Bell's Banter 2021

[John Elwin]

Originally Posted by terence

Gerard and others,many thanks for your concern.Yes,we are all fine,thankfully we are a fair way higher than the affected villages.
So many dead and overv1300 missing its a very saddening situation.
We have seen some extremely heavy rainfall,the road became a torrent for many hours.
I was over at Spa from Wednesday lunchtime,2hr journey through this deluge instead of the hour and five mins.
Spa?roads washed away,tons of rubble and rocks on nearly all of the outside roads around the circuit.
I stayed in the La Source for the night and had to wade through the road river to get to the front door!
Thursdays weather was still raining hard,when trying to gain access to the RSR facility at Blanchimont,there was a road collapse just outside of Masta,so turned back to the main entrance in the hope of getting in via a service road.As luck would have it there was a guy waiting at the gate with his road sweeping tractor.Waited for around fifteen mins the got the call "Terry,go back to Nurburg cos the track day(fully booked) ain't gonna happen."
That was at ten past eight,I got back home at a quarter past twelve having tried various diversions leading to the next one.
A very humbling drive back seeing the devastion caused.
It's just xxxxing horrible!

Good to know you are OK, Terence. As you say, it is horrible.

Do you know if Duren was hit? I have emailed someone I know there but have had no reply.

[S griffin]

I am sending my best wishes to the people who live round there, it's not nice. Waiting to hear more news. Just have to keep our fingers crossed

[John Elwin]

Terence,

I see that the Nurburgring appears to be acting as a collection centre for clothes etc, but do you know if there is any sort of a fund where donations can be sent?

[midgetman]

This from the Ring web site

https://nuerburgring.de/info/service/fluthilfe



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[John Elwin]

Originally Posted by midgetman

This from the Ring web site

https://nuerburgring.de/info/service/fluthilfe



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Thank you, Max.

[S griffin]

That's a very nice gesture on the Ring's part

[terence]

Originally Posted by John Elwin

Thank you, Max.

Yes,thank you Max.Didnt have time to check in,Was helping a friend over in Liege.That was

hit as well.His property backs onto a river. That rose 7mtrs,lots of houses affected. but nothing like several villages in the Eifel,that have all but disappeared. Very grim scenes .
The whole Nurburgring paddock is home to approximately 200 ambulances,100 fire appliances,Army trucks ,heavey lifting gear,anything you could think of is here.
Fantastic response from local companies donating plus also the fantastic work by the people from near and far.

[Samoan Attorney]

Please excuse me for sticking my oar in. I received the following from a Belgian friend today. It illustrates that Spa also suffered in the catastrophe.

The worst is now over, but the damage is indeed enormous. We currently have 31 casualties in Belgium and still 137 people missing.

The Spa region is very badly hit, but I'm not aware of any structural damages to the track and its facilities.

Those coming over for the 24h race better check what the status of their hotels is. The city centre of Spa was completely flooded, so I expect some damage to the hotels there, too.

What a dreadful affair.

[Gerard C]

Talking about chaos here: https://www.sudinfo.be/id405471/arti...a-jamais-vu-ca
https://www.lefigaro.fr/actualite-fr...meuse-20210714
The weather forecast for the coming days is not encouraging though. Terrible.

[midgetman]

Wow. Terrible, truly terrible. I'm so glad I don't live near a big River or in the shadow of a hill.

Also, I didn't realise residents of Spa are called "Spadois." Seems like a term we need to remember!



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[terence]

Originally Posted by Samoan Attorney

Please excuse me for sticking my oar in. I received the following from a Belgian friend today. It illustrates that Spa also suffered in the catastrophe.

The worst is now over, but the damage is indeed enormous. We currently have 31 casualties in Belgium and still 137 people missing.

The Spa region is very badly hit, but I'm not aware of any structural damages to the track and its facilities.

Those coming over for the 24h race better check what the status of their hotels is. The city centre of Spa was completely flooded, so I expect some damage to the hotels there, too.

What a dreadful affair.

No excuses needed.Although the circuit itself generally escaped damage,the Blanchimont road,just before the bridge collapsed because of water erosion.I spent Wed afternoon and night in Francorchamps hoping for a good track day Thursday.Obviously as always,the usual tunnel was flooded to its roof.
The road just out of Masta had subsided half way across leaving six trucks stuck there,so it was no getting to the RSR Blanchimont building.
Half eight I heading home to the Nordschleife.
Various diversions turned my usual hour and ten minute journey into over 3 and a half hours.Sights I witnessed near Gerolstein I hope I never see again.Very very grim.!!!
Current figures are 152 dead and over 1300 missing in this area.

[midgetman]

I think this answers the unasked questions, I hope the quality is good enough to read but basically Spa race track is closed until further notice.

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[terence]

Wed evenin there were rivers of water and stones flowing in several areas,the drop down to Burnenville to Masta Kink.
Thursday morning I decided to head home,chose the Francorchamps route to E42,the water coming down the road at the junction out of Francorchamps was enough to float railway sleepers down to the junction!

[John Elwin]

Originally Posted by terence

Wed evenin there were rivers of water and stones flowing in several areas,the drop down to Burnenville to Masta Kink.
Thursday morning I decided to head home,chose the Francorchamps route to E42,the water coming down the road at the junction out of Francorchamps was enough to float railway sleepers down to the junction!

Must have thought you were back in the Fens!

[Samoan Attorney]

From Spa's website, post dated 15/07/2021

Following exceptional floods that have been affecting Belgium for several days and which worsened considerably in the area of the Circuit of Spa-Francorchamps last night, damages have been reported, essentially to the related infrastructures of the Circuit.

In particular, the Blanchimont road, giving access to the paddocks, has partially collapsed and the Ster and Blanchimont tunnels are impassable.

The track itself has not been impacted but its bordering areas do not allow us to ensure that the trackday planned today can go ahead in the safe conditions necessary for motorsport activities: trees are in danger of falling, safety fences need to be replaced and the digital infrastructure for track safety has to be restored to operating conditions. It has been decided, in agreement with its client of the day, to interrupt the Circuit’s activities this Thursday in order to ensure everyone's safety and to repair the impacted infrastructure and facilities as quickly as possibly. In addition, the support services of the Province have asked to be free to offer their assistance and emergency services to the general population.

The teams of the Circuit of Spa-Francorchamps are already at work in order to be able to resume activities from this weekend, and to restore all the safety conditions required for the Circuit’s customers.

The Circuit of Spa-Francorchamps also needs to bring its support to all the people heavily affected by these historic floods.

[S griffin]

Jeez, that does not look good. Really hope they can clear that up before we get the Grand Prix there, although I feel sure they can. Hopefully it's just a minor inconvenience for them. At least the circuit is in one piece. Just need to make sure the safety facilities are put back together. Just means a few track days can't go ahead, but then that isn't so important let's be honest

Best of luck to the staff there, they do do a good job there usually. And of course others have got it worse, like they point out at the end of their statement

[Samoan Attorney]

Originally Posted by S griffin

Jeez, that does not look good. Really hope they can clear that up before we get the Grand Prix there, although I feel sure they can. Hopefully it's just a minor inconvenience for them. At least the circuit is in one piece. Just need to make sure the safety facilities are put back together. Just means a few track days can't go ahead, but then that isn't so important let's be honest

Best of luck to the staff there, they do do a good job there usually. And of course others have got it worse, like they point out at the end of their statement

SRO are there for the next couple of weeks, British and French GT this weekend, the Spa 24 (way more important than eff-one) next week. The word from the great man is that everything will go ahead as planned.

[John Elwin]

Originally Posted by Samoan Attorney

SRO are there for the next couple of weeks, British and French GT this weekend, the Spa 24 (way more important than eff-one) next week. The word from the great man is that everything will go ahead as planned.

Will the great man's white suit survive the mud??

[Samoan Attorney]

Originally Posted by John Elwin

Will the great man's white suit survive the mud??

John,

I am sure he will have the spare readily to hand.

jb

[terence]

Hopefully I have a days Instructing tomorrow,looks like it won't be as damp.

[Gerard C]

I think the most important is to save people around and bring electricity back everywhere. There's no doubt the track will survive under an even improved form. The first time I went to was in septante cinq if memory serves, and I remember the place is almost impossible to drain under heavy rain.
I do remember real champions like Gerry Marshall in his Magnum surfing the streams crossing the straight at Uniroyal tower level and the flooded tunnels, nothing new.

[midgetman]

"Septante cinq" - 75? That's a construction I've never seen before.

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[E.B]

Originally Posted by midgetman

"Septante cinq" - 75? That's a construction I've never seen before.

Perhaps some French Alfa Talk....

[Peter Mallett]

Originally Posted by midgetman

"Septante cinq" - 75? That's a construction I've never seen before.

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The Swiss use it and Nenante for 90.

[Gerard C]

Its the way some Belgians speak french, les Walllons, in fact they do it better than us! Septante for 70 as suggested by Max, nonante for 90. I remember they also say huitante in some Swiss areas.
Would be interesting to know if terence says 90° degrees or nonante degrés to his pupils…