24 Hours of Business-Francorchamps in Touring mode: 1981 (Mazda)

In 1981, when I was only 6 years old, my parents had the brilliant idea of ​​taking me to the 24 Hours of Trade-Francorchamps.

I can also tell you that I fell directly under the spell of this unique event. The icing on the cake, for my baptism of fire, I was first treated to the victory of a car with a rotary engine, in this case a Mazda RX7, skillfully driven by a great driver – British producer Tom Walkinshaw. and the best Belgian experimental journalist Pierre Dieudonné.

The period 1982-1988 was historic as it coincided with the golden age of touring cars. The latter is governed by Gr.A rules and divided into three divisions: Division 1 for those under 1600 cc, Division 2 for vehicles with a cylinder capacity between 1600 and 2500 cc and Division 3 for those over 2500 cc , or discipline tenors.

At that time, although the cars were of a completely different design, there was no BOP, no stopping time allowed in the pits, no mandatory technical stops and so on…

Everything was very simple and played on meritocracy. Although the cars were close to the series and the regulations were very strict, the producers still had the opportunity to make a difference. Many of them are just as famous, or even more so, than their drivers. We are especially thinking of the aforementioned Tom Walkinshaw (TWR), as great in the Belgian Ardennes as in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, of the Malinois Julien Mampaey (Friday), whose son Bart will ably take his place in collecting titles with Andy. Priaulx in the new edition of the ETCC then WTCC racing era, Charly Lamm, logo manager of the BMW Schnitzer Team, Swiss Rudi Eggenberger who, in turn, built BMWs, Volvos then Ford Sierras and even Luigi to shine Cimarosti. , the witch of Comblain-au-Pont. Finally, after winning the 24 Hours on various occasions in the seventies and the prestigious BMW 3.0 CSL, he distinguished himself by toying with brutal but unfortunately unreliable Chevrolet Camaros before making the Alfa Romeo GTV6 shine, in Division 2, in the eighties.

Moreover, we were far from the bling-bling that we know today. There is no parquet floor in the boxes, no plasma screens and all that stuff! It is very simple, the mechanics of the Schnitzer clan practiced, at the beginning of this golden period, their expertise in shorts (like Charly Lamm!) and shoes, which did not prevent them from being very professional as this is confirmed by the victory. he won in 1985, 1986 and 1988.

If, in all these years, the gaps were not counted in seconds but in laps, that did not prevent the two-hour tour of the Ardennes from being very exciting to follow and full of many twists and turns.

Gr.A without castration and BOP, all (or almost) produced the most interesting track. Anyone who has had the chance, the opportunity, to see Jaguar XJS, Rover Vitesse, Holden Commodore, BMW 635 CSI and then the iconic M3 E30 arrive will not tell you otherwise!

On the other hand, if, these days, many see that the “tourist” offers were compared to the race of waiting, and the economy, I can assure you that personally, it was nothing of the kind! Quite the opposite!

The great Hans-Joachim Stuck, to name just one, is not the type to take his foot off the gas, especially on the legendary Eau Rouge slope. All his passages with 635 CSI / Schnitzer, in 1984, moreover in the rain, could not be more enjoyable.

At that time, a large number of F1 drivers such as Gerhard Berger, Thierry Boutsen, Emanuele Pirro, Marc Surer, Philippe Streiff or young, sharp guns like Olivier Grouillard or Joachim Winkelhock came to join the party and they were not funny. land! Besides that!

The party that was going on in the whole circuit, where it was still possible to do a full tour from outside the Rivage (now called “Brussels” and I wonder why!) to the Bus-Stop passing through the interesting area and oh so the quick part of Blanchimont where we were almost so much with cars, and what more without a fence to spoil our views. Thrills are guaranteed! About the ears were screaming! But how beautiful it was! No need to tell you that the song limit was not there…

On the other hand, refreshment bars (often local) existed from one end of the circuit to the other while the shopping center was full of food stalls where you could eat sometimes a plate of pasta, sometimes a good piece of beef or more. molds for more than a democratic price!