Friday 26th July 2013

24 Hours of Spa: Pic Of The Week

Umbrellas at the ready - PH gears up for the Spa 24-hour

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It may not have the cachet of Le Mans or the chaos associated with the N24, but the Spa 24 Hour never fails to deliver spectacular racing. A hugely challenging track, packed grids and unpredictable weather guarantee that.

The Jag out on its own later in the race

This weekend sees the 65th running of the 24-hour race, and PH will be reporting live from this evening. GT racers from McLaren, Ferrari, Mercedes, Porsche, Lamborghini and others will battle throughout the day and night in Belgium; we can't wait!

So to get us in the mood, how about an historic image for POTW? This comes from the 1984 Spa 24, and what a sight it is; XJ-S Jaguars, 6 Series BMWs and SD1 Rovers tussling through driving rain on the way to Eau Rouge. Best of all, a Walkinshaw-prepped XJ-S took victory.

And if any PHers are heading out to Spa, keep a look out for a very blue Volvo V40 and please say hello!

Traditional (4:3)
Computer widescreen (16:10)
TV widescreen (16:9)
Portrait (smartphone, etc)

Photos: LAT Photographic

[VladD]

Glorious.

[patmahe]

What an awesome grid as lovely as much of the modern machinery is, I'm not sure it holds a candle to this.

[Vocal Minority]

Thats a deep fried slice of awesome right there

[heavyearly76]

Can we get a larger version of the 2nd picture?

[PascalBuyens]

Makes me proud to be Belgian

[soad]

VladD said:

Glorious.

[Krikkit]

Awesome shot, look at the crowd in the pit lane too!

[UltimaCH]

The 24H race at Spa is certainly on par with the 24H at the Ring even if the track is shorter. You can't compare them to the 24H Le Mans as the racers are somewhat different in the top classes. Get rid of the LMP1 and 2 and that would be a great series with the addition of Silverstone and other tracks perhaps?

[Housey]

I don't think many people appreciate just how good the ETCC was in the early to mid 80's. Glad I was there to see it as it happened

[sparks_E39]

Great pics.