Before we talk about the why and wherefore, I must admit: I was never really a big fan of Spa-Francorchamps. Recently, though, that has changed. I say recently, but what I mean is these past 3 days. And there are two very special vehicles responsible for this change of heart: The Porsche 963 LMDh and the Radical SR10.
My History With Spa-Francorchamps
Personally, I don’t have such a varied history with the track in the Ardennes forest. Perhaps this is the reason why I’ve found the circuit to be mid at best. Most of my experiences with Spa-Francorchamps come from Assetto Corsa Competizione (ACC). Yes, the circuit plays host to the 24 hours of Spa-Francorchamps, a GT3 endurance race. Still, in all my years of racing on ACC, having the circuit on calendars always felt more like a necessity than something I like. Racing GT3 cars there just doesn’t really excite me.
I’ve never gotten around to trying out this Belgian circuit much on other sims. Mostly because the main sim I played before ACC was RaceRoom. And yes, RaceRoom does have Spa-Francorchamps as paid DLC. However, when your main focus is touring car racing, you choose to race other circuits. I remember fondly racing around small and tight circuits like Mid-Ohio, Brands Hatch Indy or Autodrom Most. But when tracc.eu switched over to ACC championships, the track selection suddenly became a bit smaller. More notably, though, the car selection became GT3s. And GT3s only.
Not being an F1 fan probably also doesn’t help the situation here. As I’ve got no IRL connection to the circuit. My background lies more on MotoGP, and those bikes haven’t raced Spa-Francorchamps since 1990. That was a bit before my time.
It All Changed When I Branched Out
More recently, though, I’ve branched out to racing more sims. Currently, most of my driving time is split rather evenly between Assetto Corsa Competizione, iRacing and Le Mans Ultimate (LMU). And all these games feature the old-school Belgian track.
It all started with the addition of co-op races in LMU. A friend of mine and me agreed to doing and endurance race on Spa, since it’s the circuits we both quite know. The car we decided for: the Porsche 963 LMDh. The reason: I proposed it and the proposal was accepted. Easy.
Now, preparing for this event caught me by surprise. I thought this would be something for me to just try the new game mode out. Suprisingly, however, I found that racing the AI and pushing the hypercar to its limits excited me like very little I’ve done in the past.
I was surprised.
I was excited.
But most importantly.
I was really enjoying myself.
And I mean I really enjoyed myself. I was on edge, my pulse was rising and I was locked in. Locked in and loaded. I was pretty bad, but it felt amazing.
…So Next I Tried Spa Out Elsewhere
Euphoric from this exhausting, but ecstatic day, I went to sleep and thought on the next day that I wanted to continue. Luckily, the Radical Esports Cup on iRacing was running on Spa-Franchorchamps. I had already races this series in week 1 and liked the cars. So why not give it a shot?
And that I did, just after coming out of an Advanced MX-5 Cup race. So without any prior practice, I joined the race server and found myself battling 7 other Radicals for pole position. Well, in truth I was never on for podium, but I achieved a valiant P5.
Then, after smoking past the 2 cars in front of me into P3 on the starting grid (they didn’t know you start from first gear with clutch engaged, apparently) I once again felt the ecstasy of the day before. This combination, although fairly similar in pace to GT3s, felt totally different.
These 11 laps went past in no time and even though I had a few screw ups in the second half, I brought home a P4. I was really happy with myself for achieving that. And that was when I thought to myself:
“What has happened to me? I used to not like Spa…”
I guess I managed to convert myself by forced exposure.
What’s the Take-Away?
In the end, what can we learn from the experience I went through?
I would say that each dislike a person has might not necessarily be for the object of distaste itself. It might be a combination of things that don’t feel right. In my case, the combo of GT3s and Spa-Francorchamps was what I don’t like. Other cars are great!
So if you find yourself not liking a car or circuit, maybe try a different combo. Try something that is different. Try something that might give you a new perspective on things. You are not bound by any shackles. Sim racing enables us to try the wildest combinations.
Want to race a bathtub around the Nordschleife? You got it!
Want to be a cat loaf and run away from the police? Mods got your back!
Want to enjoy a combination you might thing works but are not quite sure? Just load it up and try it!
Not everything has to be GT3s at Monza. Let your imagination flow and make some unique memories.
I am not going to end this article with an affiliate link. If you read this all the way to here, I just ask for one thing:
Make sure to enjoy sim racing!