TWFC Spa Report

31 cars lined up for what promised to be an action packed pair of races at the slip streaming paradise of the 1967 Spa Franchorchamps circuit. Christopher Snow lined up a superb pole ahead of the equally impressive Ralph Maiph who had got his Cooper perfectly suited to this high speed circuit.

Due to the length of the circuit and risk of collisions off the start it was decided to do a rolling start with the race starting at Les Combes on lap one. Unfortunately several drivers misunderstood the instructions, others got away erratically and in seconds there was a huge pileup in exactly the same spot that David Coultard caused one in torrential rain.

Fulvio was the big loser, ending up having to start the sprint from the back of the field while Frenchman, Benoit Hocq seemed to completely ignore the instructions and by Les Combes was already up to 10th from 23rd. His race wouldn't last much longer as a spin at Masta Kink ended his race. By that time Larry Thomas, Jos Swarthoff were both out and Baz West also retired after contacting Hocq's stranded car.

That wasn't the end of the carnage, before the end of lap 2 10 cars were lying scattered around the track missing parts or stranded in the undergrowth.

Up front the carnage helped Snow build up a lead but behind Simon Baggett and Jef Vannijlen were both embroiled in a battle that saw them swap places on nearly every lap. Just behind them Ralph was trying to recover from a poor start but found himself embroiled in a ferocious battle with Deutsch and Mario.

Those who had managed to keep on the track in contact with other drivers seemingly enjoyed huge battles for position with drafting possible around much of the circuit.

Ultimately Snow won from Baggett and Jef. 13 drivers failed to finish of whom onto 2 completed enough laps to score points.

The feature race got away much more cleanly, although not totally clean, with four drivers failing to make two laps. By half distance a further 7 drivers had retired with no points but out front Ralph was making up for his race one disapointment.

Ralph, Mario and Snow were  enjoying a huge battle with the three of them swapping positions on every single lap before Snow retired on lap three. His retirement didnt' effect the lead two as the cars behind failed to put any pressure on the intense lead battle.

Deutsch held third but retired after only a couple of laps letting Nigel through but he was unable to close in on the lead battle. Behind Swarthoff moved into fourth, but retired letting Baggett into the position ahead of Martin Cooper.

For many of the drivers now it seemed survival was the important element but not for the lead two, the continued to swap places until on lap 11 of 13 Ralph finally got a bit of breathing room. He lead for the last two laps to register a well deserved win ahead of an excellent drive from Mario. 

Nigel Metcalf, Simon Baggett and Fulvio all managed solid drives to fill out the positions behind have a race meeting that many drivers would rather forget.