Trash Talk: Belgian Grand Prix A Trip To The Spa

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Well, as Rosalind helpfully pointed out on the Gone Fishing thread, I am a bit of a late tease with the Trash Talk thread this weekend. Sorry about that,things got a bit catawampus yesterday. Today is my daughter Jenna’s sweet sixteen birthday (scary!!), but somehow the big party got shifted to Saturday. This entailed taking her and a pack of friends to the waterpark. Couple of things notable here: The place is HUGE; it is like Disneyland with water. Second, and here is part of the rub on trash timing, it is literally like halfway to Flagstaff.

Anyway, once back from dropping them off, which was almost an hour drive each way, there were party preparations cake pickups etc. and then my wife picked the girls up and we had a pack of screaming 16 year olds. All very distressing and tiring. But, having survived all that and fallen asleep,I am now up for the Belgian Grand Prix and ready to trash.

This weekend is the Belgian and it is at the historic Spa, simply maybe the most kicks ass track on the Circus tour, featuring the famous Eau Rouge turn. Read about Eau Rouge and the history of Spa at the wiki entry, it is a good read, and you will be glad you did.

AS the Belgian was a key contest in 1961, we will take the customary look back in this the 50th anniversary of Phil Hill’s Yankee Championship year. We have a killer video clip on the 1961 Belgian, just superb. 1961 found the Ferraris dominant in qualifying at Spa. Phil took pole in qualifying, with Von Tripps in P2, Olivier Gendedien P3 and fellow American Ritchie Ginther in P5 in the fourth Ferrari. The race was hotly contested with numerous lead changes, but at the end of the day it was still the Ferraris leading the pack with Phil winning the race, followed closely by Von Tripps, Ginther and Gendebien.

This year, the Red Bulls have again led the way in qualifying with points leader Sebastian Vettel claiming pole and Mark Webber in P3 split by Lewis Hamilton in P2. It weas one of the most electrifying qualifying sessions in recent memory, and certainly the best this year by far. Wow, just wow. There was both wet early and dry late, which caused all the teams to have cars on track every second they could. It literally came down to the last seconds and was influenced by a fairly questionable move on the Williams of Pedro Maldonado by the ever more dickish driving of Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton is really not aging well from the humble and nice young man when he first joined the tour.

There is, of course also football in the air, even if it is still preseason. Last night the Cardinals looked pretty good, but then their scrubs let the Bolts’ scrubs score a TD in the last five seconds to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. The other notable game saw the resurgent Lions really do a number on the Patriots. Man, you can just see the confidence growing in the Kitties, this is truly a team to be reckoned with now, and I think it will carry over into the regular season.

So, trash it up folks!

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29 replies
  1. joberly says:

    @Bmaz–about the Lions-Pats game. Yes, the saying in Detroit is “the roar is restored.” The MC Kitties don’t play GB for the first game until Thanksgiving. Could be a nice fragrance that day: turkey roasting in the oven; Packers be roasted at the Litterbox…And then there is the Week 17 rematch at Lambeau on Jan. 1st.

  3. bmaz says:

    Well, the race was nowhere near as thrilling as qualifying was, but Vettel and Webber had the Red Bulls finishing first and second, followed by Alonso and Button. The weather was shockingly perfect, a shame in a way as a little wet would have made for a far more interesting race. Good lord did the Spa circuit just look beautiful today, the green hillsides simply gleamed.

  4. rosalind says:

    Sweet 16? OK, you’re excused. Congrats to bmaz-ette! (and safe driving).

    “Senna” Doc Watch: the movie is adding theatres every weekend through October, so check out the doc’s facebook page to see if it is coming to a screen near you.

    http://www.facebook.com/sennamovie

  6. jo6pac says:

    @bmaz:

    I’ll hope the DVR did it’s job, I had to be outside when it got light to do something. I caught P2 in the rain but yes I love the green hills of Spa. Thanks for posting the 61 race I’ll watch both when it to hot to be outside this afternoon. Back outside for now.

  7. Norman Reuter says:

    Bmaz, Thanks for the 1961 Grand Prix Clip. I was a long time fan of Phil hill and had the good fortune to watch him race at
    Pebble Beach and Sebring.

  8. bmaz says:

    @Norman Reuter: Norman, welcome to Emptywheel, do not recall seing your name before. I hope you stick around, it is a good group here.

    Phil was a friend, however due to age differences and not meeting him until 1968 or so when he retired, I never saw him race in anything live except the Monterey Historics at Laguna Seca, and in another historic in Palm Springs.

  9. scribe says:

    Nice to see the Patsies getting their butts handed to them.

    Always nice.

    I’ve been through Spa, well over 25 yrs ago, and it’s as pretty off the track as on. A nice corner of the world.

  11. JohnT says:

    @joberly:

    The Kitties are gonna make a jump this year. I don’t think they’ll beat out the Pack as Norris Division Champs, but they’ll be right there with Da Bears.

    And, sadly, from the ‘you could see this coming from a mile a way’ file, the Vikings will be lucky to be 8-8 with a last place finish (very, very, very average o-line and d-backfield)

  15. jo6pac says:

    Oh well the dish people are having a melt down so the race wasn’t record and they’re still down. I wonder if I can deduct the down time from my bill?

    Thanks JohnT I’ll check into it

    I got to see Phil race when drove for Jim Hall and then again at Candlestick parking race he was driving 427 Cobra and Don Webster drove him crazy in his 904. This was sad track and the race was never held again. ONeil died on Sat and a friend of the family Bart Martin on Sunday. My neighbor Eugene Smith did 4 endos and crushed his Alf GTZ but walked away. Ugly

    Thanks for the 61 clip bmaz

  19. jo6pac says:

    @rosalind:

    Thanks, this shot is when the cars are leaving the infield out to the road around the stick; the bumps were so big the faster cars would become airborne. At 2:02 and 3:29 is Phil in the Cobra and Don Webster in the 904. This Cobra was owned by SC Ford then sold to a private person and it set on Jackson St. in Hayward, Calif. with for sale sign on for about 3 months, just another washed up race car at that time. I look into buying it but the insurance was too much, should bought it and put in a barn and forgot about, nothing like hind sight.
    I tried to find a clip of Steve McQueen at Cotati, Calif. but nothing. He was fun to talk to at the races if didn’t know what he did for living he was just another person out having a good time, very approachable.
    Thanks a lot for the memories:)

    The tv provider is providing again, catch Spa tomorrow

  20. bmaz says:

    @jo6pac:

    McQueen. Wow. The guy was as smoothly cool and genuine in person as he appeared on film and to the public. A fucking great guy; seriously.

    As a little story, I knew Phil Hill through my mother’s best friend, and a woman I had known since before I can remember, which is about age 5-6. Alma met Phil at some kind of event in maybe 66-67 or so, they fell in love and got married. Although I had met Phil a couple of times in Phoenix, the first real substantial time I spent alone with him was probably in the summer of 72 when I went over to Santa Monica to stay with them for a couple of weeks. This was late June to early July territory, and my 16th birthday was in mid-August; so I had my learners permit. I was not a driving rookie, as i grew up in an auto intensive family, learned to drive very early (had my first accident at age 14) and grew up racing motocross.

    Any way, they picked me up at LAX, we went home had some lunch and Phil said “Hey, come on with me, I gotta go check on a car”. So we drove from Santa Monica somewhere the other side of Venice and landed at this dude’s house/workshop. Pinstripe artist. Did all pinstriping in lacquer paint, by hand, with an arrow tipped brush. Fucking astounding. I watched it live in person or would not believe it.

    Turns out little did I know, we were there to pick up McQueen’s car, a 34 Flathead Ford Rodster. Jesus Fucking H. Christ; Phil asked me which one I wanted to drive back. I think he was joking; but, you know, he never would confirm. Understand, I was no rookie maybe, but was not yet 16 and my experience was in the satellite communities and dirt roads on the outskirts of Phoenix. This was fucking Los Angeles.

    So, some semblance of rationality prevailed, and I drove the Mercedes 300 SEL 6.3 home following Phil in McQueen’s Flathead. You really do not want to know how many speed limits and traffic laws were violated on the way back. By all rights I should have been dead back then.

  23. jo6pac says:

    That’s great, I use to watch Hal Jensen of Niles, Calif. strip for hours on my helment and then wipe it off because he didn’t like it and start again. I owned a Montesa La Cross and a Bultaco 200cc Serpa great fun the people I was allowed to ride with were AMA flat trackers.

    WOW a 6.3 I looked at one but didn’t buy I would like to have one today.

    Time for wine and start the BBQ, talk with you again

  24. bmaz says:

    @jo6pac:

    Oh, oh, oh, come on back here!! I had, at different times, both a Bultaco Alpina and Matador. Both awesome, but not exactly right for what I was doing. Also had a Husky 400. (Both Husky and Bultaco had shifter and brake on wrong side for my already set in my ways style). Still, not that I was worth a fuck, my favorite, and only halfway factory/dealership subsidized, ride was a Yamaha 250.

  25. Norman Reuter says:

    Bmaz, Thanks for the invite to stick around. I am a long time lurker here and at FDL. I am in awe of the great commentary at both places. I never miss a day of reading. I have commented once or twice as northdome at FDL.

    At Pebble Phil drove a 2.9 V-12 Ferrari. Watching and hearing him operate that machine on that narrow twisty course was a thrill of a life time for me. Age 18 or 19. His main competition a powerful Cadillac Allard.

    Thanks for the info on your connection with Phil.

  26. bmaz says:

    @Norman Reuter:

    Well, that is kind of the deal isn’t it? It used to be so much easier to see the driver, working the wheel, hear him clutching and double-clutching, see the braking etc.

    The technology today is simply fabulous; but it, and the spectators from it, seem so far removed now. The excitement is there same as always, maybe even more so; but the in your gut, visceral embodiment, of the man versus laws of physics enterprise does seem more isolated and removed than once was.

    Just looking at the shirt sleeves and soup bowl helmets the absolute best drivers in the world used to wear is spine tingling. I do not think it was lost on them; indeed, my discussions with many of them guarantees, that they were putting their lives on the line every time they climbed in a car for a race or practice. As high tech as it is now, that is simply no longer as much the case as it used to be. Not to discount the danger of the modern circus one iota; just saying.

  27. Bay State Librul says:

    @scribe:

    What did Billy say after the game?

    Five Top Bill Belichick Quotes:

    1) “I thought they might have left their game plan on the bench.”
    –Bill Belichick, on mistakenly walking towards the Eagles bench during the 2005 Super Bowl

    2) “On a football team, it’s not the strength of the individual players, but it is the strength of the unit and how they all function.”
    –Bill Belichick

    3) “Bill Belichick looks as comfortable on the pre-game set as a turkey the night before Thanksgiving.”
    –Norm Chad, on Belichick during some pre-game analysis for Super Bowl 40

    4) “When you get wet, it usually means something good.”
    –Bill Belichick, on how he feels about Gatorade showers

    5) “You don’t beat a Bill Belichick coached team by tiptoeing in there.”
    –Rex Ryan

  28. jo6pac says:

    @bmaz:

    Long day today, I left the dirt for 42nd Honda 750 shipped into the US. I was the first one to put the chain through the cases. Honda did the repair for free.

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