The Spa Classic 2016 was staged 13-15 May on the 4.352 mile, 20-turn Spa-Francorchamps track in Belgium. Organized by Peter Auto, the 6th running of the historic endurance race attracted 17,000 spectators to the legendary circuit in the valley of the Ardennes.
The weekend provided an opportunity to relive some of the greatest events in the history of the Francorchamps 24 Hours in the touring car era, as well as the Spa 1000 km with prototypes and GTs covering the period 1952 Aston Martin DB2 to 1993 Peugeot 905.In all, four decades on this circuit marked by victories of emblematic models like the 1965 Ferrari 250 LM, 1968 Ford GT40 and the 1986 Porsche 962, all of which were represented on the track this weekend. A total of some 216 racing cars divided up into six grids — Classic Endurance Racing 1 and 2, Group C Racing, the Heritage Touring Cup, Trofeo Nastro Rosso, Sixties’ Endurance — put on a nine-race action-packed show out on the track, including one that was magic on Saturday evening as night fell.
The 7th edition of the Spa Classic will return in the spring of 2017. In the meantime, entrants for the Peter Auto grids will meet again 3-5 June at the Grand Prix de l’Age d’Or on the Dijon-Prénois circuit, followed by Le Mans Classic on 8-10 July at historic Circuit de la Sarthe, where more than 110,000 spectators are expected.
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Similar to 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015, Sports Car Digest also documented the 2016 Spa Classic, with Julien Mahiels offering the following excellent photo gallery that show the diverse field of entrants battling the famed Spa circuit. We split up Julien’s pictures into two galleries. The first gallery starting below features our favorite images, while the second gallery and race results can be found on the last page of the article and gives a comprehensive view of all the photographs. To see more from Julien, visit julienmahiels.net.
Spa Classic 2016 – Featured Photo Gallery
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Spa Classic 2016 – Featured Photo Gallery Page Two
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Spa Classic 2016 – Featured Photo Gallery Page Three
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Spa Classic 2016 – Featured Photo Gallery Page Four
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Spa Classic 2016 – Featured Photo Gallery Page Five
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Spa Classic 2016 – Featured Photo Gallery Page Six
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Spa Classic 2016 – Featured Photo Gallery Page Seven
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Spa Classic 2016 – Featured Photo Gallery Page Eight
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Spa Classic 2016 – Featured Photo Gallery Page Nine
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Spa Classic 2016 – Featured Photo Gallery Page Ten
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Spa Classic 2016 – Featured Photo Gallery Page Eleven
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Spa Classic 2016 – Featured Photo Gallery Page Twelve
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Spa Classic 2016 – Featured Photo Gallery Page Thirteen
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Spa Classic 2016 – Featured Photo Gallery Page Fourteen
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Spa Classic 2016 – Featured Photo Gallery Page Fifteen
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Spa Classic 2016 – Featured Photo Gallery Page Sixteen
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Spa Classic 2016 – Featured Photo Gallery Page Seventeen
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Spa Classic 2016 – Featured Photo Gallery Page Eighteen
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Spa Classic 2016 – Featured Photo Gallery Page Nineteen
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Spa Classic 2016 – Main Photo Gallery (click image for larger picture and description)
[nggallery id=911 images=15]
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[Source: Peter Auto; photos: Julien Mahiels]
Simply stunning photography….you surely are gifted Julien!
What’s with all the blurry and up the hill, down the hill diagonal pictures? I didn’t know that race is a hill climb. I had to pass on most of the pictures. Still, lots of cars pictures but no interesting people attended?