Report and photos by Marcel Hundscheid
The Spa Summer Classic was held the weekend of July 3rd and 4th, 2010 at Circuit de Spa Francorchamps in Belgium. Run by the Belgium Roadbook organisation, the second annual event was a generous race meeting for various categories of historic and classic cars in both endurance and sprint races.
Spectators were treated with a mix of single-seaters and Sports 2000, Touring and Grand Touring cars from the fifties until the late seventies. The temperatures around Spa during that weekend were very, very hot, reaching around 95 degrees Fahrenheit on Friday when the free practices and timed practices took place. The Spa Summer Classic once again proved to be a real treat for both drivers as spectators.
At the end of September, Roadbook will organise the legendary Spa Six Hours, without a doubt one of the main historic motorsports events throughout Europe.
For more information, visit www.roadbook.be.
Belgian Historic Cup
Around fifty cars were entered for the Belgian Historic Cup, a championship open for GT and touring cars. The group has a growing popularity, as the races that were part of the Spa Summer Classic saw some drivers from the United Kingdom crossing the Channel to take part. Eike Wellhouse with his splendid looking and sounding Knobbly Lister Jaguar took the win during both races. In the first race on Saturday he managed to create a gap of eleven seconds in front of the Chevrolet Camaro of Dutchmen Jan Schippers. Third place went to the Ford Escort RS1800 of Mark Wright. On Sunday it was again Wellhouse that was the quickest of the pack. Jan Schippers could only follow and managed to finish second again. Luc Moortgat crossed the finishline third in his Porsche 911 SC RS.
Spa Ardennes Challenge
One of the highlights was the Spa Ardennes Challenge, a long distance race open for sportscars, GTs and touring cars, featuring, amongst others, the Crossle 9S, Porsche 911, Alfa Romeo, Ford Mustang and a beautiful Ferrari 365 GT4 BB entered by the Frenchmen E. Besson. No less than 54 historic cars entered the grid. Overall winners of the 95 minute race were Mark Hobbs and Jez Clark dominating the field with their Crossle 9S. Second place was claimed by another Crossle 9S, driven by Gwyn Pollard and Arnie Black, finishing no less than thirty three seconds behind the car of Hobbs and Jez. The always fast and spectacular RAM Cobra of Phil James and Cheng Lim crossed the finish line third.
Monoposto Racing Club & Formule Zetec
A pair of 25 minute races were in store for the British Monoposto Racing Club & Formule Zetec from France, two different classes for historic single-seaters featuring different types such as the Dallara Formula 3 and Formula Fords. Forty three drivers from the UK, France and Switzerland battled it out during the two races. UK driver Nigel Reuben outclassed the Formula 3 cars with a win in race one, driving his little Suzuki engined Jedi Mk.6. On Sunday another Jedi Mk.6 was the quickest in the race driven by Dan Clowes. This tiny car was originally created in 1996 as a Formula 600, named after the Honda 600cc motorcycle engine that was fitted to the rear of a Jedi racing car. Jedi chassis were being used successfully on hillclimb circuits throughout the UK.
Classic Sports Car Club Swinging Sixties
Twenty seven sportscars from the sixties including Lotus, Morgan, Triumph, Austin, MG and TVR’s filled the grid for a 60 minute race on Saturday. The Lotus Elan S2R of Mr. S. Bond from the UK took the win just 0,8 seconds ahead of the Morgan +8 driven by Ed Mercer and Paul Conway. The Chevrolet Camaro of Simon Lane and Ray Barrow had no answer and crossed the finish line third.
Spa 100 Miles Trophy
Fans of big GTs could eat their hearts out with the Spa 100 Miles Trophy. Thirty-two beauties from the past including a lot of Porsche 911s filled the grid for a 100 mile race. One of the stars was the former Group 5 Porsche 935 K3 of Austrian driver Armin Zumtobel. Setting the fastest time during the timed practice and race his Porsche suffered sadly from a mechanical failure. Victory was claimed by his fellow countryman Paul Koppenwallner driving a Chevron B16. Pretty quick was the CN-Cobra of Christian Nowak, finishing second but still twenty-two seconds slower than the Austrian driver. The Porsche 911 RS 3.0 of Stefan Oberdörster claimed third place.
Spa Long Distance Cup
A real treat for fans of endurance racing was the Spa Long Distance Cup, a race that took nearly four hours of classic racing and was mainly entered by drivers from Germany and the United Kingdom. Very far from home were Pedro and Luco Sanchez from Mexico in a Porsche 911 ST, finishing fifth overall. The overall victory went to the striking Lola T492 of Harald Schmeyer and Peter Hug in a field of historic GTs and sportscars. The AC Shelby Cobra of Paul Ingram, Chris Chiles and Chris Chiles Jr. settled for a second place, ahead of a Marcos 1800GT driven by Alan Tice and Chris Cololey.
Classic K Historic Touringcars and GTs
Two thirty minutes races held on Sunday were in store for drivers of historic touringcars and GTs. A variety of cars filled the grid with beauties such as the Lotus Elan, Chevrolet Corvette, Jaguar E Type, Ferrari 250 GT SWB, Shelby AC Cobra, to name only a few. Dutchman Armand Adriaans scored a victory as well as a second place with his Cobra. Stephen Perry and Norbert Gross, driving a Ford Falcon Sprint managed to do exactly the same. German Robert Krug in his Lotus Elan 26R scored two third places.
Classic Sports Car Club Inter-Series Cup / Sport Proto Cup Sports 2000
The CSCC series combine cars such as Caterhams, Westfield and Lotus with more recent touring cars such as Ford Fiestas, Alfa Romeo 33s, Honda Civics, Golf GTIs. Drivers of Sports 2000s and other sports-prototypes battled it out during two races over the weekend, featuring a lot of different Lola’s and other open prototypes.
[Source: Marcel Hundscheid / www.speed-o-graphica.com]
