Spa GP, Belgium 2024

29/07/2024

I haven't been into F1 for that long; only a couple of years. These guys are experts and they know the corner names on tracks without Googling it or looking at signposts. Spa is one of my favourite track-tracks, so going here was cool as heck, but for a couple of them it was an emotional experience and that was great to share.

I don't hang out with groups of people that much as I mostly don't like who I am in groups, and I think groups tend to share that opinion, but we spent just over three days laughing and talking crap and watching racing and it felt so good. I talk way too much and I try to make people laugh too much and I make stupid jokes that don't work and I didn't spend one moment of this weekend feeling ashamed or embarrassed because we were all just messing around. It was so strange to be myself in a group I don't know that well in real life, and not hate myself afterwards because that pretty much happens every other time.

Some things I would recommend if you're going to Spa on a bronze ticket:

Know where you're camping before you leave. Some of the sites are so fiddly to find
Bring a folding chair (don't bring a complex chair and then put it up in front of 50,000 people. I did this and people cheered when I sat down. It was really embarrassing and funny)
Bring a small shovel to dig out the hill so you can sit flat on your chair
They used an alt currency this year. If you hate those like I do, bring plenty of food and drink
Bring a waterproof poncho. Not a coat. Being able to put your arms inside means no/less pruney fingers
Add your tickets to the app
Get your seats early. Think you're too early? You're not. We arrived at the track at 8am on race day and it was already packed. I think 6:30am is the most sensible. We still had a great view but we got very lucky that there was space around a group we got talking to during the very rainy qualifiers
Bring a way to wash your hands

I loved this experience so much. Obviously it was as much to do with the people I went with, but the atmosphere at the race was so positive, and the sound and smell and just experience of it all was unforgettable.

Baby's first channel tunnel crossing

And first hypermarket visit. I would move to France for this.

The professional camping setup, to which I contributed nothing.

The Porsche GT3 racing was a nice surprise. Would definitely watch this - these guys are lunatics.

Raidillon de l'eau rouge is so much steeper in real life.

We wandered around within the track. Not much to see.

Looks like you're allowed to run the track if you work here. I want to rollerblade it.

It hammered it down on Saturday which was pretty miserable.

My stupid coat failed hard.

Got some fun aero spray pics though.

Most shots all weekend looked like this. Tracking cars at 170+mph is not that easy.

I love this Formula 3 livery.

Formula 2 would be fun as well, if they could keep the cars on the track.

I didn't get a lot of keepers from the race as I was watching and it's difficult and there was a lot of heads obstructing my shot, but I really wanted to get a couple. Especially a decent one of Lewis.

This isn't Lewis, obviously; it's Logan.