The sun had barely risen above the Ardennes mountains and the Uniroyal tower was drawing a long shadow. At it’s foot the sun was touching the entry to one of the most famous corner complexes on any race track of the world: Eau Rouge of Spa Francorchamps, home of the Belgian Formula 1 Grand Prix. It was this famous circuit that was to host a track day organized by Renault Sport. And I would be taking part. I was one of the first to arrive there last monday on 6.30 in the morning, thrilled with anticipation. The track and especially Eau Rouge is legendary and I don’t think anyone with a passion for motorsports can help but being fascinated by it.
Technically speaking Eau Rouge is only the very first part of the corner complex, the left-hander at the very bottom, named after the river Eau Rouge (Red Water) cutting through underneath the track. It is followed by Raidillon, a right-hander that leads steeply uphill to another left-hander with a blind crest. Seven-time F1 world champion Michael Schumacher once described the complex like this: “Eau Rouge is really the most tremendous corner. It is like flying downhill and seeing a big mountain in front of you. You get the feeling that you are driving into the road and then you go up and it is a sensation which is probably the best you can experience and the most satisfaction you can have as a racing driver.”
I’m no racing driver, but flooring it in fourth gear through Eau Rouge, feeling the car getting heavy with g-forces when driving into the compression and feeling it (and your stomach) getting light again when you come over the blind crest, all while turning left, right and left again, was the most exhilarating experience I ever had driving a car – and I was not even going half the speed a modern Formula 1 car can carry through there! The sheer physical sensation is probably best compared with a rollercoaster ride. But psychologically, the fact that you are the one in charge of where the car is going makes a world of a difference. And Eau Rouge/Raidillon is by no means the only great corner at Spa Francorchamps. The whole section from Malmedy through Rivage, Pouhon (this one especially), Fagnes and Stavelot is pure excitement.
The whole day was perfect. Renault Sport who organize several track days (Journées Passions) throughout the year, mainly in France and in Great Britain through Renault Sport UK, did a great job. The athmosphere was very friendly and relaxed and the weather was perfect with the sun shining all day. After the welcome formalities and a quick briefing the first group of cars headed out for their first 20-minute turn at 9.00 am. We started in three groups of approximately 30 to 40 cars, blue for beginners, yellow for intermediate and red for advanced. I had signed up for the yellow group and my first turn was to start at 9.30. Needless to say that my heart rate went up by quite a bit before heading out to the track for the first time.
The first lap was driven behind a pace car, so the idea was to stay close to the car in front to learn the line. It didn’t work that way, though, as the red Clio that was in front of me had left a huge gap. I didn’t mind, because I basically knew the line rather well from a racing sim called rFactor. Real life is quite different, of course. Most noticeably, the slopes seem much steeper than on a computer display. Going through Malmedy, down to Rivage and on all the way through Pouhon (an awesome double left-hander) I was actually a surprised how steep that downhill section was – pleasantly surprised. I took it easy the first turn and just as I was starting to get into the flow, our session was red-flagged early because of a Clio Williams that broke down on the start/finish straight. No big deal, though, we lost only five minutes of track time and it wasn’t due to an accident, so nobody was hurt.
On subsequent turns (one more before the lunch break and four more afterwards) I consistently picked up the pace bit by bit as I got more and more comfortable with the track. With my Toyo R888 semi-slicks I could carry a lot of speed through corners and was faster than quite a few cars in my group. At least through right-handers. In left-handers I couldn’t really go as fast as I would have liked to, due to the hopping and juddering I wrote about earlier. My car still suffered from that but I tried to ignore it as much as possible. After the first turn I actually rarely had to let people pass. Especially the more powerful Méganes and V6 Clios seemed to take it rather easy. I was held up here and there, but most of the time not to an extent that got annoying. There was the odd exception, though. Especially one white Mégane F1 Team R26 which was painfully slow through corners didn’t want to let me by for almost a full lap. But just when I really started to get a little impatient, he let me pass on the long straight after Raidillon.
As part of the day each participant got a chance to test-drive a Mégane R26, a Clio 197 Cup (both in white) and to ride shotgun in a Clio Cup race car. I was a little underwhelmed by the Mégane to be honest. With it’s 230 hp turbo engine, cup chassis and limited slip differential it is a seriously quick car, but it doesn’t feel quick. It’s just so much more refined than my Clio and thus the drive is much less involving. The Clio 197 Cup felt better, it’s high revving N/A engine is just much more to my taste, I guess. However, the instructor that rode along was very hesitant to let me go fast. He made me brake several hundred feet before Eau Rouge for example and the fact that he constantly grabbed my steering wheel when traffic was approaching from behind made the test drive a rather awkward experience. The fact that I have the (natural?) tendency to try and turn away from the direction the “intruder” wants to turn was of no help as far as safety goes.
When I rode as a passenger in the Cup racer, I was so looking forward to going through Eau Rouge. A proper race car on slicks with a race driver on the steering wheel can carry pretty high speeds through there. And higher speeds mean higher g-forces, of course. First time through Eau Rouge, on the out lap, the car was not really up to speed, thoug. So my anticipation was postponed to the second lap (which is also the last lap). However, in the last third of the circuit, we got stuck in traffic. Some twat in a black Mégane didn’t let us pass. I don’t know if he was blind, just stupid or too involved with his own driving. When we did finally pass him (we actually had to force our way through), we got stuck in traffic again – right before Eau Rouge this time. And as a consequence, we were going much slower than I did in my own Clio. Bugger.
Those were the only downsides of that day, though. I’m really complaining on a very high level. Overall it was just sheer fun. Driving on one of the most beautiful and legendary race tracks of the world with like-minded enthusiasts in similar cars is a gift. A gift, I will treat myself to again next year.
I put up two videos on youtube for now, but more will follow, as soon as I’ve sorted Windows MovieMaker out. That thing keeps crashing on me: Part 1 (sessions one and two), Part 2 (session three).
Update: Well, here are two more videos from the day: Part 3 (sessions four and five) and Part 4 (one turn-by-turn lap). And here’s Part 3 in a little better than youtube-quality. Enjoy:
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Two seconds is all I had hoped for. A measly two seconds. Given the fact that I changed from standard springs to Eibach pro-lines, from 16″ wheels with an offset of 48.5 to 15″ wheels with an offset of 37 and from Goodyear Eagle F1s (195/45 16) to Toyo Proxes R888 semi slicks (205/50 15), an improvement of two seconds didn’t seem like an overly ambitious goal. Well, I didn’t achieve it. In fact, the best time I recorded on the Spreewaldring last monday was 0.2 seconds slower than my previous best on standard setup.
It was a beautiful day, though. Temperatures in the high twenties celsius, many of the usual suspects there to chat away with and quite some action on the circuit. I didn’t take more than three turns, as my brake pads seem to be a little on the thin side by now and I also didn’t want to wear down the Toyos too much due to still being on standard camber. But those three turns made clear that for now, the new setup did not make me faster. Hopefully that will change, but I’m not overly confident at the moment.
My first turn didn’t feel too good overall. I was mostly going into the turns too fast and I wasn’t as smooth as I usually am. The second and third turn felt better, but the times didn’t reflect that. My fastest time of 1:46.9 was recorded on the first turn. The quick ones of turns two and three were in the 1:47s. So, why is that? On paper, the Eibachs, the wider track and especially the semi slicks should give more grip, less body roll and better turn-in. I didn’t feel any of that. I do seem to suffer a little less from understeer, but not much. Taking into account that it was relatively hot (around 27°C), that I still have to get used to the tyres and the strong possibility that my driving was just cack that day, I doubt that there are more than 0.5 seconds to be had from the setup as it stands.
Luckily, change is around the corner. If all goes well, I will have at least minus 1.5 degrees of camber on the front by the beginning of next week. Camber bolts are waiting to be put on (and I will have my knackered drive shaft sleeve fixed while we’re at it). That should (hopefully) make a big difference, as semi slicks are said to need a rather huge amount of camber to work well. 1.5 degrees is actually not nearly enough, but since my track car is also my daily driver, I can’t really go to recommended settings of -3 degrees or more. That would screw up my tyres in no time under everyday conditions. Whether more camber will actually help much remains to be seen. To properly exploit the potential of semi slicks, I would probably need a decent set of coilovers, as the current suspension is still much too soft, even on pro-lines, I reckon. But you never know. So, here’s hoping.
