The Racing Line at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps

Home to the Belgian Grand Prix, Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps is a track with a storied racing history. The gargantuan 15 km original layout, dating back to 1920, has since shrunk down to the modern 4.35 mile circuit. In the process, it's become one of the most beloved tracks around the world. Beautifully constructed, challenging, vast, and unique, Spa-Francorchamps represents just about everything that a motorsport circuit should be. Too bad us Yanks have to cross the Atlantic to get to it!

The Chicane is a brutal right-left uphill pair of corners that seems to leave most drivers scratching their heads. It sets everybody up for Turn 1, where the most common mistake is trying to be too daring with brakes and missing the apex. This is doubly bad beause it saps exit speed on the straight between Turns 1 and 3, which consequently throws your timing off for Eau Rouge, which is the most thrilling and arguably most important combination of corners on the track. Many drivers end up taking poor lines here, and you can take advantage of the passing opportunities that result on the seemingly infinite Kemmel Straight.

I won't claim to know the secret to nailing Eau Rouge, but Al gives a couple pointers which could be pretty helpful. First, it's not necessary to be all the way to the far right before entering Turn 3. It's a gradual turn in from 10-20 feet off of the right wall. The second rule of thumb is that if you find yourself being forced to use the right-hand curbing at the Turn 5 exit, you're carrying too much speed through Turn 4, or gassing it too early and running wide, or some combination. An exception may be the modern literbike, which requires more room exiting Turn 5 as it puts the big power down at high lean.

Les Combes doesn't require too much special attention, but most vehicles should avoid driving back to the left too much between Turns 8 and 9. After that is Bruxelles, where Al recommends a double apex, but most drivers enter wide and take a single apex. Don't exit Turn 10 too wide, because Turn 11 comes up quickly and requires setting up on the far right.

Pouhon is an extremely tough corner, requiring high speed and a precise touch in order to make full use of the track. All vehicles can hit the first apex slightly early in order to get far enough to the outside before closing in on the final apex.

From this point on, the line is pretty predictable, with all vehicles following a nearly identical path. Snake your way through Campus, stay clean through Stavelot, and then head into the very fast back section. If you're in a Miata with good tires, you can be full throttle from the apex of 15 all the way up to the braking zone for Turn 19. That's right, you get to blast through Turn 18 Formula One style with the pedal to the metal. Everybody else has to brake, though. Speaking of 18, the track is shaped such that you should clip a very late apex. That leads us back to the Chicane - don't try to do too much, or you'll get passed on the straight leading back to Turn 1.