{"id":9575,"date":"2023-10-20T09:13:22","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T09:13:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/?p=9575"},"modified":"2023-10-20T09:13:23","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T09:13:23","slug":"spa-six-hours-a-ford-gt40-fest-no-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/?p=9575","title":{"rendered":"Spa Six Hours: a Ford GT40 fest no more?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Well, a Ford GT40 did manage to win to Spa Six Hours. But it wasn\u2019t the traditional GT40 total domination. In fact, a Lotus Elan broke the hegemony and slotted itself in second place. A report.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As has become the tradition, the Ford GT40 is the most likely car to take victory in the Spa Six Hours. Hence its popularity. Of the top-ten qualifiers, nine were GT40s. The odd one out \u2013 a Jaguar E-Type \u2013 was ninth. The GT40 manned by Marcus Count Oeynhausen and Nico Verdonck put in a 3\u201907\u201d361, 2.2 seconds faster than the Bryant\/Cottingham GT40. A time difference that was merely down to the climate conditions. In the race, fastest lap was a full 30 seconds faster than the pole lap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo Jarno Maras<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Many an observer\u2019s eye was following the performance of Dario and Marino Franchitti, supported by Nascar legend Jimmie Johnson\u2026 in a Ford GT40 of course. They looked to be on course for a podium, if not more, until they were delayed towards the end of the race and had to be satisfied with seventh overall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo Jarno Maras<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Weather<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As the pictures make clear, part of the race ran under typical Belgian weather conditions \u2013 variations of wet \u2013 which made horsepower no longer the sole determinizing factor. Traditionally, the result<\/a> of the Spa Six Hours is a variation on the starting grid: all GT40s at the front, just in a different order. Not so this year, where a strong, consistent drive pushed the Lotus Elan of Andrew Jordan, Sam Tordoff and James Dorlin up the ranks to a strong and surprising second place. The gap with the winners \u2013 Andy Priaulx, Gordon Shedden and Miles Griffiths \u2013 was one lap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo Jarno Maras<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Ace drivers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Now, if you know your motorsport names, you will have recognized quite a few. Priaulx, Shedden and Jordan are all touring car aces. Added to this, the regular driver\/owners have all invested in top coaching, ever improving their lap times as well. In short, this means that at Spa Six Hours, we start seeing the same thing as what has happened at the Goodwood Revival. Classic racing is becoming cut-throat business, where you need a top-prepared car and crew if you want to be able to score a victory or a podium. Which is in many ways a good thing. For sure, for now the Ford GT40 seems to remain just the car to have for long-distance races, but maybe when the conditions are right, a nimble Lotus can stir up things quite a bit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo Jarno Maras<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Full show<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Next to the main show on Saturday, Spa Six Hours can count on a full support program. This brings Formula 1 from the Masters Series. Race 1 went to Mike Cantillon\u2019s Williams FW07C, race 2 saw Werner d\u2019Ansembourg\u2019s Brabham BT49 triumph. With further GTs, Endurance Legends, Pre-War Sportscars and the Belcar Historic Cup, a visit to Spa Six Hours<\/a> is always worth the journey.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Well, a Ford GT40 did manage to win to Spa Six Hours. But it wasn\u2019t the traditional GT40 total domination. In fact, a Lotus Elan broke the hegemony and slotted itself in second place. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9578,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[105],"tags":[1353,1264,1357,717,457,1351,120,1355,718,766,1356,205,1352,1354,204],"thb-sponsors":[],"class_list":["post-9575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-gallery","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-historic-racing","tag-andrew-jordan","tag-andy-priaulx","tag-belcar-historic-cup","tag-dario-franchitti","tag-ford-gt40","tag-gordon-shedden","tag-historic-racing","tag-james-dorlin","tag-jimmie-johnson","tag-lotus-elan","tag-marino-franchitti","tag-masters-historic-racing","tag-miles-griffiths","tag-sam-tordoff","tag-spa-six-hours","post_format-post-format-gallery"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/DSC04067-Enhanced-NR.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9575"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9575\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9599,"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9575\/revisions\/9599"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9575"},{"taxonomy":"thb-sponsors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fthb-sponsors&post=9575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}