3:29......
All kidding aside now... Yes, brakes are important at Spa. I mention La
Source only because it's more like most other tracks: the ideal braking
point is pretty rigid. The other corners, though, don't benefit from
threshold braking and are quite a bit "softer" in that sense. I find the
darkness of the groove is useless as braking points.
I'm still at 3:21 at Spa, so I'm not the expert. In spite of the talk
otherwise:
Brake at Haute de la Cote roughly halfway to the top. This is uphill as at
all other critical areas at Spa. Speed is about 155 coming up the hill;
squeeze the brakes to bring it to about 115 at turn in, and slightly less
than neutral throttle slows you to 92 mph at apex, and then smoothly
transition back to full throttle as you clear the embankment. Threshold
braking isn't required; in fact, it's harmful to the car's balance. The
transition from gas to brake, and then back on the gas needs to be as smooth
as you can make it. (Slower is faster.)
Malmedy is also uphill; a controlled squeeze drops your speed from 167 to
118, and then you hold neutral throttle, slowing to about 112 at apex on the
first right. The braking point is right before the entrance to the left
hander, and a gentle squeeze is all you need. You might call it trail
braking, but it's more a matter of holding balance while braking through the
entire turn.
Masta, Stavelot, and Cottage are taken without brakes.
Cottage slows you from 180 to 132. Again, balance and control are more
important than stopping power. Like Malmedy and la Cote, the brakes really
aren't on all the way to apex; I'm done braking before or as I cross the
road crown. Again, turning action and less than neutral throttle accounts
for the rest of the speed loss. A gentle turn in and throttle for balance is
more important here than late braking. You don't need much brakes to begin
with.
Entrance to Blanchimont is almost threshold braking, and a light amount of
trail braking helps. Approach speed is 192, slowing to 126 at apex. Even
though the approach and braking zone is flat or slightly downhill, the brake
point is much much deeper than you might think from looking at the groove.
Threshold braking is useful on the straight, transitioning smoothly (key
word!) to trail braking and a gentle turn-in. Apex is about half a tire
width inside off the pavement, and you can be back *** the gas about the
time the straight braking AI starts to turn in.
Exit from Blanchimont, onto the straight leading to La Source, is a slight
lift on turn in, and then flat again. Approach speed is 178, slowing to 164
before the engine can overpower the scrubbing through the turn. A brief full
throttle blast gets you back up to 174, a quick 3 count past the distance
marker on the right, and then real threshold braking down to 58 mph at turn
in for La Source, trail braking and scrubbing down to 44 at apex. I use
first gear coming out, and need to be real careful about tire spin on exit.
I can't tell the difference in lap times using 2nd gear, but I'm more used
to the engine sound for speed cues in first.
I pick up oodles of time through Blanchimont, more than a full second over
the AI. The wide line leading up to La Source is perfect for setting up a
braking pass. I bank on this as I come up on traffic coming out of Stavelot.
From here, no brakes again until la Cote. Eau Rouge can be a bit of sloppy
***shoot for me. A half lift at the bottom crossing the bridge helps
settle the car and slow it just a little for the right hand, down into third
for the uphill run. Hold somewhat neutral throttle until you're almost at
apex, and then flat out to a slight lift for the left hand turnin. I like to
get the inside tires all the way off on the inside at this blind apex. Any
wider, and I have to lift to avoid drifting off the right side on track out.
My exit speed here is about 10 mph faster than the AI, but it just almost
makes up for my slower speed through the right hander at the bottom. I'm
usually caught up and possibly passing by the time we get to la Cote.
As tracks go, Spa responds well to setups that favor ever so slight
understeer at neutral throttle. I substitute light engine braking for trail
braking through the fast corners, and the balance has to be very close to
neutral when I feather the gas heading toward the apex. Trail throttle tends
toward oversteer, so the car balance for slight understeer makes up for
this. It feels like neutral throttle as you drive the track, but replays
show that the car continues to slow even past the gas on point. I attribute
this to scrubbing, and it doesn't alleviate until I start to unwind the
wheel. So, it's not really just the gas-on point that matters, you also need
to be unwinding the wheel to accelerate out of high speed turns. Cottage and
the last of Blanchimont, maybe even Stavelot, come to mind as examples.
3:29 is a tough row to hoe. I recall when 3:40 felt like an accomplishment.
Maybe that last might be enough to help you off this plateau, and on to the
next one. While braking points are important, they are far less so than
getting back up to speed on the long, long straights at Spa. You need to
unload the steering to get this to happen. No matter how else it might feel
at this point, you're losing time if you're doing anything but unwinding
when the gas starts to go back down. Work on getting to this point by having
a balanced car at apex. This requires a good smooth entrance, even if you
sacrifice the brake point a little for now. That will almost fix itself soon
enough. I'm willing to bet you can get down to 3:25 in a week if you work
diligently on the exits, not the brake points (in a balanced car, of course.
:-)
Michael.
