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Articles by Darren Galpin
| Can you emasculate the emasculated? - Sun 29th Aug 2004 |
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Can you emasculate the emasculated? I couldn’t help but ponder this question after seeing the latest addition to the Spa-Francorchamps race circuit, the re-profiled bus-stop chicane. The circuit is back on the calendar after a years hiatus, during which the Belgian government decided that the income from the race and the prestige out-weighed the benefit of the anti-tobacco legislation in place.
Emasculation isn’t new to Spa. In its original form, the circuit was a 9.236 mile blast through the Ardennes countryside, and in 1921, when the first race was held, it was a fearsome place. There were no crash barriers or any safety features, and it was treacherous in the wet, with the trees trapping the spray. The circuit went from the La Source hairpin, and where the famous Eau Rouge now is, turned left into Virage de l’Ancienne Douanne. In later years, when the Eau Rouge stretch of tarmac was built, the Virage de l’Ancienne Douanne wasn’t used for racing, but it remained in place as part of the main road which every day traffic used. Although it isn’t obvious on TV, Eau Rouge is exceedingly steep, and would be difficult for heavy traffic to get up, so they need to use the old track and its hairpin. Even so, the run up Les Combes is still steep enough. It creates an awful lot of fun and games when the track is open and used as a public road – the trucks and coaches crawl up the right hand side, cars come down the left hand side, and you have cars overtaking the coaches and trucks in the middle at the same time. Queue lots of near-misses.
Where the modern circuit turns right, the old circuit plunges onwards all the way to the town of Stavelot. The circuit was by no means straight, with a series of gentle turns. You barely notice these at road speeds, but at race speeds these became fearsome, the Masta Kink becoming a test of nerve – do you lift or not? Depends on your confidence and whether you can risk plunging off at 160 mph or more. At Stavelot, the track turns back on itself, and heads back to La Source.
The first change to the circuit occurred as early as 1930, with a further change in 1934, when the Malmedy corner was tightened. La Virage de l’Ancienne Douanne was bypassed in 1934. The circuit then became the venue for the pre-war gladiatorial contests between Auto Union and Mercedes-Benz, but retained a fearsome edge, with Dick Seaman losing his life in 1939 while driving for Mercedes.
The circuit remained unchanged through to 1956, and from this point onwards there was incremental change as corners were gradually eased, and a chicane was installed before Malmedy. Speeds became ever higher, with a sportscar race running at an average of 151.885 mph in 1973. F1 had moved to Nivelles and Zolder by this point, the danger being too much, especially after Jackie Stewart crashed and disappeared off the circuit in a car leaking fuel. This accident became the catalyst for Stewart’s drive in improving safety.
To improve safety and re-open the track, a new purpose-built bit of circuit was added, running from Les Combes down to Blanchimont. Unusually for circuit changes, the change met with approval, as it retained the character of the circuit, but it shortened the length to 4.317 miles. However, the run into La Source was still considered to fast, so the Bus-Stop chicane was built for 1980, to slow the cars down further. This was the first mickey-mouse corner ever on the circuit, but it was still distinctive compared to others elsewhere. The track then remained unchanged in layout until this year, except for 1994 when a temporary chicane was installed in Eau Rouge following Alex Zanardi’s huge accident in 1993.
For 2004, the bus-stop chicane was completely re-profiled, to and avoid the cars clattering over the first corner and taking out bollards, tyres, or whatever they cared to put there to try and stop short-cutting of the corner. However, what they have done is cut down on an overtaking opportunity. No-longer can you tow down the straight and out-brake into the first corner so easily, as the straight now turns right before getting to the sharp-left. As mentioned in the first sentence, it’s an emasculation. But the bus-stop was an emasculation of the circuit in the first place……. (however, just to demonstrate that whatever you say will be proven incorrect, Montoya drove around the outside of Schumacher in the new corner. So, perhaps you can’t overtake into the corner, but you can overtake in the middle of it. Or, at least, Montoya can).
What is also a disappointment is the run-off at Eau Rouge. The run-off areas used to be gravel, which meant that you had to thread your car through and keep it on track. Now, who cares whether you get it right? If you get it wrong, you simply run wide, go onto the run-off tarmac, and continue. It means that even the worst driver now goes through the corner flat out, as you don’t have to worry about getting slightly out of line. It no longer rewards the best drivers, as even the worst can go through there flat. In some ways, it has reduced the challenge of the circuit – there has to be some penalty for getting things wrong. This was demonstrated by Juan Pablo Montoya on lap one of the Belgian Grand Prix – Sato was in the way, so he went right onto the run-off area to overtake him. It can’t be right that you can get an advantage for going off circuit.
Ah, the race itself. It really suffered from a case of Autosecuritis, that is there was an out-break of safety cars, caused by that weapon of mass destruction known as the shard of carbon fibre. Following the first lap pile-up at Radillon, there was a steady stream of punctures throughout the race, some more serious than others. Following the criticism at Indianapolis of the FIA and for running the cars through the field of debris, each time there was a major accident the safety car was sent out so that the track could be swept. Perhaps, though, this is a case of treating the symptoms rather than treating the cause – what causes the shards in the first place? To this end, the FIA is proposing that all pieces of carbon fibre should be encased in a Kevlar jacket to prevent the shattering in the case of an accident, and this has to be applauded.
In some ways though, the safety car made the race, as it allowed drivers who were otherwise out of the race to get back in. Barrichello had his rear wing removed at the first corner, but he managed to get back to the pits and have it replaced. The safety car periods allowed him to catch back up and eventually finish 3rd. Another beneficiary was David Coulthard, who had a puncture and dropped to the back of the pack. He was working his way through when he came up behind Klien in Radillon. Coulthard tried to overtake on the left, but Klien moved over to cover, and they touched. Coulthard’s front wing was ripped off, and as it went over the top of the car, it decapitated the on-board camera from its mounting – the possibilities of what could have happened should the trajectory of the front wing been lower are horrendous. Despite hitting the barrier, Coulthard was able to make it back to the pits and get a new front wing. The safety car had been deployed, so Coulthard was able to rejoin the fight. How he had the confidence to fight so much given the battering his car had received, I don’t know.
The good news was that we had a new race winner in Kimi Räikkönen. However, Michael Schumacher finished 2nd, which means that he has won his seventh Drivers World Championship. McLaren have got it together too late in the season to make any difference, so lets hope that this provides some kind of pointer to next year, as everyone will be looking to it now that the championship is over.
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