Spa Francorshamps (detailed)
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As it is my home gp and as I am excited like every year, I’ll try my best and give a shot at a detailed trackguid. I know it’s early but sorry I can’t leave it :P
Spa-Francorchamps:
Picture with the names of the turns: http://www.imca-slotracing.com/images/Spa-1965-circuit%20%28new%29.jpg
-Longest circuit of F1
-19 corners
-top speed: 317 km/h (with kers and DRS)
-44 laps
-Circuit Length: 7.004 km
-Race Distance: 308.052 km
-Lap record: 1:45.108 K Raikkonen (2004)
What happend last year:
Webber got pole but couldn’t get near 1st placesitter Hamilton as rain interfered. Kubica was 3rd. Seb was 15th.
Turns (with km/h, gears, g-forces and some info, purely based on last years car)
1. 64km/h gear 1(2) G-force 2.80 sharpest hairpin of the track
2. 305km/h gear 7 G-force 2.12 Steer left in about 100-50 meters before the turn (guessing). It’s critical you need to do this right. F1 drivers need to train this corner in steering.
3. 305km/h gear 7 G-force 4.20 Turn right, full throttled, at the end of the kerb of the previous. F1 drivers need train their necks for 1 of the most heaviest G-forces of the intire F1 season. Btw, you’ll get braindamaged here…
4. 305km/h gear 7(6) G-force 3.10 Turn left, full throttled, at the end of the corner. Don’t steer to early or you’ll miss the apex.
5. 140km/h gear 3 G-force 3.20 Break from 317 to 140km/h and hold on tidy.
6. 170km/h gear 3 G-force 3.00
7. 177km/h gear 3 G-force 3.00 Steer as soon as possible, left at the end of turn 6 and stay in the middle-left part of the track to get the best traction and to get the corner right
8. 113km/h gear 3 G-force 3.00 Long turn to the right where it’s important to keep the car steady. If possible, stay of the throttle. You can slightly step on it near the ned of the corner.
9. 182km/h gear 4 G-force 3.07 At the end of turn 8, get to the right side as soon as possible for best traction and to get the corner right. Lift the throttle a bit and keep the car steady. Not too much throttle or you’ll spin
10. 270km/h gear 6(7) G-force 3.62 Lift the throttle and hold the car steady. You can stepon the gas again at the end of it. Get onto the far right side for the next corner.
11. 285km/h gear 7 G-force 3.49 Full throttle. Steer slightly left for the next corner
12. 175km/h gear 4 G-force 3.07 Keep the car steady. Don’t throttle too much or you’re rear end is gone…
13. 170hm/h gear 4(3) G-force 3.00 Same for this corner, not too much throttle. Get slightly to the left side for the next corner
14. 250km/h gear 5 G-force 3.24 Lift the throttle and change to a lower gear if nessecairy. Keep it steady and keep the car on the left side at the end of this corner for the next corner.
15. 245km/h gear 5 G-force 3.50 Full throttle. You need to get the corner right though…
16. 305km/h gear 6(7) G-force 2.30 Full throttle
17. 297km/h gear 7 G-force 4.05 Full throttle and steer in in about 50 meters before the corner.
18. 77km/h gear 3 G-force 1.15 Break at about 75 meters before the corner from 305 km/h to 77km/h (change gear to 2nd if nessecairy) and steer in in about 30 meters before the corner. Don’t break to late or steer in to lately. You’ll totally miss the apax if you do so. Take the kerb and stay into the middle for the next corner as it is a chicane.
19. 70km/h gear 2 G-force 1.73 Take the kerb and don’t throttle too much. The car is unstable in this section. You need to get it right.
A bit other info about spa:
-Why racing cars can’t get full throttled through eau rouge and F1 cars can? It’s because racing cars do have more barrel rolls. The suspension of an F1 car is stabelised and stiffer then the one of a normal racing car. So a car from the 24hours of spa needs to lift the throttle throughout turn 3. F1 cars also have better downforce.
-These g-forces through eau rouge are really taking your breath away if you aren’t trained and prepared for it. We speak of 4.20 G-forces. A ferrari italia has a maximum of 1.16 g-forces. Which means a regular car like the BMW 118D of my brother where I drove with as a passenger, doesn’t even reach a g-force. I guess it’s somewhere in between 0.50 g-forces.
-Don’t forget the full loaded fueltank in the beginning of the race, they need to be carefull with the throttle in turns like 8 and 18 and 19.
-Now with the DRS and KERS onto the car, some info may have changed. I don’t think they can put on the DRS through eau rouge. It takes away the downforce which you importantly need for this section. However I do believe they can open up their DRS’s near the end of turn 4. I wonder where the DRS zone could be though. I would think after eau rouge. But it mostly have been onto the start finish line.
-The info is actually based on the RBR simulator lap of webber, not onto the polelap.
never mind, I want to share the experience into the forum as well as in the F1 information. How I came onto this info about how to take the turns?
Answer:
“My experiences? It wasn’t an F1 day at all. It was something better, something that I have never done before. My brother went with his own car onto the track at a trackday. Eau Rouge was so damn greasy. You get slinged to right side while you get pushed into your seat, then you get slinged to the left side while still going up and finally you’ll get a lil lift while you get slinged to the right side again.
We didn’t even reached a full G-force and I needed to vomit already after 3 rounds, I wasn’t so smart to ate before I went onto the track :p.
Result: I now know and can feel a bit what’s on a drivers mind. How he needs to steer and how he needs to brake. For some more info, please visit my reply at the infothread of the Belgium GP”
Well it’s my home circuit and I wanna give the people in here an idea of how the driver needs to steer/brake/react. So it’s kinda of my job doing this :p and I did it with pleasure.
am i the only one who thinks this might perhaps of been better as an article rather than a forum post? huh?
but an interesting read! wouldn’t the DRS detection zone be heading down out of la source and then activation zone on the straight (i forget its name. mulsanne?) as that would make sense. but i’m just guessing :D
yeah I think so, it just has to be. Anywhere else and you would fly off for sure. Which lets me think of something, what about “Blanchimont” in qualy? Is it possible to go through there with DRS? Last corner of Blanchimont would be crazy though, it’s to tight…
yeh, every other corner doesn’t lead onto a long enough straight :P
also, just as a side point about DRS, if a driver was to press it during a race do you know if that still activates it? or does it only have an effect when you’re in that 1 second gap?
I think there’s something in the system which they change right before the race (obviously allowed by the FIA) and which lets the F1 driver put on the DRS ONLY inside that 1 second gap.
If this isn’t the case then it would only make sense to put a camera extra on the straight to keep an eye on the drivers to make sure they don’t pull out the DRS outside that gap. If they do so, drive throughs would make sense.
Also, I think there is some system which ONLY allows you to put on the DRS when they cross the line. Atleast it would makes sense but I don’t know if they can put the DRS somwhere else on…
@TheWittyWeasel, Btw the straight’s called The Kemmel Straight, Mulsanne’s the long straight at Lemans. :)
I’m excited as ever. Actually I’m more excited about the polelap then about the race, just to see how fast they’re going… 2 people I know are going. Sadly enough I don’t have the money, nor do I have the drive to go.
They’ve just planned not to activate the DRS throughout eau rouge. However, I still think it’s possible near the end to activate it. I actually would suggest that they don’t let you put on the DRS through turn 2 and 3 (first 2 corners of eau rouge) and then to let them have a try at corner 4. Turn 2 isn’t going to work, you’ll slide of in turn 3. Turn 3 is too sharp. That’s for sure. Turn 4 however, is doubtable, it can be done flatout and I think half way through the corner, it’s possible to turn on the DRS…
Found this usefull info at F1.com:
Q:What are the key numbers to describe the challenge of Eau Rouge and the Raidillon?
A: Le Raidillon de l’Eau Rouge is reduced to three simple corner numbers on the official map of the Spa-Francorchamps circuit: Turns Two, Three and Four. Turn Two, the left-hand kink which crosses the bridge over the creek named Eau Rouge, is taken at 306 km/h, with a lateral G-force of 2.4G; Turn Three, the right-handed uphill sweep, at 303 km/h with a lateral G-force of 4G; and Turn Five, the left-hander over the crest, at 296 km/h with a lateral G-force of 2G. The cars also undergo significant vertical loadings through this section: a vertical force of -1.7G in the compression at the bottom of the hill and +1G over the crest. Although the section is taken flat-out, the cars lose approximately 10 km/h through the sequence. The series of corners is 535 m long (7.6 percent of the lap distance) and is negotiated in 6.4 s (6.1 percent of the 2010 pole time). The sequence from La Source to Les Combes, including the Raidillon, lasts for 23.5 s and is the longest full throttle sequence of the entire season.
Q:Do the vertical accelerations present any particular challenges?
A: This upward vertical acceleration of 1G effectively means the car is weightless as it goes over the crest; contact with the road is therefore assured by downforce alone, and not the weight of the car. However, at such speeds, the downforce generated is approximately 2.5 times car weight. The high levels of vertical acceleration could also compromise engine and gearbox reliability if not accounted for in system designs and installations. The pick-up points in the oil tank must be accurately placed to ensure the pumps are continuously primed during these phases.
Q:Which other significant high-speed corners are there on the circuit?
A: The other major high-speed challenges are Blanchimont (Turn 17), which is taken flat-out at over 300 km/h; and the double left-hander at Pouhon (Turns 10 and 11), which are taken in fifth gear at 240 km/h, with a lateral G-force of 3.75G. Pouhon is the longest corner on the circuit, lasting for a total of 7.8 seconds.
Q:The circuit presents contrasting sector profiles. How different are they?
A: There is a marked contrast between the profiles of Sectors One and Three, and the profile of Sector Two. Sector One features just one braking event (for Turn One) and the rest is spent flat-out: of the 2205 m in this sector, 2050 m (93 percent) are spent at full throttle. Sector Three is similar: of its 2080 m, 1750 m (84 percent) are spent at full throttle, and the only braking event is for the chicane at the end of the lap (Turns 18 and 19). In contrast, Sector Two contains nine of the circuit’s 19 corners and features six braking events, with just 60 percent of the sector spent at full throttle. By way of comparison, last year’s pole position time was set at an average speed of 238 km/h: the average speed in Sectors One and Three was 259 km/h and 262 km/h respectively, while the average in Sector Two was 211 km/h.
Q:How important will DRS be during the weekend in Spa?
A: Of the circuit’s total lap distance of 7,004 m, drivers will be able to use the DRS system during practice and qualifying for 4,400 m – equivalent to 63 percent of the lap distance. Only Monza features a higher potential usage of the system, at 74 percent of the lap distance. DRS is likely to eliminate some of the need to find a set-up compromise between low drag for Sectors One and Three, and higher downforce for Sector Two, as it will offer the best of both worlds for qualifying – and enable teams to run higher downforce levels for the race, which will help to protect the tyres.
SPA has to be one of my favourites… the camera angles up the straights into the hills are usually pretty awesome
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“This upward vertical acceleration of 1G effectively means the car is weightless as it goes over the crest; contact with the road is therefore assured by downforce alone”
/Quote
Unfortunately, the contents of the driver’s stomach are not so protected. Not surprised you felt ill, phil9079.
Great research and interesting information.
@hounslowbusgarage: I ate before the ride with my brother, pretty much the stupiest thing I’ve ver done :p! I don’t think the drivers are feeling sick. Since someone said me that it’s true that if you drive the car, you don’t feel so sick as if you don’t drive it and you sit in the passenger seat…
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