Eau Rouge (curve)
As Eau Rouge and actually Raidillon de l'Eau Rouge is a combination of curves Motor Racing Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps referred. The name ( French for 'red water') comes from the small river Eau Rouge located there, which is fed by iron-rich water from nearby springs, raidillon is French for 'climb, steep road'.
Not noticeable on the route sketch, the difficulty of this curve lies in the way it is embedded in the terrain. The sloping road leads into the Eau Rouge depression, where it has only formed a slight bend to the left since 1939. This is followed by a further right-hand arc with a steep incline of almost 18 percent directly up the mountain, the Raidillon de l'Eau Rouge abbreviation, built in 1939 . This was built in to increase the average speed of the course. There is a left bend on the crest, which is followed by a long straight uphill.
Normal sporty cars drive through the combination of curves at around 160 km / h. The main difficulty lies in aligning the car in the depression so that the left bend on the crest can be optimally traversed in order to achieve a high starting speed for the long uphill straight "Kemmel". Due to the limited overview, this is not easy, and in the past, the guardrail blocked the view directly on the inside. The compression in the depression increases the grip on the ground as long as the spring elements do not bottom out. On the other hand, the car is lifted out of the spring at the top, the grip is reduced, which is the real difficulty
Due to their aerodynamic downforce, formula vehicles achieve lateral accelerations of four to five g , which enables them to drive through at twice the speed, i.e. over 300 km / h. Modern Formula 1 cars can drive through the combination of corners at full throttle.
Until 1939, the original route turned sharply left in the Eau Rouge basin and then turned right uphill in a hairpin bend . This curve was called Virage de l'Ancienne Douane ("curve at the old customs station") because the Belgian-German border fortifications were located there until 1920.
The traditional pit system including the start-finish straight is located on the downhill passage. Take-offs from there were therefore particularly risky. At 1000 km race at Spa-Francorchamps in 1970 the rival Gulf-Porsche team-mates drove through Jo Siffert and Pedro Rodriguez with their Porsche 917 Eau Rouge side by side "in close contact ". In 1985, the German racing driver Stefan Bellof had a fatal accident on a concrete pillar after a collision during the 1000 km race . Today the curve is relatively well secured with guard rails, stacks of tires and asphalt run-off zones . Formula 1 racing drivers Alex Zanardi (1993) and Mika Salo (1998) survived violent accidents without injuries, as did the two BAR drivers Jacques Villeneuve and Ricardo Zonta in 1999 .
On August 31, 2019, Formula 2 driver Anthoine Hubert had a fatal accident at the exit of the Raidillon curve.
1997, as a public road that turns left in the depression (mandatory for trucks). In racing uphill direction was the possibility that elevating ( Raidillon to navigate)
In 1999 the guardrail on the inside was removed and the interior filled in
In 2001 the exit of the traditional downhill pit lane was extended to the inside, the outside area was now an asphalt run-off zone
2005, in the overview; By removing the old road and excavating the slope, the run-off zone was widened, especially at the upper end
Individual evidence
- ↑ German Topographic Map 5501 Bürnenville , edition 1893 ( Memento of 19 July 2011 at the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Formula 2 driver Hubert dies after an accident in Spa. In: n-tv.de. August 31, 2019, accessed August 31, 2019 .
Coordinates: 50 ° 26 ′ 31.5 ″ N , 5 ° 58 ′ 17.1 ″ E