FEATURE
SPEED IN GRAND PRIX RACING
P66
bus-stop chicane, where the
guardrail hugged the edge of the
track.
It was a matter of knowing
where to leave a margin.
Mamola: "It was fifth gear,
at least, and the guardrail was
right there. Every time you went
in there you thought: 'I know I
could go faster.' And when you
did, you knew the danger. You
didn't want nothing to happen
there, but it was also one of
those corners that made you a
"At Spa there were a lot of
very high-speed turns… some
were full gas, some not quite.
But fifth or six gear… if you
wanted to make a good lap time
you had to take your chance
there, because it made far more
difference than trying to go
fast in smaller corners, like La
Source. Especially on the way
up from the bottom of the track.
You had some fast curves there
and you carried your high speed
for a long time, and gained a lot
of seconds.
"It's difficult to find the limit.
Are we really going to the real
limit when we know that if you
make a small mistake, it's fin-
ished? Some riders did crash
in these corners by trying too
hard."
Shortening the track reduced
the number of lethal corners,
but not the severity of those
that remained. Most feared was
Blanchimont, the almost flat-out
pair of left-handers before the
