The TROUBLED History of Spa Francorchamps
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 ธ.ค. 2022
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Spa Francorchamps - one of the most demanding tracks on the F1 calendar. With incredible elevation changes and unsighted crests like Eau Rouge & Raidillon, long high-speed corners like Pouhon and technical, flowing sections like Fagnes, this track really has it all.
But, not long ago Spa was one of THE MOST dangerous tracks in the world. So dangerous that drivers REFUSED to drive there.
But how did it go from being the most feared to the most loved track? Let's walk through Spa’s history - to find out how it got to be.
📹 All source footage can be found here 👉 bit.ly/3V646Ge
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#Formula1 #F1 #SpaFrancorchamps - ยานยนต์และพาหนะ
Jim Clark. Saw the Old Spa kill friends and competitors in its most savage way. Finished the race in 1960 with his car spattered with Chris Bristow's blood. Loathed the place. Utterly dominated it. 4 straight wins, one of them being *that* drive in 1963, winning one handed by nearly five minutes.
Frankly incredible.
He admitted he hated that track because of the safety, yet it was probably his best track!
Not only one hand he was a right hand guy and he was using his LEFT
Jim Clark is by far the greatest motorsport driver of all time, and one of the best f1 drivers ever
@@chuala428 normal for left hand drive car drivers, at least. i'm a rightie but left hand does most of the driving and drifting while shifting no problemo for LHD drifters.
@@Skive_67 most definately... testicles of unobtanium
For anyone who didn't understand the Jackie Stewart spanner thing: the reason why he couldn't get out of the car in that crash was the steering wheel being in the way. That's why from then on, he always carried a spanner in the car so he could remove the steering wheel in case something like that happened again.
F1 today;
Just added weight!
THANK YOU!! I knew somebody would have answered this question that's why I came to the comments.
Thank you
For anyone who doesn't understand British: A spanner is a wrench. 😉😋
thanks, that was not clear
Spa and Brazil are what all racetracks should aspire to be.
spa, brazil, suzuka, sepang, and istanbul park
Monza :)
In spa's case, a killing machine?
tbh, not all racetracks have the luxury of spa's scenery.
Silverstone is a good track as well.
Imagine having to avoid a body on the track ! Different times
What scott doesn't mention (for obvious reasons) is that Chris Bairstow was decapitated during that crash so it was a headless body they were driving around!
A _decapitated_ body no less.
@@nathanm5594 That is sub-human behaviour. Thankfully we live in better times
Or the crash at Zandvort (I think) when the magnesium Honda crashed, caught fire, and the driver (sorry, I do not remember his name) was caught in the car, and the race continued while the car had to burn itself out with a man inside of it.
Why didn't they stop the race??? Like wtf???
6 months later and we witnessed another tragedy on Spa. Rest easy, Delano😢
The runoff area and barriers need to be changed to make it safer.
And now this has 666k views
As long as they allow the race to take place en heavy rain, barriers and changes to the track will not help. It was complete madness to see the accident with the young driver, Hoff.
@@nomimalone7520 they already did this, but theres a river and hill right after raidillon, so the barriers are already on the limit
Honestly, the problem is this is a flat out blind set of turns into one of the fastest straights in motorsports. The only way the deaths are going to stop is slowing down the cars before they get into Eau Rouge and Raidillon, unless Eau Rouge and Raidillon are fundamentally changed in a way that reduces top speed enough that drivers don't risk getting hit at 140mph by a car that doesn't see them over the crest of a hill.
4:33 Masta Kink is truly legendary. It was madness not to brake, yet you didn’t as you feared a massive time loss on the straight ahead.
Bring Back Masta Kink! BBMK! BBMK!
To be honest, in the last years again it was one of the most dangerous and tragic circuits, especially over Eau Rouge and Radillon. Maybe not in F1 in particular, but for other series for sure. Mostly because after cars hit barriers they were bouncing back on track right in front of speeding cars with no reaction chance after the blind crest of Radillon.
I heard an agreement for putting the walls right next to the track, as this reduces the chance of cars spinning. Making any secondary impact more likely to be front to back instead of front to side, where the driver has much less protection.
@@kevinwilliams3694 i doubt that now since theyve only just changed eau rouge but a safer barrier around the whole section would have been safer and made it more scary as the walls are even closer
On the old layout, Masta, Burnenville and Malmedy were more likely to kill drivers than Eau Rouge-Radillon. What happened was that those sections were eliminated in the rerouting of the track, which left Eau Rouge as one of the few remaining turns that retain the very high speed nature of the old layout.
In 1970, Chris Amon told Rob Walker he was taking the Masta Kink on the rev limiter in top gear in his March. Walker worked out that this meant Amon was taking the kink at something like 315 KPH. And the sports cars of that time were even faster because they had more power and lower drag.
There is no real solution that makes everyone happy. You can't move the barrier further back, if you replace the run-off with a gravel trap, than motorbikes can no longer race there. The problem isn't the circuit, it's that whenever you make it safer, drivers and teams will find ways to push it more to the limit again. And at the end of the day, that's why fans come to the race, to see them push, to take that risk and either be rewarded or take the fall when things go wrong.
@@Hans-gb4mv Well I thought it didn't matter what the fans thought safety is number one
10:35: I was surprised that you passed over Stefan Bellof's fatal crash at Eau Rouge/Radillon in 1985 after a high speed touch with Jackie Ickx in a sports car race.
This channel exists only to appease the F1 snobs and glamourise it further.
@@Alan-ww8vi what a statement
Michael Schumacher also won his first race at Spa in '92....with a stick shift.
That was actually the last time a fully manual car ever won an F1 GP!
@@hmdwgf Now that detail I didn’t know. Thank you, I love insignificant little details like this.
@@hmdwgf Great detail. Didn't know that.
@@hmdwgf TRUE!
would love to see another history video of other tracks!
Yes absolutely!
Silverstone or Circuit de la Sarthe woild be great
I agree with you on grass and gravel traps. They can be done safely.
Gravel seem the only logical solution to stop cars coming back onto the track at Radilion.
I understand thatconcrete makes it far easier to mantain the track since the water does not get so close to the actual road, and of course every mistake doesnt mean hundreds of thousands of € down the drain, but there could easily be a 1-2 metre strip of grass or some plastic no-grip material just beyond the kerbs to punish mistakes. Of course wherever the runoff allows for the car to spin.
@@Arnechk The issue of radillion is the cars are travelling at very high speed, grass or any other low traction material is not going to stop the issue of cars bouncing back onto the circuit. What is more important $ or lives?
@@ashberto6041 Radillion is a corner case, no pun intended. The runoff would have to be extremely long and wide.
Issue with gravel traps are cars have a tendacy of digging in and rolling. Look at turn 1 at brands hatch, plenty of people have rolled
Eau Rouge is indeed names after the river and means 'red water' in French. The water of the river has a red, rusty colour caused by some natural seep zones. In turn, these seep zones are called 'pouhons'!
However, the Busstop was called this way as the circuit tricked the government into financing the corner by saying they would upgrade the public transport by adding a busstop.
That’s raidillon actually
Spa is my favourite track, I drove around it as fast as I could on a full track day in 2015 in a Mazda RX8, I met Rob Huff as he was there testing his WTCC Honda Civic
To drive the classic form of Spa would have been a non-stop brown trouser event. Today, I love watching the 24-hour GT3 event every year. And when it comes to racing sims, this is my favorite place to drive. The flow, the natural beauty, can't be beaten (with the possible exception of the Nordschleife)
Heard there was a tall dead snag you were supposed to aim for to enter the carousel, is it still there?
Spa Francorchamps is one of the F1 races I must see each year the fact that you can have different weather conditions only adds to the excitement. It's a long fast circuit that epitomizes the spirit of racing.
I loved watching the drivers handle the old bus stop chicane. The rapid braking, then the tight turns (L,R,R,L) made for unpredictable, sometimes exciting racing.
I miss this. Im not a huge F1 fan but I was a huge casual American fan in the 90s. Schumacher vs Hill drew me in. I was 10 years old and wake up to watch the grand prix at 5am. I miss those days. My brother and woke up for F1 then NASCAR, then Indycar. When we watched Greg Moore die live, his favorite driver, he never watched open wheel again. A few years more of NASCAR, but his love dwindled for motorsports. It honestly made me sad because that was our Sunday thing.
Yes that was a million times better than the slow crappy uphill chicane they have in recent years. And to think that call that chicane which is only a R,L the bus stop. All over the world whenever a complex is called "bus stop" it is from 2 chicanes that go in opposite directions joined by a small straight. Look at the back straight of Watkins Glen or the Daytona Roval. It gets it's name from the fact that a bus pulls over to the side of the road and then back out again. Having a single R,L chicane is only half of what a bus stop is.
Besides that old bus stop as it was in the late 80's had the cars slowing down and a passing opportunity going into it but with the second half of it being more open it allowed drivers to slipstream up the hill onto the main straight to have a chance at passing on the line.
I understand the need to slow the cars down in the wake of Imola 1994 but if you look at that track in particular. Yes they added chicanes where Ayrton Senna and also Roland Ratzenberger died that weekend but they removed the chicane (R,L,R) at the bottom of Acqua Minerale and made it into a double apex right hander. and also the tight chicane of Variante Basso is removed for F1 even though it is added for other racing series. Between Rivazza and Variante Basso there also a quick right, left combo that has been changed to a single right hander. So they added chicanes to the fastest part of the track but where they had actual chicanes to slow the cars down they have straightened the corners out and removed the chicanes. Not only that but the two chicanes they introduced are not that tight compared to other circuits. Shows that making changes to circuits isn't always for the best.
I guess thats why Bathurst is still the challenge it is, almost no run off anywhere, a mistake normally means race over so the track has to be respected, it also makes those special moments like lap records even more special.
Bathurst should've been called batshit with how crazy it is. I haven't been there personally, but I've done the track on a driving simulator and didn't get far :D
@@TheChill001 having been there. Think how nuts it seems in Sim and double it. It feels steeper, it feels narrower. The hard thing to understand. When you see it in real life. The parts that feel flat are actually rather steep still.
Was going to comment that Bathurst is up there with Spa with the most dangerous.
It hasn't had its teeth pulled by Safety Sally's. Yet.
@@MurphysLawNZ it's a scary track even on VR haha
Absolutely love Spa, it's an incredible place - worked it many times, and had some passenger laps in a Radical SR8, which was mind blowing.
Often thought Ian should write a book, defo gonna pick up a copy as soon as it's out!!!
Had the pleasure of his company a few times during my days at Radical, he very much lived up to his legend! 🤣😉
Ay I do radicals too in the us I’d love to drive on some of the eu tracks someday
There are numerous mistakes in this video, particularly in the captions department...
00:52 - Baron Joseph de Crawhez (not Crawhex). He was mayor of the town of Spa and brother of Pierre de Crawhez, a "well-known" (in comparitive terms I suppose) racing driver of the early 1900s.
2:20 and 2:21 - That's a picture of Charles de Tornaco who competed in several Grand Prix in the 1950s. He wasn't born when the 1922 race was held. The 1922 race winner was his father Baron Raymond de Tornaco (not Baron de "Tornaco-Bruyere"). Barthélemy Bruyère was the riding mechanic.
7:23 - Mike Taylor was not paralysed exactly...He broke his back, neck, both legs and both arms and punctured a lung, among other injuries. I guess you could consider him paralysed while those injuries healed. But he recovered enough to do some rallying in the late-60s to mid-70s.
7:40 - Chris Bristow's 1960 crash is being described and the first picture is correct but then Jackie Stewart's 1966 crash is depicted.
7:56 - Same here while Alan Stacey's crash is described. The second is a picture of Jack Brabham who won the race.
8:02 - Same again. Picture shown is Willy Mairesse's Spa crash from 1962 crash, Stacey's crash is being described.
8:11 - Jim Clark mentioned that he was one of the first to arrive on the scene of Bristow's crash and he observed the marshalls pick up Bristow's body and drag it to the side of the road. I've never heard any account of drivers having to repeatedly swerve around it.
Thank you!
Hm, surprisingly sloppy for a "history" video!
The biggest mistake/laugh i got was the pronunciation of Le Mans at the start. Wtf.
Too bad I wasted 6 minutes before I found this post. This might have been an interesting watch if it was at least partly accurate…
Yikes, the channel should really correct these mistakes as these seem lazy and egregious. Terrible video.
Finding a way to make this track safe is a must. Not only to save lives, but to keep racing on one of the best tracks in the world.
Was lucky enough to be sat in the new grandstand on Radillon at this year's gp. I'll never forget it.. the best view in f1
love this scott! if you’re highlighting dangerous race tracks, i’d be curious to hear you talk about targa florio
Kimi's overtake on Schumacher through Eau Rouge in 2012 is still in my opinion one of the most incredible passes ever done on that track of course behind Hakkinen, Schumacher, and Zonta
This could make for a interesting series. Having videos about the history of some of F1's most iconic circuits would be awesome.
Excellent video!
One clarification though; the story about the chicane is not correct. The name bus stop resulted from an actual bus stop (road deviation at 10.01) on the public road between Francorchamps and stavelot, and it was used as from 1981 as a chicane to slow dow cars before a fast left leading to la source.
F1 will then impose put the start line on a flat place instead of in the downhill towards eau rouge.
In 2007, the start line was lengthened and preceded by the current chicane that only brits commentators keep naming bus stop.
T 19 is “la chicane”
This was my thought as well. The bus stop chicane at Spa was the original “bus stop” chicane because it was literally a bus stop. It worked well enough that many other tracks copied the design (Daytona, Watkins Glen, the Charlotte Roval, to name a few)
In rallying we have some chicanes that are called bus stop chicanes as they look similar
Russel's second position in qualifying in 2021 still gives me the goosebumps.
I came here after Dilano died. It's insane to think that Spa is still taking lives. I genuinely wished Anthoine would've been the last victim.
Dilano died because the race organizers made the decision to have a final lap shootout in terrible conditions. It would have been likely at pretty much any track, as he crashed on the straight and was pretty much invisible in the mist.
@@salkdhfpoahergpoahre1534 whether it's raining or not if someone crashes you can't see anything. This was the case for Anthoine Hubert.
@@Missile_Guidance_System482 That's not true at all. There are plenty of crashes where other drivers have time and visibility to react and maneuver through. The big issue with Spa pre-2022 renovations was that, if you went off to the left at eau rouge, you'd fire back towards the track, so everyone had to take evasive action which made the runoff on the right the new line. Hubert got hit because Correa had no where else to go after Hubert hit the tires, but that situation is far less likely to occur now that the run off on the left is so much wider and the barriers have better angles.
@@salkdhfpoahergpoahre1534 For Anthoine Hubert there was a lot of smoke in the area after the many cars had contact, spun out, etc. This was what caused the collision that took Hubert's life, low visibility. Also at that part of the track you are going uphill, making you not be able to see if you are approaching debris or not. Those two combined with high speed can easily cause a casualty if a car is at the wrong place and at the wrong time. What you said also makes sense but you also have to think of the driver's point of view. And about bouncing back onto the track, this is also something completely avoidable whether they change the layout of the track, or remove it from the sport entirely.
As you recounted the history of Spa during the 60s and 70s, you reminded me of Sicily's Targa Florio. A certain Helmut Marko knows that circuit very well ;) It would be interesting if you make a video about it like this. That circuit packs a lot of unique stories and character.
Sadly, Stefan Bellof was lost at Spa also.
RIP Dilano 🙏🏽
And now we lost another young driver at Eau Rouge/Radillon. RIP
Thank you for your history presentation on Spa. As a driver you give us a unique and experiential discussion on the track and its changes over time.
Thanks for this extremely well made documentary. I rode the Spa track back in 1985 on a Yamaha FZ750 (first model). We had been to the motorcycle 24hrs and the track was open the next day because it was public road back then if you wanted to drive down to Malmedy. Normally, the public road included an uphill hairpin at Eau Rouge to slow traffic down etc and the uphill follow through (Radillon) would be closed to normal traffic. On that day it wasn't. I gave the FZ full gas from La Source down to the start of Eau Rouge and nearly lost it when my suspension bottomed out. I was really not prepared for the uphill transition and the amount of G force transferred to the suspension. Respect for anyone that races there! I completed the full lap before being chased off the circuit by officials, great fun!
Holy cow, this is a thorough well made history video! These are my favorite f1 youtube videos bc im new to f1 and only really can learn history this way and books!
"That's Radillion actually" is a great F1 meme 😂
Really great F1 videos lately. Well Done to the team!! Thank You
Love this kind of content. Really interesting and steeped in history. Keep these up
What a tremendous video! Always loved this track and its history
The level of quality on this channel cannot be overstated. Thanks.
Great vid thanks! That's the first time I've heard that explanation of the Bus Stop name.
My understanding was it was called the bus stop due to the original chicane resembling the lay-by design typical of bus stops.
My favourite corner at Spa is No Name, nailing it in the f1 game feels sooo good, it's also fairly challenging
Spa is my all time favourite track, nice to learn about the history of the place.
Brilliant vid, thanks for the effort ❤❤
Such a pleasure to watch an expert talk, and so well presented and constructed
One of the best racing related channel to exist. Subbed!
Excellent video. Really enjoyed this. Thank you
I’ve always wondered about the masta kink, The series the drivers dreaded. With modern f1 cars and their downforce I imagine it would be doable, but the speed they would do through there after the long straight would be astonishing
Looks like the track is a little cambered right at the apex as well, which would make things even more difficult. It's easy to see why the cars would get unsettled. If the track were level, the drivers probably wouldn't even think of it as a corner. But the fact that the track dips right at the apex makes it far more difficult to navigate flat out.
@@ccramit this, the devil is in the details.
Nice details in the explanation. Good video about my favorite track
Very good work for this documentary video on the SPA.
Great video! More track history videos would be incredible
loved your video. Top quality as usual
Quick note for the Editor, if I may suggest, don't scale up to entire full screen those old footages, the look like a piece of crumpled paper, you could simply put it on a frame so people can really see what's goin on in it. Its just a suggestion, but hey you got to do what you got to do. Thanks for another amazing video!
So glad to see / ear from you, finally someone whom "understand" Francorchamps, Merci Monsieur, Michel (Belgium)
Imagine modern f1 cars just casually maneuvering around a body on track. Dudes had hard heads back then lol
Very good video, congrats 👏👏👏👏👏
I used to drive Spa on my video games and it has long since been my favorite track.
This was a really, really good video, thank you.
Your killing it lately with these videos
My favourite F1 track all the time and I watch this sport since 1996 or 1997.
Was there on Sunday in 2019 for the first time to watch the race. The track is so great and you can see the height difference so good when standing on the hill at turn 9 and watching down to the start/finish-straight. Also great to walk at Eau Rouge as you can see how steep it really is. I have been on many F1 tracks but on Spa it was a very different feeling. Also as a Schumacher fan it was great to be in his "living room" and you really can feel and remember that history was made on this track during all the years I watched F1. Sadly when I was there in 2019 it was a tragic weekend.
I agree! More gravel traps more grass. Love you’re channel!
The Spa scene in Grand Prix is a must-see... and no mention of Stefan Bellof?!?
More content like this would be great! Everyone loves a good history lesson!
Spa Francorchamps has got to be one of my favorite tracks in racing games along with Monza and Interlagos, do you plan on making a video on the history of Nürburgring Nordschleife? I really like that track too even with its difficulty and long lap time
You should make this a series explaining the origina of racetracks, its changes and what makes it so good
Videos posted by fans of cars racing up eau rouge and raidillon is simply THE BEST footage in all of motorsports. It really shows the speed, downforce, and outright performance of these cars. I wish Sky sports would try harder to get similar footage at every track. They seem to think people only want to see the cars up close and not what makes F1 the ultimate in motorsports.
Love the effort put into each video legend
Can't wait for you to hit one million subs. Love your content!
Thanks Scott
My favorite track of all time.
Scott bringing the best content!
Great episode Scott! Now subscribed!
Great documentary on the legendary Spa...
Thank you for including the correction 61.
This has the most incredible series of turns just after start line through au rouge. Incredible speed
Great video as usual. I agree there should be more gravel outside the corners.
Thank you for teaching me. ❤️
I get that tarmac runoff areas are considered safer, but Scott is right about them allowing track limits to be abused. So why not compromise with a 2 or 3 meter strip of gravel or grass around the edge of the track and then tarmac from there to the tire barrier?
It's not just the safety aspect. They also use tarmac because of track days and it's easier to maintain.
I agree that there should be gravel traps and grass to punish drivers for making mistakes but a lot of the circuits are multi use and need to be safe for bikes as well. Sadly the danger is still very real at Spa Dilano Van't Hoff accident shows
“Watch out for body parts at the Masta Kink.” has to be one of the most haunting bits of intel passed on at a driver switch
Racing in the rain and at night sounds like a nightmare 😩
One of the best yet, love the old footage and for my two penneth worth i totally agree all tracks should have grass/astro and then gravel. Tarmac run offs actually contributed to the death of Hubert, a race i was at.
Anyone else watch this video after today, RIP Dilano
I've done 15 track days a Spa rain or shine just love it
As a former CoC and Steward I fully agree with your comments. It is up to drivers to drive in accordance with the track and weather conditions not for tracks to be built to protect them from their poor driving skills. I remember Crystal Palace circuit with its narrow grass strip alongside the track and the vertical sleeper walls beyong that
Good one Mate.
Beautiful track, I walked around it in 2008 after the F1 race were FM won.
Absolutely amazing you get 2 really feel & 👀 what the drivers 👀 I also experienced the rain at one end of the circuit & blazing sunshine by the bus stop chicane🤔
F1 Fan Since 1977 (age 10)
Just wanted to say I loved to use Spa for speed records.
On the wrong way from Les Combes, through Kemmel Straight, until Eau Rouge.
The brakes were often the wall.
The 2002 or 2005 Bus Stop chicane would be a nice throwback, didn't take away from the racing either.
Spa is king!!!
Always loved to drive this track in "Race Driver Grid (2008)"!
OT: I don't know if it's available in English, but there is a great documentary about Jochen Rindt I'd like to recommend:
"Jochen Rindts letzter Sommer (Jochen Rindt's last summer)"
Spa is the only F1 race where I have to hold onto my desk when going through Eau Rouge on the cockpit camera.
Super history lesson. So interesting.
i was here this year to watch the f1 grand prix, and it’s so much better in real life than what you see on television, i sat at double gauche ( t10 and t11 ) it was an honor te be there
Love playing this track on any racing game
I love Spa, and this vid only reminded me of how much of a beast it is. In recent years I’ve enjoyed the track hosting other series as opposed to F1 - I don’t know why but it’s lost it’s magic somewhat with me F1 wise. It’s still my fave of course, I only hope to attend a race one day.
I’m track Marshall in francorchamps and it’s really a dream to be there every weekend 😍
Agreed on your last point about lining tracks with grass/gravel. I think all of the rumble strips need to be removed; the track width is the track width and that's it. If you want to put a wheel or two on the grass to cut a corner, go for it and see what happens.
The Hockenheimring (with the forest section), Spa, and Monza are my 3 favorite tracks of all time.
I love high-speed tracks, and I wish the Hockenheimring never lost its forest section because I'm too young to have ever watched a race there live, being born in 2000. My first exposure to old Hockenheimring was the F1 2000 video game on PS1 that I had when I was a kid. I absolutely love racing at Hockenheimring and its sad that it's impossible for that track to ever be restored to its former glory.
Totally agree about grass or gravel runoffs -- tarmac runoffs have basically turned racing into a videogame. Also, you might have mentioned that the lap record on the old circuit was 262 km/h!!
Almost one million subs congratulations 🍾🎊
I've driven on that track, it was weird the first time, cause at the starting line it was dryer then the Sahara, and half way through it was like the amazon in rain season, and then back to dry.
Beautiful, dangerous, legendary.