandstand tickets, something Spa has less of than most big tracks) so perhaps the limitations from them are nowhere near as severe as they would be in GP, but I do think the series is still owned by Dorna, who seem to own just about everything in bike racing these days, hence the series being largely dominated by Spain for the last 20 years.
https://twitter.com/Frozenspeed/status/14773336870...
The view looking back from Raidillon from Jochan.
The view looking back from Raidillon from Jochan.
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