Finally ….. Back to Spa – photographing the Crowdstrike 24 Hours of Spa

Report by David Nairne

16 July 2023

Following my recent meet up with David Harbey and being invited to contribute a few images to his Silverstone British GT review, he kindly offered me the opportunity to put together an article from this year’s Crowdstrike 24 Hours of Spa.

The Spa 24 has always been my ‘go to’ event on the racing calendar – COVID, and a change of employer, unfortunately meant that I hadn’t been back since 2019. Early retirement now facilitated a return and a chance to experience the sights and sounds of, what is, a fantastic event and to see the changes (good and bad) that have been made to the Spa circuit.

Made the trip via Le Shuttle on the Tuesday before the event (just 12 cars on the late afternoon crossing !), driving down to Spa on Wednesday morning in time to catch the parade into Spa town centre in the evening. Many thousands of people turned out for a spectacular evening of noise and colour, with over 200 cars making the trip from the circuit to the town centre.

A challenging environment to shoot the cars, as getting a clear shot with limited intrusion of people, is not easy. Even so, I came away with a few decent images as people wandered off into the surrounding bars awaiting the cars return to the circuit.

I used a combination of my recently acquired Nikon D500 with 24-120 f4 and then when, the light started to fade, reverted to my trusty D3s, which despite its age still performs very well in low light, enabling some quite high ISOs to be used - even up to 10000 if needed.

On to Thursday morning for Free Practice 1.

We decided on parking at the top of the circuit at Les Combes to accessBruxelles, Pouhon and as recommended by David, the inside of Les Combes - a place that I had not ventured to before. Many varied locations to shoot from, including fence free at Bruxelles with some possibilities of low shutter speed work; specific holes in the fence on the walk down the hill; over the fence from high up on the banking at Pouhon and then through the fence at Les Combes where lightning reactions are required.

I mainly used the D500 with my 200-400 f4 which, despite it’s near 20 years of age, is still pin sharp.

For afternoon Pre Qualifying, decided on the new grandstand at Raidillon. For those that have yet to experience this superb facility, be warned ….. if you, or anyone with you, do not enjoy heights, this can be a somewhat scary experience as the whole stand is completely open and without any handrails or seat backs.

This undoubtedly aids viewing but if you suffer from vertigo, it is not the most enjoyable experience! I was fine, but my wife, Chris, really did not enjoy the experience in the slightest!

Managed a few images from the lower left-hand side of the stand and from some of the old holes in the fence as you climb the hill, again, using the D500 and a combination of 200-400 and my recently acquired 200-500 f5.6 (thanks DH - it is so much lighter than the 200-400!).

Retired disgracefully to Bar Resto, up above the F1 pit lane, for some well-earned sustenance and to watch for the impending change in the weather that had been forecast for most of the day. For those that have not used Bar Resto, I really cannot recommend it enough. For 30 Euros, you get an excellent, well-cooked meal with a fair bit of choice and a couple of drinks, as well as somewhere to rest. (Bar Resto highlighted below;  you see, it’s not just photography tips on PistonClick ! DH)

The heavy rain duly arrived just after Q1 had started, causing the grid to be turned upside down as Q1 generally has just the bronze graded drivers of teams with four drivers per car - hence very few of the Pro teams making the super pole shootout on Friday.

Decided at this point that there was little point venturing out in what turned into a torrential downpour and returned to our apartment to dry out. We decided to miss out on the track action on Friday and spent the day looking around Spa centre which, in comparison to previous years, seems pleased with itself, with many buildings being renovated and the whole place giving off a good atmosphere. Then met up with David and Madeline for a rather excellent dinner in Malmedy. Then, to race day …

At this point, we became aware of the very sad events of the morning, where Formula Regional European Championship driver, Dilano van’t Hoff passed away following a huge crash at the start of the Kemmel straight. This is the first time that I have been at a race meeting where this has happened - it certainly makes you stop, think and reflect - a minutes silence was respectfully held prior to the start of the main race. David took a few shots of the support races from the new Endurance grandstand.

Unfortunately, the rain meant we were denied the spectacle of 71 cars hurtling into Eau Rouge, as the race was started under safety car but after a few laps things got underway.

To avoid concerns about the grandstand mentioned above, we decided to stay at lower level to the right-hand side where we had an excellent view of the build up and start - not so good for images, but somewhat less intimidating than the high up seating at the other end. Managed some lower speed panning shots, a few different angles of the cars heading up Raidillon and the Mercedes sparking through Eau Rouge as they ground out on the skid plates. Again, the longer telephoto lenses are required from here now as you are some way from the track.

Then dropped down to the bottom of Eau Rouge for the obligatory rear-on shots of the drivers attacking the climb up to Raidillon. Again, D500 and 200-400 used in the main along with the 200-500 to give a little extra reach. Here, I found one of the slight limitations of the 200-500 - the speed of focussing being slightly slower than the 200-400 (which you would expect given the difference in value), with the older pro lens fixing focus quicker and more often when the cars were going away from us than the newer lens. Interesting comparison though. 

Then we wandered over to The Bus Stop for some shots through and over the fence using that ‘Golden Hour’ early evening light now that the rain, that had been threatened, didn’t materialise.

After another trip to a packed Bar Resto, we went back to the Bus Stop as darkness fell and used some holes in the fence in front of two grandstands that have been erected for the upcoming F1 race.

Great spot to watch the cars at very close quarters - my wife at this point decided to just sit and watch, whilst I moved around and she commented later how you could see the pro drivers absolutely attacking the first kerb into the Bus Stop to slow down. This launching the car towards the second part of the chicane without any braking at all, whilst others not having the confidence to do this were dabbing the brakes between the two parts of the corner.

Following this I went to the inside of La Source for the last shots of the day using the lights from following cars to illuminate the cars as they accelerated out of the corner. I have always particularly enjoyed ‘available light’ photography – how I would have liked to have a D3s all those years ago when I was taking images of rock bands at various gigs !

Over the course of the day, the ever-changing light conditions made shooting a bit of a challenge -a number of times the heavens threatened to open but we stayed dry after the start of the race. All in all, a pretty good day overall.

On to Sunday. After a pretty tiring day on Saturday, we had a lazy trip back to the circuit, arriving around 9.00am. Headed for the Fagnes area of the circuit, parking at inside the circuit at Karting. In the past have always parked outside the circuit and walked in but found that, this year, you could drive through the tunnel under the track and park up right next to the action. 

Unfortunately, they have closed off the path that goes down the side of the kart track, which makes taking any shots from the inside of Curve Paul Frere extremely difficult as the fence there is at such an oblique angle that all images look somewhat soft. They also prevented access this year to the bank on the outside of the corner, where you used to be able to watch the cars exit Fagnes and also walk down to the inside of Pouhon- a shame as this was an excellent, fence free, area to shoot from.

We then walked from Fagnes to the outside of Pouhon taking advantage of the photo holes in the fence where possible and shooting some through the fence as well. Used both D500 and D3s for a few low-speed panning shots.

Finally, decided to return to the top of the circuit to try to get some better images from the inside of Les Combes, as I felt that I had not experimented enough with slower shutter speeds there on Thursday. Some strategically placed logs had been put along the fence line that allowed shooting over the top of the fence which helped immensely.

Overall, an excellent weekend at probably the best circuit in Europe.   Next year’s accommodation is booked already !

Footnote – thanks to Dave for his report and images of what has been described as the biggest and best GT race in the world – we wouldn’t argue with that ! We look forward to seeing more of his work on PistonClick. Chris might not have liked the Raidillon grandstand; however, she also takes photos – here’s a dramatic shot of the helicopter. Dave says he was looking in the opposite direction at the time !   DH

To conclude, here’s a shot of the winning team – Eng, Wittman, Yellowly – ROWE Racing BMW M4