Gordon Kirby Inside track source: cart.com - Gordon Kirby For the few days between the races at Brands Hatch and the EuroSpeedway I had one idea in mind. With my photographer friend Paul Webb we decided to take the Dover-Calais ferry the day after Brands Hatch and drive through bits of France, Belgium and Holland to take a look at the legendary Spa-Francorchamps road course in southern Belgium and the Nurburgring in western Germany. I'm just beginning work on the official biography of Dan Gurney's driving and car-building careers and as many of you no doubt know Dan achieved great things at Spa and the 'Ring in the fifties and sixties. I wanted to get in the right frame of mind to write about Dan's days in Europe and I figured I had to take advantage of the chance to check out the original 8-mile Spa circuit then drive east to sample the 'Ring's 'Nordschleife'. To witness two of the world's greatest road courses located barely an hour apart in the heart of Europe seemed like a dream made in heaven, and indeed, it was. We arrived at Spa in the middle of Belgium's Ardennes forest the night after the Brands Hatch race. It was misty and drizzling, typical Ardennes weather, and we slept happily after an excellent dinner. To my surprise, the following morning dawned bright and sunny and we were able to investigate the original Spa circuit in the best possible conditions. The original track comprised public roads and was opened in 1925. In its earliest form through the start of World War 2 the track was more than nine miles long. In contrast to modern times, the track was made faster rather than slower by opening up some corners. In 1939 the hairpin after Eau Rouge was removed and eighteen years later the Stavelot hairpin was also bypassed, pushing lap speeds over 130 mph. By 1967 when Dan Gurney drove his AAR Eagle-Weslake V12 to victory at Spa to become the only American ever to win a Grand Prix in his own, American-built car, Gurney, Jim Clark and Graham Hill were able to lap the track at more 150 mph--a phenomenal achievement.
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