Spa revisited (again): Time For Tea?

We've had a taste of old-school Spa; here are some classic racers doing it for real

So you'll know we're a little Spa-Francorchamps fixated at the moment. Bear with us. You may have seen the blog earlier, including our comedy sped up drive of the old Spa lap. That led to the inevitable YouTube browsing for proper footage of racing back in the day and a selection of Spa-related videos to accompany your afternoon brew and chocolate digestive.

This one of the 1970 Belgian Grand Prix is pretty cool and full of period atmosphere (yes, that includes the obligatory girls in bikinis...) but concentrates mainly on the familiar sections of the circuit we know and love. Doesn't Eau Rouge look even more intimidating bordered by Armco rather than run-off though...

For the cars and sense of the old track in its greater glory though this one of the 1971 24-hour race is arguably better, even if the quality isn't all that. Just look at the cars though! Fat-tyred BMW CSLs, Escorts, Alfa GTAs, Camaros and - of course - the famous AMG 300 SEL 6.8 all squirming around on their softly sprung suspension and balloon like rubber and roaring around the Ardennes countryside in fine style. For more on the AMG there's a good little clip here from Mercedes, including snippets from driver in the race Hans Heyer. OK, so the recreation of the 'Red Pig' is a shadow of the real thing but it still sounds pretty good.

For the real thing though you need to watch this.