By Marcel Hundscheid
The second edition of the Spa Classic will be held 25-27 May, 2012 at the legendary Spa-Francorchamps track in Belgium. After the success of last years inaugural edition the Spa Classic will be back in the Ardennes region for a new 100% classic meeting!
Organised by the French Peter Auto organisation, the Spa Classic hosts a magnificent grid featuring all the grids from Peter Auto such as Classic Endurance Racing 1 and 2, Trofeo Nastro Rossa and Sixties Endurance. Besides the epic series the organisation managed the participants of the FIA Historic Formula 1 Championship, the Historic Formula 2 and Group C Racing.
The Spa Classic 2012 also salutes the sixtieth anniversary of the famous Ferrari team, the Ecurie Francorchamps. Created in 1952 by Jacques Swaters the legendary team raced with the emblematic Belgian Team’s colours in the World Sports Car Championships until 1982, featuring great drivers such as Lucien Bianchi, Jacky Ickx and Derek Bell.
Originally, the Spa-Francorchamps race track was built in 1920 by Jules de Their and Henri Langlois Van Ophem, using public roads between the Belgian towns of Spa, Malmedy and Stavelot. Due to several fatalities it was decided that by 1978 races were held for the last time in its original form. Nowadays, one of the highlights at Spa are the FIA Formula 1 Grand Prix as well as the 1000 kms sports car race.
Classic Endurance Racing is a historic sports car racing series, originally founded in 2004 by Peter Auto. The series features classic sports cars as well as classic GT’s. The grid is split into two sections:
• CER 1: GT’s from 1966 until 1974 and sports cars from 1966 until 1972
• CER 2: GT’s from 1975 until 1979 and sports cars from 1973 until 1979
During the inaugural edition of the Spa Classic in 2011, an exceptional grid of Group C cars found their way to the Ardennes rollercoaster. Jaguar, Porsche, Spice, Nissan, Sauber-Mercedes and Cheetah battled it out. For the 2012 edition a legendary Peugeot 905 is expected. The FIA introduced Group C in 1982 for sports car racing used in the FIA World Endurance Championship (1982-1985), World Sports-Prototype Championship (1986-1990), World Sportscar Championship (1991-1992) and in the 1983 European Endurance Championship.
Thirty years after Stefan Bellof’s very first victory in the European Formula 2 Championship a special display on and off the race track will be presented during this weekend to remember this legendary victory. Stefan Bellof drove a Formula 2 car for the very first time and claimed victory. The German driver who tragically lost his life on September 1st 1985 during the 1000 km of Spa World Sportscar Championship race after a collision with Jackie Ickx.
Fans of former Formula 1 cars can enjoy the cars of the fastest museum in the world, hosted by the FIA Historic Formula One Championship, featuring cars from 1966 and 1985 powered by the legendary 3.0 litre Ford Cosworth engines. During this weekend cars such as the McLaren MP4, Brabham BT49, Arrows A4 and A6 are expected as well as different types of the legendary Lotus-brand. Besides historic F1 cars, the European Formula 2 Club will be present from the 1967-1978 eras.
Ticket sales for the this great event has already started online. The entry fee on Friday costs €10,00, for Saturday and Sunday the entry fee is € 25,00. If you like to attend the Spa Classic 2012 during the whole weekend the entry is € 35,00.
For more information and to purchase tickets, visit www.spa-classic.com.
[Source: Marcel Hundscheid]
