Are you going to the Belgian GP?

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Over on the ‘fans guides’ section of the website one circuit is getting far more comments than any other.

At the time of writing there are well over 500 comments from people who have been to, or are going to, Spa-Francorchamps.

So just how many F1 Fanatic readers are heading out to the circuit this weekend? Where are you going to watch the race from?

As ever if you take any pictures or video while out there and want to share them with the rest of us please post them to the drop.io or you can send them in via good old-fashioned email.

Read more: Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium – spectators’ experiences

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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16 comments on “Are you going to the Belgian GP?”

  1. I thought about going, but sadly it’s a bit too pricey for me this year as I’m going on a proper holiday the following week. If it retains a late-August date next year I might try and go – though my first choice will be the British GP at Donington if it happens.

  2. Yeh sorry guys, we kind of hijacked the Spa Francorchamps previous experience page! We being the Elephant clan!!!! W00T!! Tis the campsite to be at this weekend as hopefully Button starts his comeback!

    1. That’s what it’s there for – glad you found it useful!

  3. Yes, I am going for sure. Unlike most people I’ve opted for the on-track campsite, no Elephant for me. Leaving after work tomorrow and driving down via Eurotunnel.

    I’m in Bronze area so no idea where I’m going to sit yet, possibly at Les Combes or at Pouhon/Fanges!

  4. Cool – keep an eye out for Peachy’s flag by the way!

    1. That’s awesome! I was going to take a Saltire with me but I lost it. If I find one I shall be all Saltired-up. Although nothing compares to that effort!

    2. That flag is now signed :) Vettel, Webber, Buemi and Trulli signed it. Got signed cards of all the Red Bull and Toro Rosso drivers too :)

      We’re in Belgium now, went to the circuit today for a pitlane walk and met a few drivers. Apparently it was insanely busy down at Mclaren and Ferrari, we couldn’t even get down there when the drivers weren’t even out!

      1. Btw we think we’re sitting at Les Combes or Pouhoon (or however you spell it hehe).

  5. slightly off topic, but well worth a mention.

    Martin Whitmarsh was earlier quoted saying that kers might not be beneficial in spa. so just thought i would analyze it my self. my analyis, surprisingly is in close agreement to Whitmarsh. I’ve used Motec i2 pro to analyze the braking. Spa has very few hard braking points, three significant heavy braking points are la source, les combes & the new bus-stop. now we all know that the circuit is 6 odd kms & kers can deliver that extra boost for 6.6 sec. Now as spa comprises of mainly high speed sweeping curves, there is hardly any usage of brake to aid kers in recovering the loss dissipated. The straight from la source to les combes is flat out, nowadays nobody lifts at eau rouge. then you have a series of right-left handers heading into rivage, but not too hard on the braking as you can see from my analysis,pouhon these days is taken flat ouy ,as there is a new tarmac(no gravel) so gives drivers extra confidence even if they run off the track.Fagnes & Stavelot are very gentle on the brakes, the final sector comprises of Blanchimont which is flat out, then you have the new bus-stop. so the net energy dissipated during braking is very less, as to what is required to make kers work efficiently around spa.

    i’ll briefly explain the parameters used in my analysis

    in the video you will see 11 parameters

    1) a map of the circuit with a small dot indicating the position of the car. (note the darker colour in the braking zones)

    2) brake pedal position (notice how few a times it is used)

    3) Throttle position, unsurprisingly you’ll notice its ON almost 60% of the time.

    4)Then there is a numeric bar gauge displaying longitudinal & lateral g-forces(notice it going through eau rouge ;) )

    5) then there is a red colour graph of brake-pedal position(in %) vs time(in sec) notice that it hardly reaches its peak.

    6) then there is a green colour graph of throttle pedal position (in%) vs time(in sec) obviously you’ll notice the peaks, cuz of obvious reasons.

    7) one more graph depicts brake temperature vs time (not of much importance in this discussion0 but still you’ll notice that its comparatively low(less that 1000 Celsius peak) in places like montreal & monaco the brake temp easily exceeds 1000 Celsius,but not at spa.

    8)there are 3 gauges displaying the Gear,engine rpm & cornering speed.

    What i could infer from this analysis is that spa is not suited for kers,as previously thought. There are not enough braking points for the kers to get recharged. Its like having a kers car on an oval, of what use is it? simply put into simpler terms aerodynamic downforce wins over kers at spa. So i don’t expect mclaren & ferrari to perform as well as they did at hungary & valencia.

    This is purely my thought & i might be wrong.

    Spa braking analysis using motec by me

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VSXyh95xyw

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tp9jN7vAvfE

  6. I am heading down at the crack of dawn on friday morning for my first GP! I’m hoping to get bronze tickets and have a wander around on the friday to find the ideal spots (the advice of pretty much everyone I have asked)

    Are there any hidden gems anyone knows about that i shouldn’t miss out on?

  7. My first gp as my xmas prezzie from my wife in 08, booked gold 4 tickets back in jan, can’t believe we go on Friday. See you guys at the Elephant for a knees up!

  8. I went in 2007, terrific atmosphere. Watch out for the German Techno caravan!! It’s somewhere near La Source.

    I won’t be able to make it this weekend but I’m aiming to do the Belgium – Italy double header next year. I just wish they’d release the calendar…

  9. You have many nice places, I mostly go to Bruxelles on the inside so I ca

    1. … so I can take great easy pictures!

      The next few corners are nice aswell!
      But for pictures inside of Bruxelles is superb!

      I’ll so to share some pictures tomorrow

  10. http://users.telenet.be/cda/F12009/

    Here are some uncompressed unedited pics F1 and GP2

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