Sidepodcast

"Resistance is Futile"


Inside Track - Spa Francorchamps

Published 04/09/2008 at 13:20 BST

By Mr. C.

Sidepodcast TV logo

The perfect antidote for a Valencian procession has to be a blast through the Ardennes Forest, and Formula One delivers this and more as the teams arrive at the Circuit de Spa Francorchamps for the Belgium Grand Prix.

This week Inside Track takes a look at the circuit and catches up with the thoughts of Christian Danner and Sébastien Bourdais. We also look back on the controversial events that unfolded last year and see how the championship stands before the drivers come face-to-face with one of the most daunting tracks of year.

Special thanks to Allianz SE, Toyota Motorsports GmbH, Red Bull Racing, Daimler, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes and RTV GmbH for the use of their video footage.



« Previous post »

More from this Author



22 Responses

  • #1 - Christine said: 04/09/2008 at 13:36:16

    Nice hat.

  • #2 - me said: 04/09/2008 at 13:40:56

    Nice hat.

    you gotta be a big man to carry off a look like that ;)

    before anyone asks btw, feeds and alternate download sites will be forthcoming. i just hit the "publish" button in wordpress by mistake, meaning the torrent file and dailymotion version haven't finished going up and encoding etc.

    i blame wordpress entirely of course.

  • #3 - Jordan Allen said: 04/09/2008 at 15:06:19

    Well, at one time most of the circuit was public roads, and I think you can still see the STOP sign and bar at the La Source hairpin. So you can see now how the "Bus Stop" was the most perfectly named corner in F1 as a bus used to pull in there and stop. What I can not figure out is what villages would the bus be servicing back then as it is a bit of walk to the villages in question.

    Back in '89 I was in Europe on a motorcycle and I sort of got lost in that area. I made a stop at a certain interestion and wondered how on earth this place looked so familar. Once I clued in, well, I had to take Eau Rouge flat....

  • #4 - R.G (The Nurburgring/S... said: 04/09/2008 at 16:24:03

    Remember that Pre-Race Missable Parade Show Thingy, well it seems my football season has started, and trust me football + sundays = miss f1 races. Even worse it makes me not allowed to get up at 4 in the morning to watch Japan GP :( :( ;(

    Looking forward to Spa, even if I will most likely miss it, thank god for sky+

  • #5 - Kris said: 04/09/2008 at 16:33:00

    Thanks for the tip on identi.ca - thats completely new to me. From the video it looks purdy too.

    I'm afraid that, for the second race in succession I'm going to be away from an internet connection throughout the race weekend, so I'll have to catch up en-masse when I return.

    I'm hoping for a little rain to affect either qualifying or the race: a little will be plenty, no need to be greedy. I'll also be keeping an eye on the STR cars, in case their supposedly superior thoroughbreads can give one or other driver a repeat of last race's performance.

  • #6 - me said: 04/09/2008 at 16:35:23

    Remember that Pre-Race Missable Parade Show Thingy, well it seems my football season has started, and trust me football + sundays = miss f1 races.

    no sweat. it will be podcasted too, but not sure if it'll have much relevance after the race.

  • #7 - me said: 04/09/2008 at 16:37:47

    I’ll also be keeping an eye on the STR cars, in case their supposedly superior thoroughbreads can give one or other driver a repeat of last race’s performance.

    i think heads will roll if that happens, don't you?

    sounds like le seb is driving for his seat now though, so maybe he'll try that extra bit harder. i'm sure he doesn't really want to go back to irl-champ-thingy.

  • #8 - R.G (The Nurburgring/S... said: 04/09/2008 at 20:09:58

    no sweat. it will be podcasted too, but not sure if it’ll have much relevance after the race.

    Actually I was going on about missing the f1 as well y'know. You want me to watch the pod thingy but not the race :)

  • #9 - me said: 04/09/2008 at 20:17:54

    You want me to watch the pod thingy but not the race

    is that bad?

    :P

  • #10 - R.G (The Nurburgring/S... said: 04/09/2008 at 20:22:10

    is that bad?

    To put it simply.

    Aye.

    ;)

  • #11 - me said: 04/09/2008 at 20:28:38

    To put it simply.

    Aye.

    ok, sorry. thank god for sky+ r.g. ;)

  • #12 - Steven Roy said: 04/09/2008 at 20:50:56

    i’m sure he doesn’t really want to go back to irl-champ-thingy.

    It looks like the IRL silly season is close to completed as many drivers have signed up already so there may not be a decent seat available to him there.

  • #13 - me said: 04/09/2008 at 20:53:11

    It looks like the IRL silly season is close to completed as many drivers have signed up already so there may not be a decent seat available to him there.

    any idea if he has other options, say, endurance racing or otherwise?

    i'm not writing him off, just curious what his choices are (and yep, i've discounted modelling).

  • #14 - Jordan Allen said: 04/09/2008 at 21:08:47

    me said:

    I’ll also be keeping an eye on the STR cars, in case their supposedly superior thoroughbreads can give one or other driver a repeat of last race’s performance.

    i think heads will roll if that happens, don’t you?

    Me:

    I think the answer to whether or not heads will roll depends on the operational status of Ali's guillotine.....

  • #15 - Steven Roy said: 04/09/2008 at 21:19:14

    any idea if he has other options, say, endurance racing or otherwise?

    He could probably pick up a Peugeot sportscar drive because I am sure he drove for them at Le Mans.

  • #16 - Alianora La Canta said: 05/09/2008 at 00:00:30

    any idea if he has other options, say, endurance racing or otherwise? {3 comments ago}

    Le Seb is good at Le Mans, having done his home race several times. He was born in the town, so maybe it's his destiny to devote himself full-time to conquering the world's greatest 24-hour race...

  • #17 - me said: 05/09/2008 at 00:50:12

    Le Seb is good at Le Mans, having done his home race several times. He was born in the town, so maybe it’s his destiny to devote himself full-time to conquering the world’s greatest 24-hour race…

    that would be a shame for f1, but i'm getting the impression berger isn't the most patient of individuals.

    i wonder how many seasons he'd have employed himself for?

  • #18 - Dave Monks said: 05/09/2008 at 03:40:34

    me said:

    "before anyone asks btw, feeds and alternate download sites will be forthcoming. i just hit the “publish” button in wordpress by mistake, meaning the torrent file and dailymotion version haven’t finished going up and encoding etc."

    With this as read, is it possible to wait until you have a DM or YouTube link before you do publish next time and put it in the inital post? The first time you publish a story it comes through to my RSS feed reader - and if it is at work I have to get it through DM or YT because we don't have the codecs, so I have to hunt through to the site proper to find the updated links.

    I don't know how DM or YT work, so this might not be possible. Sorry. Just my own request.

  • #19 - Alex Andronov said: 05/09/2008 at 08:07:36

    By the way there is a "Business of Sport: Formula One" section in the Financial Times today.

  • #20 - Alianora La Canta said: 05/09/2008 at 08:33:50

    i’m getting the impression berger isn’t the most patient of individuals.

    i wonder how many seasons he’d have employed himself for? {me - 2 comments ago}

    Probably not many, I'm guessing...

  • #21 - Alianora La Canta said: 05/09/2008 at 08:34:40

    By the way there is a “Business of Sport: Formula One” section in the Financial Times today. {Alex Andronov - 2 comments ago}

    Cool! Though I can't pick up the Financial Times from where I am today.

  • #22 - me said: 05/09/2008 at 08:39:48

    The first time you publish a story it comes through to my RSS feed reader - and if it is at work I have to get it through DM or YT because we don’t have the codecs, so I have to hunt through to the site proper to find the updated links.

    certainly can try dave. we've stopped using youtube, but we'll drop in a heads-up to the dailymotion file in future. here's this weeks:

    http://www.dai...ium-preview-2008_auto


Now Have Your Say


Comment Authors