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Title: Belgium 1955 Post by: Richard Fridd on 30 September, 2014, 09:41:22 AM A D50 around the nine minute mark http://forums.autosport.com/topic/189502-1955-belgium-grand-prix-film/
Title: Re: Belgium 1955 Post by: stanley sweet on 30 September, 2014, 10:05:46 AM Watched this the other day on Youtube. It was one of the films listed down the side when I was watching Fangio at Monaco in the D50 on the other thread. Superb film. Castelotti appears quite a lot throughout. Two things struck me. One, the speed of the cars. People now say historic cars are faster then they were in their day. Well, watching the leading group passing the camera it takes some believing. Secondly, you realise something really had to be done about safety. There's one instance where a dog is loose on the track during practice. Another where the commentator says 'Five minutes to the start' as you watch a little girl wandering along the edge of the track. Having said that, I would have loved to have been able to watch the races of this era live.
Title: Re: Belgium 1955 Post by: fay66 on 30 September, 2014, 11:01:31 PM What a great film, the D50 sounded magnificent, at about 7.5 minutes in 'Jenks' makes a brief appearance in the Mercedes Pit.
Is Spa still run on public roads or is it a closed circuit these days? Brian 8227 8) Title: Re: Belgium 1955 Post by: stanley sweet on 01 October, 2014, 10:09:13 AM Not totally sure but I think some of it is, similar to Le Mans. I thought the Eau Rouge section was public but may be wrong as it would give access to the pits complex. Until they got rid of the Bus Stop chicane, it was literally a bus stop so some must be public? If I'm ever in that area I want to drive the old circuit, Masta straight etc, but I do know that that ends in a wire fence as you approach the modern circuit section.
Title: Re: Belgium 1955 Post by: DavidLaver on 01 October, 2014, 11:09:45 AM All private now. I went a couple of years back for the 6 Hours. A drive along the old circuit is really something and takes an absolute age. The track was HUGE in every sense. Martin Brundle for SkySports: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1KTNnAEc28 What that film misses is just how long the straight are, a sense of how they'd build up to and hold their maximum speed. At those speeds the cambers and bumps and cross winds would be really significant and the challenge of passing - or being passed - in a sports car race with such different cars I can't imagine. Hamilton and Coultard for the BBC: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwcLaD0sbV8 Some nice aerial shots and a look at the map that give a sense of bends that go on and on and on at really serious speeds. This period film goes all the way round at touring speed: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnMFPBWyk24 It gives a sense of the width of it and what there is each side of the road. A car that left the track might take a lot of finding. It also reminded me that Eau Rouge is about three times steeper than it ever looks on TV or in stills, that the corner at the top is where it goes wrong, and that the straight that follows climbs and climbs. The view from one end of the circuit to the other is spectacular and its a long long way even now. I'd love to go back... Very laid back place, lovely museum in the next town. David |