The 2008 Spa Six Hours meeting is one which all the FF2000 drivers, and their supporters, will remember fondly for many years to come. Reasonably-priced testing was available on the Thursday preceding the meeting and most Spa virgins took advantage of the opportunity. They were treated to an almost deserted track, with no more than 12-15 cars out on the circuit. Spa is such a long circuit that they were all able to learn it in their own time, without having to constantly check their mirrors - none of the F2 cars had chosen to test. All the drivers emerged unscathed, with a mixture of respect mingled with huge enjoyment for what is one of the world’s finest circuits.

On Thursday evening, Dale Spuce’s family team, Steve Gardiner and Sue, together with your truly, joined Marcus Pye for a walk round the circuit. Iain chose to run it to show that last years back-breaking crash had not beaten him. The walk was very enjoyable, with the girls being amazed at the length and complexity of the circuit, and the stunning views from the top, just after Les Combes. Marcus gave us the benefit of his many years of experience driving at Spa, and we all returned to the paddock ready for a restorative drink, and something to eat!

Qualifying was early on Friday. The day dawned bright and clear, but very cold – a pattern that was to remain for the whole weekend. Once the sun had risen to a decent height, though, the whole area was bathed in warm sunshine, and the tree-covered hills surrounding the circuit stood out sharply against the cloudless blue sky.

FF2000 cars made up nearly a quarter of the field, justifying our own class in the HSCC Single Seater race. Former F3 hotshoe, Martin O’Connell was due to race Peter Meyrick’s Reynard, but a late change of plan saw Andy Meyrick (continuing to recover from the illness which curtailed his F3 season) in the car. He was right on the heels of pacesetter Neil Fowler, but sadly ended the session with suspected run bearings in his engine, and took no further part in the meeting. Neil Fowler had problems of his own, with the Oulton-winning Reynard deciding to pump all its oil out. His team replumbed the oil system, and there were many crossed fingers for the race.

A few seconds behind these two came Steve Gardiner, who had obviously taken to the circuit well on his first visit, and was driving neatly, and deceptively quickly. Iain was next up, his practice curtailed due to a cracked engine mount. Antony Raine continued to prove that an older car can run at the front, by lining up just 0.6s behind Spa-veteran Iain – a very impressive performance, as qualifying was the first time he had driven the circuit.

Peter Richards was next, followed by the second Team Fowler car – their Lola T580, driven by John Harrison. He was another driver who experienced the track for the first time in qualifying. Eric Hoult was thoroughly enjoying the experience in his familiar yellow Lola, and bringing up the rear was poor Jan Langdon, who only managed three laps in his Reynard.

So – it was an early start again for the first race of the meeting. Despite many of the drivers having not experienced a rolling start in a car before, all the FF2000’s managed to avoid the potential carnage at La Source on the first lap. As expected, Neil Fowler took the lead of our class, completing the first two laps in fifth overall, ahead of a number of F2 cars. Sadly, the oil system problems he suffered on Friday returned, and he retired on his fourth lap with a blown engine, along with Jan Langdon. Another to suffer problems was Steve Gardiner, who retired at the end of the first lap with a misfire.

This meant that Dale Spruce, who had driven a very strong first lap, took over the lead, albeit under intense pressure from Iain. Behind the Reynard/Delta battle, Antony Raine was steadily picking up places, to take third, a few seconds behind. Iain’s frantic efforts to get a good run at Dale resulted a couple of trips over the kerbs, which earned him a drive-through penalty. This robbed the spectators of a potentially thrilling climax to the class war, and gave Dale a 20s advantage at the end, and a thoroughly deserved win, and sixth overall.

Iain emerged just behind Antony, but was unable to repass and assume his second place thanks to a very determined show of tidy driving in the Merlyn. Peter Richards, John Harrison and Eric Hoult took up the next places, split by Lorraine Gathercole’s F2 Chevron. Eric, in particular, was buzzing about the circuit, dancing around like a little bald pixie after the race!

Saturday evening saw 23 drivers and supporters descend on Le Relais de Pommard in Francorchamps for a very enjoyable meal (despite a few problems when the restaurant had to adapt to a change from the original booking of 18).

Our second race had an afternoon start, and several people had taken the time to explore the local area during the morning, returning full of enthusiasm for the local towns and villages.

The second race saw a much cleaner start than the first, and Dale again flew off into a lead that grew to as much as five seconds at one point. Strangely, though, several people were unable to repeat their Saturday pace, including the leader, Dale - and he was later to be very grateful for his early advantage. The FF2000 cars were again having their own private race, with Iain, Peter Richards and Antony Raine enjoying a very close scrap. “Enjoying” might not be quite the right word in Antony’s case, as he was to suffer a pretty forceful chop from Iain in the heat of battle (for which Iain admitted to feeling very guilty about later).

The real star of the race was Steve Gardiner, though. Having started 35th on the grid, he was up to a stunning 20th at the end of the first lap. He continued to gain at least a place a lap, until he found himself right amongst the class leaders. It was at about this point that Peter suffered an engine blowup of F1 proportions, creating a number of ventilation holes in his block.

Steve’s progress was halted for a while by a dice with Iain, but he eventually found a way past, and set his sights on Dale. According to the lapchart, he did get past on the penultimate lap, but Dale got by again, and they entered the “Hamilton” chicane side by side. It all came down to a drag race to the line, and Dale just managed to hang on for the win, a mere 0.02s ahead, despite Steve’s superior acceleration. Half a second behind them came Iain, with Antony fourth, after dropping back in the closing stages.

Jan Langdon had a much better race to finish sixth, behind John Harrison, and doing a very respectable time in the process. Eric was another driver who struggled to match his pace of the previous day, and finished seventh.

For the second time of the weekend, Dale took the top step of the F1 podium, having wisely decided that Champagne is for drinking, not spraying! Antony and Iain had to be summoned from the paddock as they hadn't realised that the podium ceremony was going to be so grand!

All in all, it was a truly memorable weekend, where everything seemed to go right. It looks unlikely that the HSCC will promote a single seater race next year, so we will have to look elsewhere for our Spa fix.

Watch this space – we have a cunning plan!...