Spa Six Hours 2013: Motorsport in its Purest Form

Image: Marcel Hundscheid

This is undoubtedly the international high mass of historic motorsport held on the world’s greatest circuit. Organised down to the finest details by the Roadbook team, this Spa Six Hours 2013 promises to be of a grand cru vintage, an elegy to Pure Racing so dearly loved by the British…and the others!

So there’s no point in beating about the bush; it is the best international series for single-seaters, Prototypes, GT and Touring cars that will be belting down the Spa circuit during the weekend of 20^th, 21^st and 22^nd September. With as cherry on the cake the legendary 6 hours race which gave its name to the meeting. “Together with Vincent Collard, we are especially looking at ensuring the quality of the various grids, Alain Defalle explained. With a mere two weeks to the event we are obviously delighted. Kicking off with the Spa Six Hours race, which will bring together some one hundred cars, with some tens of Ford GT40, not forgetting the Jaguar Type E, Ford Mustang and Falcon, Aston Martin, Chevrolet Corvette, Ferrari, Porsche, Lotus, TVR, and with many more besides … “

A list of muscle cars that should be enough to make any motorsport aficionado dizzy. And behind the wheel, some grand names, such as the Swede Kenny Bräck, winner of the 500 Miles of Indianapolis back in 1999, the Flying Dutchman Jan Lammers, the Frenchman Raymond Narac, winner of the GTE-Am at the 24 Hours of Le Mans (he will be teamed up with José Close in a Porsche 911), but also some Belgians such as Jean-Michel Martin and Hervé Regout, teamed up with Guy Lauwers in a fearsome Lotus Elan GT Convertible.

The Woodcote Trophy and the Stirling Moss Trophy grids will also be impressive, bringing together pre-1963 Grand Touring cars, such as the superb Aston-Martin Zagato, Ferrari 500 TRC or 246S, Maserati T61 Birdcage, etc. On the various entrants lists one comes across some other treasures, the Aston Martin DB4 GT which dominated at Goodwood in the hands of Sir Stirling Moss, the Aston Martin DP2 that competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1962, a Triumph TR3 that competed in the same year (1957) in the Alpine Rally and in the 12 Hours of Sebring, and many more …

If on the one hand the AC Cobras blow everything away in the race reserved for the pre-’66 GT machinery the Trans-Atlantic Touring Car Trophy will see the Ford Mustang, Falcon and Galaxy, Ford Cortina Lotus, BMW 1800 Ti, not forgetting the myriad of Mini Cooper S go head to head. The Lola T70, McLaren M1, Porsche 917, Ferrari 512 and Alfa Romeo Tipo 33/2 will be the royals in the FIA Masters Historic Sports Cars, and the FIA Masters Historic Formula One grid also promises to be exceptional, with the presence of Lotus, Tyrrell, Brabham, Williams, Surtees, Ensign, Shadow, March, Hesketh, Penske, Trojan, Arrows and RAM straight out of the seventies and beginning of the eighties, all in their original livery.

And added to this the unfailing presence of the Fédération Belge du Véhicule Ancien (FBVA), which will be welcoming its thousands of members at a new location with an impressive view of the chicane and with its numerous ‘automobilia’ and ‘nostalgia’ stands. More than ever the weekend of 20^th, 21^st and 22^nd September will be a milestone.

Marcel Hundscheid

Info: www.roadbook.be