Who is going to Spa Francorchamps? - Page 2

Miguel · 22 Apr 2014, 07:42 (Ref:3396538)

Overcast with 13 degrees? Looks fine to me, I've had it worse there

jase · 22 Apr 2014, 08:07 (Ref:3396543)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Miguel

Overcast with 13 degrees? Looks fine to me, I've had it worse there

I've had it worse there too (and here - This weekend at Silverstone)

Will be arriving Thursday night, camping and leaving Sunday morning. Silverstone has been a great warm up for Spa

isynge · 22 Apr 2014, 08:51 (Ref:3396555)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Miguel

Overcast with 13 degrees? Looks fine to me, I've had it worse there

That is indeed a gratifying shift from when I looked last night. Fingers crossed...

Peat · 22 Apr 2014, 10:03 (Ref:3396591)

After Silverstone this weekend, I am seriously considering it.

Anyone used Travel Destinations? If i do go, It will be a pretty late decision.

isynge · 22 Apr 2014, 11:05 (Ref:3396621)

Haven't used Travel Destinations but that looks like a pretty good price for a self drive package, especially as hotel / b&b accommodation in the immediate vicinity of the track will probably be at a premium this close to the event (a quick search on Booking.com shows some availability, but at a price).

If you do end up making a late call to go a lot of the local residents will operate a pretty ad hoc campsite in their fields, which might be an option, otherwise you can almost always find a reasonable hotel deal in Liege.

Peat · 22 Apr 2014, 11:12 (Ref:3396628)

Cheers, good info.

nobster · 22 Apr 2014, 12:40 (Ref:3396679)

Wheather forecast can and will change, the race is still 11 days away!

isynge · 22 Apr 2014, 12:44 (Ref:3396682)

To be fair I wouldn't bank on knowing what the weather will do sitting at the start line at about 1400 on the Saturday...

isynge · 23 Apr 2014, 10:54 (Ref:3397132)

Oh dear. Another withdrawal from Spa with Ram pulling their pair of Ferraris. (DSC link)

Are we budgeting for similar grid to Silverstone (-2 Rams, +1 Audi, +1 Jota), a further decline, or an increase (e.g. +1 Lotus, +? other pre-Le Mans entrants)?

NelisB · 23 Apr 2014, 11:03 (Ref:3397138)

Quote:

Originally Posted by isynge

Oh dear. Another withdrawal from Spa with Ram pulling their pair of Ferraris. (DSC link)

Are we budgeting for similar grid to Silverstone (-2 Rams, +1 Audi, +1 Jota), a further decline, or an increase (e.g. +1 Lotus, +? other pre-Le Mans entrants)?

That's to bad, really hope we get to see the new Lotus and the new Rebellions.

GT6 · 23 Apr 2014, 11:45 (Ref:3397158)

Quote:

Originally Posted by isynge

Oh dear. Another withdrawal from Spa with Ram pulling their pair of Ferraris. (DSC link)

Are we budgeting for similar grid to Silverstone (-2 Rams, +1 Audi, +1 Jota), a further decline, or an increase (e.g. +1 Lotus, +? other pre-Le Mans entrants)?

Ian are you really expecting 3 Audi's. You saw the two they took to silverstone i doubt they will be at Spa, so will they one have 3 more tubs and 2 will they risk all of those before Le Mans

nobster · 23 Apr 2014, 11:51 (Ref:3397159)

Nothing heard about Lotus, they need some running on their car.

Simmi · 23 Apr 2014, 11:55 (Ref:3397165)

Pretty gutted to see that Ram news. You have to wonder how they will fare post-Le Mans if they are struggling at this stage.

isynge · 23 Apr 2014, 12:08 (Ref:3397176)

Quote:

Originally Posted by GT6

Ian are you really expecting 3 Audi's. You saw the two they took to silverstone i doubt they will be at Spa, so will they one have 3 more tubs and 2 will they risk all of those before Le Mans

The more I think about it the more confident I am that we'll see 3 Audis there.

In no particular order

They've the option of using their test chassis, of which they have "at least two"
We don't know how many additional chassis were in build with Audi prior to Silverstone, I suspect the answer is more than one, and it will depend on what level of completeness it has
There's six weeks post Spa which would give them the time to get the Silverstone damaged cars repaired, so I can see them 'risking' additional damage
They've got a vested interest in giving Jarvis / Albuquerque / Bonanomi a run before Le Mans
Perhaps a little more ephemeral, I always figure you can have one catastrophe over the course of a season and recover, have two and you'll struggle. By not running three at Spa Audi would be ceding some of the initiative to Toyota and Porsche and showing a chink in the armour. I suspect they don't want to do that.

Is any of this conclusive? No it isn't - and the very short gap between the races makes it a very tall order. Had it been anyone other than Audi I suspect I'd be writing them off - but as we've all learned over the years, underestimating Audi is a very dangerous course to take.

rich07 · 23 Apr 2014, 12:50 (Ref:3397199)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Simmi

Pretty gutted to see that Ram news. You have to wonder how they will fare post-Le Mans if they are struggling at this stage.

The reason for their withdrawal being funding which doesn't make sense-when the team was started it supposedly had a Middle Eastern supporter who had plenty of money but wanted to remain out of sight. What happened there I presume?

Great Dane · 23 Apr 2014, 13:41 (Ref:3397229)

and will the russians be there I wonder. One Jota is promised but I wouldn't count on that after the pang it got last week end. Could be 23 cars and a rubbish support programme. I wouldnt have gone if it wasn't for the fact that travel tickets have been bought.

Great Dane · 23 Apr 2014, 13:42 (Ref:3397232)

Quote:

Originally Posted by nobster

Nothing heard about Lotus, they need some running on their car.

Heard on the grapewine that the programme is dead in the water

GT6 · 23 Apr 2014, 13:50 (Ref:3397240)

Well in just over a week they will either be arriving at Spa or not and we will see how many cars start the race, i hope it will be over 30 cars but i have a feeling it might be less

wewantourdarbyback · 23 Apr 2014, 13:53 (Ref:3397243)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Simmi

Pretty gutted to see that Ram news. You have to wonder how they will fare post-Le Mans if they are struggling at this stage.

Reading their release I think they underestimated what they would have to do quite severely, the car is quite bare of sponsors when you look at it.

I worry we may only see that at La Sarthe.

**bella** · 24 Apr 2014, 10:58 (Ref:3397659)

Quote:

Originally Posted by rich07

The reason for their withdrawal being funding which doesn't make sense-when the team was started it supposedly had a Middle Eastern supporter who had plenty of money but wanted to remain out of sight. What happened there I presume?

the update on the dsc news item is pretty self explanatory. they projected their cashflow with their investor, and due to some unexpected pre-season costs they're not going to make it to spa. you can't just expect the investor to write a £100k cheque, or whatever it will take to make spa happen.

i'm kind of surprised they haven't had some kind of contingency fund for stuff like huge shunts and unexpected costs but i guess if the investor wasn't game for that then there's nothing you can do. i think the potentially unrelated example of an unexpected cost from the dashboard marshalling system is a good example of how the organisers cannot act as if they are in charge of f1 scale pools of resources. quite a few of the teams are operating on a marginal budget rather than the lmp1 manufacturers scale of cash, and it's wrong to think that they'll just survive regardless of what you throw at them. they have a finite amount of cash to spend and it's not necessarily going to grow, things will be sacrificed. "new boy naivity" perhaps is the case, we had both 2013 elms champion teams aiming to move up to wec this season. signatech alpine hung back because the maths didn't add up, ram stepped forward and couldn't quite make it happen seamlessly.

all that aside, barring a huge shunt or several i don't see any reason to doubt the remainder of ram's season, as long as the fine for non-competing at spa is no greater than the cost of actually competing and can be paid after their cash arrives from their investor.

jyco22 · 24 Apr 2014, 11:28 (Ref:3397666)

I will be at Spa for the 6 hours with my friend Gérard : will be arriving Thursday evenning, mobilhome at camping familial malmedy, we have tickets for 2 days, wine and food for 3 days.
concerning entry list : LMP1 Lotus = no (its joke this car !) ROne = yes LMP2 : millenium ?
for the race : P1 Audi angry ! P2 same battle as at silverstone GT manthey vs AF Corse
Jean-Yves

lemansfan · 24 Apr 2014, 17:40 (Ref:3397823)

Friday off from Work , so it will be 2 Days for me

Simmi · 24 Apr 2014, 20:55 (Ref:3397890)

Rebellion have confirmed the R-Ones will be there.

https://twitter.com/RebellionRacing/...27219891163136

A nice little reward for the folks attending.

isynge · 24 Apr 2014, 21:18 (Ref:3397900)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Simmi

Rebellion have confirmed the R-Ones will be there.

https://twitter.com/RebellionRacing/...27219891163136

A nice little reward for the folks attending.

Outstandingly good news. Even with the couple of other disappointments on the list I was looking forward to being in Belgium this time next week, and knowing that we'll the R-Ones there is almost enough to persuade me to head to the track on Friday rather than doing touristy things.

GT6 · 25 Apr 2014, 06:02 (Ref:3397995)

Brilliant news for Rebellion, link also confirms that grid now down to 28 cars

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
CSCC Spa Francorchamps - Spa Summer Classic	Peter Mallett	Historic Racing Today	49	15 Jun 2011 15:41
Spa-Francorchamps Qualifying	mabs_nsx	Formula One	26	11 Sep 2005 09:41
Best seats at Spa-Francorchamps?	bananas	Trackside	12	20 Jul 2005 20:47
Spa Francorchamps	Peter Mallett	National & Club Racing	25	21 Jul 2000 07:49