Burnenville
Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps is a Belgian track in the grand European tradition of high-speeds on public roads. When road racing started early in the 20th century public roads were blocked off and races run. Spa-Frncorchamps, along with Le Mans and Reims survived into the sixties and by the early '70s only Spa and Le Mans remained. The 8.76 mile circuit was the fastest in Europe. Although Le Mans had the 3.7 mile Mulsanne straight, the average lap speeds were slower than Spa. During the 1973 Spa 1000km race Henri Pescarolo set the fastest lap in a 3-liter Matra-Simca MS670 at 163.09 mph. This was on public roads and with the exception of the La Source turn, the cars are flat out‚Äö the amazing aspect is that the circuit is mostly turns. L'Eau Rouge is well known as the fast wiggle at the bottom of the old pit straight, but Burnenville was stunning. The corner was a very long gentle downhill right turn that the fastest cars took at over 140mph. The spectators could stand in the doorway of the cafe at the apex of Burnenville with the cars going by yards away.
Burnenville captures the atmosphere of the circuit with the buildings close to the track, spectators closeup, Brian Redman in the Ferrari 312PB and the wonderful rural setting in the Belgian Ardennes countryside.
