Our highly anticipated trip to Spa-Francorchamps took place last weekend. The disappointment of last yearÂ’s trip being cancelled due to the unfortunate tunnel collapse meant that this yearÂ’s trip needed to be something special. Thankfully, all the hard work paid off and IÂ’m sure many will join me in declaring this our best Spa trip to date!





Upon our arrival in Belgium it was clear the weather Gods were smiling on us. From our arrival on Friday afternoon to our departure on Monday morning glorious spring sunshine illuminated the beautiful Ardennes Forest surrounding the circuit. The winter thermals that are sometimes even required for our August dates stayed packed in suitcases.





The paddock on both mornings was filled with all variety of track day exoctica including Ferrari, Porsche, Radical and Caterham. Our friends from Gipi Motors and FMA Scuderia again joined us with a fantastic mix of historic and modern Ferrari’s – the highlight of which was the beautifully restored 250 SWB. The trip also saw the outing of two new Caterham R300’s for BaT one standard chassis and one SV. The hirers of which enjoyed the challenges of corners such as Eau Rouge, Pouhon and La Source in these fantastic track cars.



Driving standards on both days were exemplary, with only two red flags all weekend and Sunday being a stoppage free day. Our chief instructors Christian Dick, Stuart Jones and Sarah Reader did a fantastic job ensuring track day rules were enforced at all times. In fact the only complaint came from Jonny who was a little disappointed he couldnÂ’t drift the Caterhams as well round a bone dry circuit!





Many thanks goes to all of those that joined us at the Hotel Beausite, especially Neil McKean who took on (and won) a bet with Jonny by eating two of their giant ‘Crepe Norvegienne’ pancakes in one sitting! The atmosphere from the staff team and customers was great despite how tiring the days had been.





Overall the weekend was a tremendous success for BaT, all of which couldnÂ’t have been achieved without our fantastic staff team.








David Edge takes Eau Rouge in his slick-shod Ferrari F40 - quite a sight to behold. Jonny takes his usual line around La Source and the Gipi Motors prepared 250 SWB - undesputed highlight of the varied exotica in use over the weekend.






Click thumbnail to view image.

Sarah Leroux  ▶ Director 28 Mar 2011