[KA]

Originally posted by verglas
This was a clever one..At Spa for one of the first GP's on the new circuit the timing beam was still sited by the old pits, at the bottom of the hill rather than by the new F1 pits. Keke Rosberg's Williams, in qualifying, overshot La Source hairpin and sailed up the road towards the circuit entrance, under the Stella Bridge. I was marshalling on the inside of La Source and was a bit perplexed because there did not seem to be a problem, he just overshot the corner big time. Suddenly he re-appeared going like a bat out of hell, and proceded to set the fastest time of the session, simply because he had fantastic speed through the beam at the start of the lap. No one else realised what was happening and he was the only person to try the scam....

I seem to remember a similar trick being used during qualifying at the Norisring sportscar races in Germany during the 80's to gain extra speed through the beam at the start of the lap