The historic cars we looked up to when we were kids. We love seeing them at car shows, demonstration runs and so on. But competitively driving them in a 6h endurance race? That is something many fans can only dream of. Or is it?
© Nathan Debusschere
The Spa Six Hours is an annual meeting where no less than 90 legendary race cars take the start of a 6-hour endurance race at Spa-Francorchamps. Early October was the time again and we travelled down with Lotus Passion to watch.
Also at the start were 16 Lotus Elan's that battled it out in their own class (class P3) But they did not stand inferior to the other classes (P1,P2 & P4) in which GT40s, Cobras, E-Types, Mustangs and so on had their own fight. Four laps behind the winning Ford GT40, the first non-GT40 to finish was the Lotus Elan of the team of Sam & John Tordoff and Andrew Jordan. So Lotus is still making its mark on the racetrack. The race itself was not easy either. During the start, dark grey clouds were already threatening to throw a spanner in the works for many teams. Which certainly gave the mechanics in the pits a headache. Fortunately for them and the fans, throughout the race it remained reasonably dry outside occasional small gusts of rain. Still, quite a few pilots got caught on the track and there were also some mechanical breakdowns. As a result, the safety car caused a few spills for some drivers. Of course, this also made the race extra exciting. Where many still had to fight for their position until the finish flag.
© Wilfried Geerts & Nathan Debusschere
Besides the fantastic six-hour race, there are of course lots of support races. There were preliminary races with old F1 cars, legendary Le Mans race cars, touring cars and so on.
The results of the other races:
In the Master Racing Legends F1, Nick Padmore was 2nd in the 2nd race in the Fittipaldi class with his Lotus 77, Marco Werner won the 2nd race of the Head class in his Lotus 87B & Michael Lyons won no less than both races in the Lauda Class with his Lotus 92.
In the Master Racing Legends F1, Nick Padmore was 2nd in the 2nd race in the Fittipaldi class with his Lotus 77, Marco Werner won the 2nd race of the Head class in his Lotus 87B & Michael Lyons won no less than both races in the Lauda Class with his Lotus 92.
In the Masters Endurance Legends, Daniel Palma (whom we also know from the Lotus Cup Europe) was able to grab 3rd place in the second race of the G2/GT3 class. That in his stunning Lotus Evora GTE gt3.
Double Lotus success in the Woodcote Trophy & Stirling Moss Trophy where J. Colruyt / D. Richards won their class with their Lotus XI and M. Gans won his class with his Lotus XV.
In the HGPCA Race for Pre 66 Grand Prix Cars, the Lotus just missed the podium but it was great to see Lotus 21 937, 33b, and so on back on track.
Manfredo Rossi Di Montelera won in Formula Juniors in a beautiful Lotus 22.
© Wilfried Geerts & Nathan Debusschere