NEW images posted by the official Spa-Francorchamps Twitter page show new modifications have been - and are continuing to be - made to to the famous Belgian track.
Spa is due to welcome the Endurance World Championship on 2 June 2022 for the 24H Spa EWC Motos (24 Hours of Spa), and after adjusting the famous Eau Rouge corner over recent months, attention has been turned elsewhere.
A video was released a few weeks ago detailing the work done, which can be found here.
Work is now taking place at turn nine - of several names, including ‘No Name’, ‘Liege’, ‘Ickx’, or, as Spa called it in their Twitter post, ‘Speakers Corner’.
The images show that gravel has been added to the outside of the original corner, meaning track limits debates there will be ended. That is of little interest to us, though, since no motorcycles will use that corner.
That is because, as the images also show, there is a new corner for the bikes, which will be tighter and go to the left - the inside - of the original corner. This redesign of the corner is necessary to achieve the necessary run-off required for not just endurance racing, but also World Superbikes and MotoGP - both of which are of interest to Spa.
The tighter profile of the corner should also mean a slightly reduced speed on corner exit, and therefore also at the end of the straight, where lies the famous “Pouhon”. The images also show the new gravel bed on the outside of Pouhon, where the run-off was previously all-asphalt.
It is certainly encouraging to see the continued work that Spa are putting in to make the circuit safe for and compatible with motorcycles. The prospect of WorldSBK and even MotoGP returning to the famous venue in the near future never fails to cause excitement, and the anticipated spectacle of the world’s best endurance riders taking on the track this summer promises to be one of the highlights of the racing year.
