mylovelyhorse
Registered user
TL;DR: went to Spa, it were sunny, motorcycle racing is great 
Photos: http://imgur.com/gallery/phTvh
Thursday
I had expected to have my usual a gentle amble along the coast to the chunnel. I like to go past all the places I know & like from my yoof such as Eastbourne, Beachy Head, Hastings, Pevensey Castle, Cooden Beach (where my grandparents lived), Bexhill (specifically the De La Warr) and on along the pretty coastal roads in the area. Trouble at t'chunnel turned this into skipping some of the pretty stuff combined with a maddening diversion at Rye that declared a road closed when in fact it wasn't closed for 5 miles. Anyhow, I got to the chunnel in time to meet a mate, Al, on his ZXR1200 and get on the train before the one we were booked on.
Once we got out the other side, we headed up the E40, almost all of which was closed in the other direction and full of parked lorries. I've only seen more lorries together in one place - in Russia The only immigrant we actually saw was sitting on the concrete barrier between the up & down lanes and was being approached by some unhappy looking coppers. From the E40 to the E42 for a belt along to Liege where we stayed the night in a Campanile. Cheap, comfortable and serving good food. No air-con though and gosh it was a hot night.
Friday
Gordon Bennett it was hot when we loaded up the bikes at 09:00 - 27o already - and without a cloud in the sky we knew we were in for a sweltering day. Cue undoing off all vents on my kit and huge beads of sweat on Al as he was in leathers.
It's only 45 mins from Liege to the circuit at Spa-Francorchamps circuit http://www.spa-francorchamps.be/en/ if you go direct. We didn't go direct After a bimble round Liege looking for an ATM for Al, we headed off on a fairly convoluted route to the circuit. Goodness the roads and villages around that area are lovely. We stopped only once, for fuel, and arrived at the circuit at late lunchtime-ish. Camping on site is €25 for the whole weekend, which is pretty good as the facilities are pretty good and if you know where to go there's trees to give plenty of shade. Tents up (we both have http://www.khyam.co.uk/detail.asp?p=335) in a few mins, clothing changed, hats on and then down to the circuit to watch some practice, some racing and wander the pits, all of which are open. The 3 day pass - Friday to Sunday - is €40 on the day or €32.50 in advance. Excellent value in my opinion!
Wandering around in the 33o sunshine we discovered a number of things:
- the food was a lot better (chicken salad baguettes as well as fries & burgers)
- drinks were horribly expensive at €2.50 for 25cl of diet coke
- Spa-Francorchamps circuit looks fabulous in the sunshine
- 33oC is really hot
- there are more existing, running MZ GP bikes around than I thought
This year the schedule included 'the tiddlers' - 125cc and under race bikes. There were loads of Kriedlers and various other 50 - 125cc bikes, including at least half a dozen 1960s & 1970s MZ 125 GP bikes. There were some 250s as well. I've only ever seen one MZ GP bike outside of a museum & that was at Spa last year. To see about 12 was fabulous. To meet a 76 year old MZ works rider who spoke no English to match my no German and for him to invite me to sit on his bike was an absolute joy and without a doubt my highlight of the weekend. FYI 1971 MZ 125 GP race bikes are much more comfortable in a racing crouch than the current MZ race bikes
Last thing of the day was to watch night practice for Saturday's endurance race. Eau Rouge looks fab when it's mainly illuminated by bike headlights. Mates I'd consulted about photography were right when they said that iPhones take terrible nighttime pics though. I can see why they have their gert big cameras for that sort of thing.
Saturday
A hot night was made less comfortable by my airbed going down. And a bunch of Belgians who felt their party should go on until 02:00. That's fine when you're camping in the main area where all the rest of the party types usually go but up under the trees was the quieter area last year. Still, can't complain - it's their weekend too!
Off we went into the local town of Malmedy to the Carrefour for cold foodstuffs, water and a new airbed. There is water to be had on site but I wanted to have a bottle or 3 to carry round the circuit. This plan worked nicely - refilling regularly from the many taps round the site. If that water was eau-non-potable it didn't say and I didn't get ill. Still 33oC from late morning until well into the evening. Phew!
During the afternoon we watched some superb racing - including a friend of Al's who was racing a 130 bhp ZXR1200 in a German race series & having a great time. We ended up in the grandstand for the start of the main event - a classic and modern classic endurance race starting at 8pm and finishing at midnight. The previous year it had been raising almost all weekend - this time the poor b*ggers looked like they were sweltering even when at race speed. The Le Mans start was great - although I don't suppose the riders thanked the organisers for the Le Mans start on the warm-up lap too...
First corner, first lap incidents are possible anywhere as someone proved pretty well immediately at the tricky looking La Source hairpin. The safety car came out & escorted the riders round while the incident was cleared - although one chap did feel it necessary to knock himself off in the queue behind the race car by running into the rear wheel of the bike in front. He got up and back into the queue though.
We had an evening meal in the cafe on the top floor of the F1 pits. €16 for a very tasty buffet with a drink token thrown in. Al had 3 platefuls, I confined myself to a huge plate of pasta, rice and such & only a small plate of afters. Lovely it were. Then we set off for a walk round the circuit. We went against the circuit direction so the bikes were always coming towards us. It's quite a walk with lots of great places to stop and see the close racing. Sitting on the inside of the Bruxelles downhill hairpin in the dark watching inside and outside overtakes was really quite amazing. These people are heroes and nutters at the same time. What with lots of stopping to watch stuff like that, we ended up back on the roof terrace of the F1 pits for the finish at 11:45 or so. Brilliant - great fun
Sunday
More Belgians partying very hard until 04:00 and then someone's alarm going off at 06:10 meant I had an awful night's notalot-of-sleep. We had considered going for a ride on the Sunday but I really wasn't fit for it so instead we sloped round the circuit watching more racing & more parade laps. Funny how 'parade' can mean 'can the living daylights out of it'
It was a much cooler day with a bit of rain on and off. Frankly it was welcome. In the late afternoon we started chatting with a couple of Yorkshire based chaps who were camping near us. The camping area was thinning out very rapidly indeed - most people seem to go home on the Sunday, often packing up & riding off / down to the main car park early on. Hence the alarm that woke me, I guess. Like us they were staying until Monday morning so they got the full benefit of the weekend.
Once the day's riding was over, the paddock and the camping area thinned out really quickly. By 6pm there were only 4 other tents where there had been loads. It's amazing the stuff people left behind, including a gazebo with a small hole in it, a chair with a hole cut in the seat and an umbrella. We used the gazebo to shelter from the rain for a while and then when that slackened off and loads of midges came out, we gathered wood and had a fire. It turns out that chain lube is an excellent acceleratant when sprayed onto a small fire with lots of logs on it
Staying up late-ish talking bolleaux in front of a roaring wood fire was a splendid way to round off the event. A good night's sleep followed, which really recharged for the trip home. We took a mixed non-autoroute, E42 & E40 route that would have been more direct if there weren't a number of closures on the E42 and lots of traffic in places. Still, we got to the chunnel on the French side quickly enough for an earlier train. We saw none of the nastiness reported in the press but one biker over-shot the exit for the chunnel on the E40 and took the next road off. He was stuck for a while with lots of them grabbing at the bike and his luggage. He said it was very disturbing
A much more pleasant ride home along some great roads got me back early evening after a great long weekend. I honestly cannot recommend a weekend at Spa for the Belgian Classic GP enough - and I for one will be back next year
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Photos: http://imgur.com/gallery/phTvh
Thursday
I had expected to have my usual a gentle amble along the coast to the chunnel. I like to go past all the places I know & like from my yoof such as Eastbourne, Beachy Head, Hastings, Pevensey Castle, Cooden Beach (where my grandparents lived), Bexhill (specifically the De La Warr) and on along the pretty coastal roads in the area. Trouble at t'chunnel turned this into skipping some of the pretty stuff combined with a maddening diversion at Rye that declared a road closed when in fact it wasn't closed for 5 miles. Anyhow, I got to the chunnel in time to meet a mate, Al, on his ZXR1200 and get on the train before the one we were booked on.
Once we got out the other side, we headed up the E40, almost all of which was closed in the other direction and full of parked lorries. I've only seen more lorries together in one place - in Russia
The only immigrant we actually saw was sitting on the concrete barrier between the up & down lanes and was being approached by some unhappy looking coppers. From the E40 to the E42 for a belt along to Liege where we stayed the night in a Campanile. Cheap, comfortable and serving good food. No air-con though and gosh it was a hot night.Friday
Gordon Bennett it was hot when we loaded up the bikes at 09:00 - 27o already - and without a cloud in the sky we knew we were in for a sweltering day. Cue undoing off all vents on my kit and huge beads of sweat on Al as he was in leathers.
It's only 45 mins from Liege to the circuit at Spa-Francorchamps circuit http://www.spa-francorchamps.be/en/ if you go direct. We didn't go direct
After a bimble round Liege looking for an ATM for Al, we headed off on a fairly convoluted route to the circuit. Goodness the roads and villages around that area are lovely. We stopped only once, for fuel, and arrived at the circuit at late lunchtime-ish. Camping on site is €25 for the whole weekend, which is pretty good as the facilities are pretty good and if you know where to go there's trees to give plenty of shade. Tents up (we both have http://www.khyam.co.uk/detail.asp?p=335) in a few mins, clothing changed, hats on and then down to the circuit to watch some practice, some racing and wander the pits, all of which are open. The 3 day pass - Friday to Sunday - is €40 on the day or €32.50 in advance. Excellent value in my opinion!Wandering around in the 33o sunshine we discovered a number of things:
- the food was a lot better (chicken salad baguettes as well as fries & burgers)
- drinks were horribly expensive at €2.50 for 25cl of diet coke
- Spa-Francorchamps circuit looks fabulous in the sunshine
- 33oC is really hot
- there are more existing, running MZ GP bikes around than I thought
This year the schedule included 'the tiddlers' - 125cc and under race bikes. There were loads of Kriedlers and various other 50 - 125cc bikes, including at least half a dozen 1960s & 1970s MZ 125 GP bikes. There were some 250s as well. I've only ever seen one MZ GP bike outside of a museum & that was at Spa last year. To see about 12 was fabulous. To meet a 76 year old MZ works rider who spoke no English to match my no German and for him to invite me to sit on his bike was an absolute joy and without a doubt my highlight of the weekend. FYI 1971 MZ 125 GP race bikes are much more comfortable in a racing crouch than the current MZ race bikes
Last thing of the day was to watch night practice for Saturday's endurance race. Eau Rouge looks fab when it's mainly illuminated by bike headlights. Mates I'd consulted about photography were right when they said that iPhones take terrible nighttime pics though. I can see why they have their gert big cameras for that sort of thing.
Saturday
A hot night was made less comfortable by my airbed going down. And a bunch of Belgians who felt their party should go on until 02:00. That's fine when you're camping in the main area where all the rest of the party types usually go but up under the trees was the quieter area last year. Still, can't complain - it's their weekend too!
Off we went into the local town of Malmedy to the Carrefour for cold foodstuffs, water and a new airbed. There is water to be had on site but I wanted to have a bottle or 3 to carry round the circuit. This plan worked nicely - refilling regularly from the many taps round the site. If that water was eau-non-potable it didn't say and I didn't get ill. Still 33oC from late morning until well into the evening. Phew!
During the afternoon we watched some superb racing - including a friend of Al's who was racing a 130 bhp ZXR1200 in a German race series & having a great time. We ended up in the grandstand for the start of the main event - a classic and modern classic endurance race starting at 8pm and finishing at midnight. The previous year it had been raising almost all weekend - this time the poor b*ggers looked like they were sweltering even when at race speed. The Le Mans start was great - although I don't suppose the riders thanked the organisers for the Le Mans start on the warm-up lap too...
First corner, first lap incidents are possible anywhere as someone proved pretty well immediately at the tricky looking La Source hairpin. The safety car came out & escorted the riders round while the incident was cleared - although one chap did feel it necessary to knock himself off in the queue behind the race car by running into the rear wheel of the bike in front. He got up and back into the queue though.
We had an evening meal in the cafe on the top floor of the F1 pits. €16 for a very tasty buffet with a drink token thrown in. Al had 3 platefuls, I confined myself to a huge plate of pasta, rice and such & only a small plate of afters. Lovely it were. Then we set off for a walk round the circuit. We went against the circuit direction so the bikes were always coming towards us. It's quite a walk with lots of great places to stop and see the close racing. Sitting on the inside of the Bruxelles downhill hairpin in the dark watching inside and outside overtakes was really quite amazing. These people are heroes and nutters at the same time. What with lots of stopping to watch stuff like that, we ended up back on the roof terrace of the F1 pits for the finish at 11:45 or so. Brilliant - great fun
Sunday
More Belgians partying very hard until 04:00 and then someone's alarm going off at 06:10 meant I had an awful night's notalot-of-sleep. We had considered going for a ride on the Sunday but I really wasn't fit for it so instead we sloped round the circuit watching more racing & more parade laps. Funny how 'parade' can mean 'can the living daylights out of it'
It was a much cooler day with a bit of rain on and off. Frankly it was welcome. In the late afternoon we started chatting with a couple of Yorkshire based chaps who were camping near us. The camping area was thinning out very rapidly indeed - most people seem to go home on the Sunday, often packing up & riding off / down to the main car park early on. Hence the alarm that woke me, I guess. Like us they were staying until Monday morning so they got the full benefit of the weekend.
Once the day's riding was over, the paddock and the camping area thinned out really quickly. By 6pm there were only 4 other tents where there had been loads. It's amazing the stuff people left behind, including a gazebo with a small hole in it, a chair with a hole cut in the seat and an umbrella. We used the gazebo to shelter from the rain for a while and then when that slackened off and loads of midges came out, we gathered wood and had a fire. It turns out that chain lube is an excellent acceleratant when sprayed onto a small fire with lots of logs on it
Staying up late-ish talking bolleaux in front of a roaring wood fire was a splendid way to round off the event. A good night's sleep followed, which really recharged for the trip home. We took a mixed non-autoroute, E42 & E40 route that would have been more direct if there weren't a number of closures on the E42 and lots of traffic in places. Still, we got to the chunnel on the French side quickly enough for an earlier train. We saw none of the nastiness reported in the press but one biker over-shot the exit for the chunnel on the E40 and took the next road off. He was stuck for a while with lots of them grabbing at the bike and his luggage. He said it was very disturbing
A much more pleasant ride home along some great roads got me back early evening after a great long weekend. I honestly cannot recommend a weekend at Spa for the Belgian Classic GP enough - and I for one will be back next year
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
