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Belgium Grand Prix – it will be the 57° edition
At Spa Francorchamps 44 times. This year will be the 45th edition. At Zolder 10 (between 1973-1984); at Nivelles 2 editions.The Formula One Championship returns in this weekend after a break of more than one month. The race will take place on the classic circuit of Spa Francorchamps. The most known part of the circuit is the Eau Rouge Raidillon; surely the most famous combination of corners in motor racing. The first part is downhill, with a sudden change of direction at the bottom and then there is a very steep uphill, without seeing the exit from the cockpit. It is a crucial sector, always at full throttle and it is forbidden the DRS also during practice and qualifying. After the Eau Rouge Raidillon, there is a long straight called, Kemmel, where 12 years ago, Hakkinen did one of the best overtaking manoeuvres ever in Formula One. At the end of the Kemmel straight, there is Les Combes, a fast chicane; then the track descends by Malmedy until arriving at the Rivage. Another key point is Pouhon. A very quick downhill left hander. Here is difficult to find the right line. The track continues with the right-left Fagnes chicane and the fast and famous Stavelot corner; you turn onto a straight that leads to the Blanchimont corner. Finally, the Bus Stop chicane, which has been redesigned many times over the years. The start/finish line, which was originally on the downhill before Eau Rouge, was moved in the new track on the short straight before the La Source, a tight hairpin, where there are often incidents. The first and third sector are characterized by long and very fast straights, balanced by a series of high-speed and medium-speed corners in the middle sector, extremely technical. Spa, along with Monza, is the most demanding test for engines during the season and more then 70% of lap time is spent at full throttle. including a continuous sector (more or less 1860m equal to 24 sec) from La Source to Les Combes. Pirelli’s tyre for this race: Silver hard(prime) and White medium(option) - the more conservative choice between those available. The statistic of Spa Francorchamps Podium 2011: Vettel – Webber – Button. fastest lap on race: Webber – pole position : Vettel 1'48''298 Podium 2010: Hamilton – Webber – Kubica. fastest lap on race: Hamilton – pole position : Vettel 1'45''778 Spa GP: victories for current pilots: Schumacher(6) Raikkonen(4); Hamilton Massa and Vettel (1), Quite strange: Alonso Button and Webber: zero wins. Best finish: Alonso and Webber(second); Button (third) Spa GP: pole position for current pilots: Schumacher, Raikkonen, Hamilton, Vettel and Webber (1) Quite strange: nobody of current pilots has more than one pole position. Never in pole Alonso. Spa GP: fastest lap for current pilots: Schumacher(4), Raikkonen(2) Massa, Hamilton, Webber and Vettel, (1) |
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Mark Webber 27th August 1976
[hidden link - please register] Happy Birthday to your 36th anniversary  Gerhard Berger 27th August 1959 [hidden link - please register] Happy Birthday to your 53rd anniversary
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The kings of Spa – the Fantastic Four: Schumacher(6 wins), Senna(5 wins), Clark and Raikkonen(4 wins)
- Raikkonen. (7 starts, 4 wins). Average: wins/starts 57,14% In 2008 Raikkonen led most of the race, but three laps before the end of the race, it started to rain and began a great duel. Lewis Hamilton vs Kimi Raikkonen, until the Finn crashed into the barriers. His four victories: 2004-05-07-09. He is the driver with the best average. - Ayrton Senna. (9 starts, 5 wins) Average: wins/starts 55,55% But also one time: second, fourth and fifth only in 1987 was forced to retire. At the start, Ayton Senna, from the second row, overtook Mansell, but during first lap the Briton tried to overtake the Brazilian. At Les Fagnes chicane, there was inevitably the accident. His five victories: 1985-88-89-90-91. - Jim Clark (8 starts 4 wins) Average: wins/starts 50,00%. The Scottish won from 1962 to 1965. Jim Clark drove his entire F1 career for Colin Chapman's Team Lotus winning two Formula One World Championship(1963 and 1965) and the Indianapolis 500. Clark was one of the fastest pilots of all time. He died in April 1968 at Hockenheim and I was too young to remember him. I began to watch the races a few years later in the early 70. - Schumacher. (15 starts 6 wins) Average: wins/starts 40% but also 3 times at the second place and once was disqualified after his victory in 1994. Here began his career in 1991, and here won his first Grand Prix the following year. Always here in 1995 a masterpiece. he was able to hold off Damon Hill for over a lap, driving his Benetton with dry tyres on a wet track. A legendary performance, from 16° place in grid to 1st place under the checkered flag. Always here in 1998 the big anger. Coming down towards Pouhon, Schumacher, clearly leading the race, crashed into the back of Coulthard's Mc Laren, losing the race and perhaps the championship. He continued the lap on 3 wheels until the Ferrari’s box. And now his 300th race, always, here. |
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Everyone knows allready that next weekend will be the Blgian GP Formula 1
  I found on a website some other fans given comments who have bin to the Belgian GP ....so instead of mine info ...here are some comments from other people  F1 fans’ guide to Spa for the 2012 Belgian Grand Prix Judging by the numbers of F1 Fanatics heading to Spa-Francorchamps for next week’s race, it’s hard to believe the reports of poor ticket sales at the track in recent years.Dozens of readers will descend on the Ardennes track next weekend for the 12 round of the 2012 championship. Here’s what those who’ve been to Spa before have to say about the track, and a few words from those heading to this year’s race. At the track Some tips from fans who’ve been to the track before: " I had a good wander around the track last year and boy is it a hard track to walk round. The TV does not do justice to the elevation changes, Eau Rouge is a hill not a [gentle] slope! " " Food at the track was basic and expensive, so I took food with me, drinks were just ridiculous prices so again took it with me. Had no problems taking food and drink into the track " " The burgers and sausages are revolting, but the chips are great and the waffle places are like a European convention for wasps. " " We had General Admission tickets which gave you a lot of options around the track. There is lots of walking involved through the woods – bit it was worth every second. " " It rained all weekend so be prepared. But again it was worth it and we can’t wait to go this year. " Lots of fans have been asking about the pit lane visit on Thursday. Toni has some advice: Ideally you get down there for Thursday afternoon there is a pit lane walkabout and you get to meet loads of drivers. It’s advertised as starting at 4pm but we queued from 2pm and got in a bit early in 2011. Camping : Spa is a great circuit for camping and several readers will be pitching up outside the track. Craig has done it before and provided some information: "The campsite was basic, there were showers in the football club and a Portacabin, they weren’t the cleanest I’ve been in but they did the job. Toilets were the usual ‘thunderboxes’ but they were emptied every morning until Sunday. By Monday morning they were nasty! I read reviews of people being charged extra for taking too much space and people coming round with tape measures, but I saw none of this. They did cram us in pretty tight but no worse than any other campsite at a big event. Noise levels at night were never a problem, I slept every night. It was a short walk through Francorchamps to the track, with the added bonus that you could look out for drivers making their way in. " Camping can make this one of the bet-value ways of seeing a race: " I always try and do it on the cheap. Get a General Admission ticket (sit on the hill at Pouhon – bit of a walk but worth it), Eurostar to Brussells (£69ish return from London, 1hr 15 from track), crappy hire car, arm with cheap beer and supplies in Verviers, campsite at Francorchamps where there’s bars, parties, fireworks etc till about 4am (about £140 for a group of four). Looking forward to it already. " But camping’s not for everyone and some prefer an alternative approach to getting to the track: " I’m going with my dad, and we seem to be going a different approach to most people – staying in a hotel in Brussels and getting a coach over each day. Early starts, but my dad doesn’t fancy camping! " Long distance : Some of the readers are travelling from other continents to see the race. Here’s two of them: "Hi from Durban, South Africa. I’m taking my son to Spa and then Monza. It’s the first time I’ve been to a F1 race since 1974 (Kyalami – won by Carlos Reutemann) ". " This Is my first Grand Prix, I am flying out from Mexico to support Sergio Perez. We are only two, my fiancee and myself. We will be renting a car in Brussels so we can go Spa. Our plan is to arrive at Spa early on Friday to redeem our tickets to Grandstand Gold 8. " As you can see these where not my comments but they where written by other people on a another F1 website /forum ..so now you can judge by yourself if it's worth to take a trip) to the Belgian GP this year or in the commen years ( the race is there every year until 2015 !!! ) ,who knows ...maybe we will meet each other in real ... i will be the one with the Ferrari outfit and Schumi outfit  Kind Regards Shaky-Schumi |
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1 hour ago there was allready 3 trucks seen on the highway at the E313 ( coming from the direction of Antwerp )towards the Spa-Francorchamps circuit
 ...it where the Sauber F1 Team trucks Kind Regards Shaky-Schumi |
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Confirmed today
Spa secured on calendar until 2015 !!!! Organisers of the Belgian Grand Prix have confirmed a new three-year race contract with Bernie Ecclestone and Formula One Management (FOM). The deal means that the popular Spa-Francorchamps circuit will remain on the calendar up to and including the 2015 season. The deal was officially announced on Thursday by chief race promoter Etienne Davignon. Although the contract was orally agreed beforehand, pen has now been put to paper. Jean-Claude Marcourt, economy minister for the Walloon part of Belgium, has reiterated that the government is now providing less funds but was not willing to state by how much. He also stressed that the Grand Prix will continue to promote the zone as a touristic destination. Spa will host the latest F1 race, which brings an end to the month-long summer break next weekend. Over recent months, motorsport fans feared that the track may soon disappear off the calendar, or alternate with the French Grand Prix which was set to return before the country’s government changed after June's general election. Kind Regards Shaky-Schumi |
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The legend of Spa Francorchamps
the history of this track starts in 1925. almost 90 years ago. The first race was won by Antonio Ascari at the wheel of a new Alfa Romeo P2, eight cylinder, designed by Vittorio Jano, one of the most famous designers of racing cars. During a pit stop, the two pilots of the Italian team, Antonio Ascari and Campari were the able to sit at table, where they even ate and drunk. In later years, also Tazio Nuvolari(1933, starting from the last row) and Rudolf Caracciola(1935) won at Spa. The German pilot, one of the most talented champions in the history of racing, was surnamed “der Regenmaister”. Caracciola won three times at the wheel of the Mercedes the European Championship(the equivalent of the modern Formula One World Championship). Instead about the Italian pilot, Ferdinand Porsche said that Nuvolari was “the greatest driver of the past, the present, and the future”. At that time there were wonderful cars and drivers overtime. In the fifties and sixties others famous drivers as Juan Manuel Fangio, Alberto Ascari(Antonio's son) and Jim Clark (four times) won at Spa Francorchamps. The latest edition of Formula 1 races on the old track took place in 1970 with an average lap speeds over 240 km/h. After 1978, due to safety problems, the circuit being shortened from 14 km to 7 km. The new section left the old track at Les Combes and rejoined before Blanchimont. The old circuit was a sort of triangle Francorchamps, Malmedy Stavelot and ran in the countryside between farm houses, arriving at the little town of Malmedy and then through the Masta straight up to Stavelot. At that point there was a high speed and long curve; very demanding for drivers. Now this section is lost to racing; but the traditional version of the track was captured in a famous action film “Grand Prix”(1966) directed by John Frankenheimer. In this way you can see the old track. Filming in the rain at Spa are exceptional. The new track was used for the first time in 1983 and since 1985 has once again become the permanent home of the Grand Prix of Belgium. The modern layout is very interesting and Spa Franchorchamp is surely the best circuit of Formula One. |
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today's drivers birthday
22/08/1947 ian scheckter former south africa f1 driver[hidden link - please register] |
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Nico Hülkenberg 19th August 1987
[hidden link - please register] Happy Birthday to your 25th anniversary
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@Mr.White thank you
!For those who are interested or want to read it again  here are the pages with my diary of 5 days of the Spa-Francorchamps GP from last year( 2011 ) ......Day 1 : [hidden link - please register] Day 2 + 3 + 4 : [hidden link - please register] Day 5 + some vids : [hidden link - please register] Kind Regards Shaky - Schumi |
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@shaky-schumi
Wonderful report. |
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Post: #1076 Last edited: 18.08.2012, 17:17 18.08.2012, 13:15 Re: Formula 1 General Chat & Discussion
Still12 days to go
 ...but than it's time for [hidden image - please register] Last year i wrote a dairy of my visit of the Belgian Grand Prix (for reading that diary look back some pages ) ......i'm not going to do that this year ..but here are some photos of what you can see on thursday . On thursday you have a pitwalk ( if you have tickets for the complete weekend ) ...and if you are lucky there will be a team ( or teams ) practicing pitstops ...last year it was Team Lotus ( and the before ..2010 it was Red Bull ) ..here are some photo's of thursday pitstop practice taken by me from last year GP at Spa-Francorchamps . Enjoy ....like i did making them and witness it all !!![hidden image - please register] [hidden image - please register] [hidden image - please register] [hidden image - please register] [hidden image - please register] [hidden image - please register] And that's not the only thing that you can see ...because if your lucky you will see ......: in my case ..... Schuuuumiiiii [hidden image - please register] And if your patient enough you will also see some other drivers like Alonso stepping in there car for a little check up [hidden image - please register] Or getting in close contact with my fellow Belgian country man Jerome D'Ambrosio [hidden image - please register] ....and seeing people making themselfs ready for making a interview ... it was David Coulthard for the BBC prepairing himslef for making a interview with Adrian Sutil [hidden image - please register] [hidden image - please register] [hidden image - please register] SauberF1 car ready for scruteneering [hidden image - please register] What a job some people have [hidden image - please register] Fans ???????? .....mmmmm by the 1st look i think so [hidden image - please register] Shiiiiit...now i'm on photo [hidden image - please register] So you can see that there are a lot of things to see on thursday allready . So my advice ....if you ever have the change to visit a Grand prix F1 ...than do it ...you will not regret it So a couple of days ( 11 days ) to go ..and than i will be at the GP F1 of Belgium at the famous Spa-Francorchamps Kind Regards Shaky-Schumi |
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