3 days of classic races at the most beautiful race track of the world
Always lots of fun when a Peter Auto event strikes on a race track. Since a few years, the race track of Spa Francorchamps is one of the regulars in the events Peter Auto organizes all over Europe. The most important classic racers race the best classic sportscars in different groups, and bring lots of spectacle to the many visitors. The 7th edition of Spa Classic 2017 was no exception on that rule. The atmosphere the day before the action starts at Spa Classic 2017. Weather conditions were changing throughout the weekend, which is not that rare at Spa.
Friday was a very rainy day, so training and qualification runs for all series were not on the fastest pace we’ve seen on the track Nevertheless there was lots of action on the wet tracks with lots of drifting. The high downforce of the Group C cars made them spit out some great sprays to the joy of the public. Saturday weather was better with even some sunshine but a sudden shower is never far away in Spa, which made it hard for the teams to decice what tires to use. Good for the audience however, and fortunately not too much damage for the teams that made a wrong decision.
For the Porsche fans, there is always lots of cars that deserve our attention. In quite some of the series they can enjoy a car that left the Zuffenhausen factory. Rarest of the rare on the track was Albert Otten in the Porsche 550A Durlite Spyder. In the Group C series, some important Porsches entered like the Porsche 962-116 driven by Georg Nakas. This particular Porsche 926-116 finished 3rd overall in the 1988 Le Mans 24H. Drivers back in the time were the Germans Frank Jelinski and Louis Krages and Stanley Dickens from Sweden. Not only the 3rd overall was a great result, the Joest Racing Porsche was the quickest privateer 962C in practice and reached an average speed of 216km/h in a troublefree race. That was the 5th best result ever in the history of the Le Mans 24H at that time.
Over 20.000 visitors made it to the 2017 Spa Classic that was all about action on the track and in the infield. Visitors enjoyed the atmosphere that brought back the spirits of racing of the early days when visitors were allowed to get close to the cars to feel, smell and live the race the way it should be. Even though the Bonhams Auction House brought some outstanding cars ,most of the Porsches remained unsold. Nevertheless we hope Bonhams will return to the best classic race event at the Spa Francorchamps race track . Looking forward to the next Spa Classic in 2018, and hoping there will be as much great Porsches on the track as this year.
Full picture gallery of the 2017 Spa Classic on next page
