Yahoo Autos The Original Spa Circuit Was Incredibly Scary
Spa Francorchamps, longtime home of the Belgian Grand Prix, is a tricky circuit, but today, it's nothing compared to what it used to be. Originally, the circuit was nine miles long and used many public roads before it was shortened to four miles of dedicated track in 1979. Jackie Oliver, the Le Mans winner who drove for McLaren in 1971, explains it well in this video from the British supercar maker.
Much of the public-road portion of Spa was fast and blind, Oliver said. Drivers would enter some corners at 170 mph, before having to track out across a heavily cambered road. This required smooth hands and feet. "If you made a mistake, you'd either collect a tree, or end up on wet grass at 180 mph," Oliver says.
"Spa was not safe," recalls Alastair Cadwell, Bruce McLaren's race engineer. "There were cows, farm houses, telegraph poles. . ."
McLaren made this video to commemorate the 50th anniversary of its first F1 victory, which came with McLaren himself driving at this circuit. The 1968 Belgian Grand Prix was a glorious preview of things to come for the McLaren team, which despite its recent F1 troubles, comes second only to Ferrari in terms of F1 victories.
But given what Oliver tells us about the original Belgian Grand Prix circuit, it wasn't an easy win for Bruce.
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