Car to Spa

Osella · 27 Jan 2005, 01:36 (Ref:1210845)

I'm planning to go to Spa for the 24 as commitments are making attendance at the proper 24 a bit shaky....

can't seem to find any dover-ostend sailings- any thoughts?

jase · 27 Jan 2005, 07:12 (Ref:1210932)

Try Norfolk Ferries, Dover to Dunkirque or if you can book, speedferries.com Dover to Bolougne

Graham Goodwin · 27 Jan 2005, 07:19 (Ref:1210936)

And its perfectly doable from Calais

**Adam43** · 27 Jan 2005, 09:22 (Ref:1211003)

Yes the roads from Calais are good. Although bare in mind if you want to drive that there is no good way to drive across Belgium. Not that it will take too long or the roads are bad for putting miles on, but rather until near the end of the journey to Spa it is just so dull!

Graham Goodwin · 27 Jan 2005, 10:42 (Ref:1211074)

Its a long dull haul but well worth it

jase · 27 Jan 2005, 12:58 (Ref:1211157)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Graham Goodwin

And its perfectly doable from Calais

Indeed it is, but I have found P&O to be expensive depending on time of travel

**Adam43** · 28 Jan 2005, 08:51 (Ref:1211816)

Quote:

Originally Posted by jase

Indeed it is, but I have found P&O to be expensive depending on time of travel

Indeed, and it doesn't take a long time to cross that country.

Kicking-back · 28 Jan 2005, 11:37 (Ref:1211931)

Channel Tunnell it then drive from there....

jase · 28 Jan 2005, 18:56 (Ref:1212176)

NO way KB, not unless you have a car full to share the cost, the Tunnell is more expensive than the ferries!

David L · 28 Jan 2005, 19:12 (Ref:1212184)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Osella

I'm planning to go to Spa for the 24 as commitments are making attendance at the proper 24 a bit shaky....

can't seem to find any dover-ostend sailings- any thoughts?

If you're starting out from much further north than London then I suggest you fly to Brussels and hire a car for a few days.. Flight £100 odd.. Car £100 odd..

Ferrys can be more expensive than that..

Spa is about 70 to 80 mins from BRU..

Regards

Osella · 29 Jan 2005, 13:22 (Ref:1212610)

oh and another thing... can anyone fill me in on the likely timetable at Spa? their website is for 2004 only. When do they qualify? does the race run sat 4pm - sun 4pm as per LM??

MikeHoyer · 29 Jan 2005, 15:00 (Ref:1212647)

Could try Speed ferries, they are cheap, Dover to Boulogne. We were going to take them to the LMES at Spa, just our luck the boat is in dry dock over that couple of weeks!

So it's P&O for us, 30 quid each when the price is split.

Mackmot · 29 Jan 2005, 15:14 (Ref:1212650)

Its not dull if you have a few days, it lovely if you go south of Bruxelles past Charleroi, Nivelles, Chimay(beer) and Dinant(beer). Then on the way back you can make a beer trip through Hoegaarden, Leuven, Grimbergen and Puurs

jase · 29 Jan 2005, 15:40 (Ref:1212663)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Osella

oh and another thing... can anyone fill me in on the likely timetable at Spa? their website is for 2004 only. When do they qualify? does the race run sat 4pm - sun 4pm as per LM??

A timetable in January?!? You should know motorsport better than that by now

the actual race is from 4pm on Saturday and there should be 2 WTCC rounds preceding it earlier in the day.

Get there early as the traffic to get in from late morning is horrendous.

Osella · 29 Jan 2005, 15:53 (Ref:1212669)

in my defence-i did say likely!!

Jeffrey-Lee · 29 Jan 2005, 16:41 (Ref:1212689)

I'd say it's likely to be like the one from last year

Happy Snapper · 7 Feb 2005, 08:16 (Ref:1219198)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Osella

oh and another thing... can anyone fill me in on the likely timetable at Spa? Their website is for 2004 only. When do they qualify? Does the race run sat 4pm - sun 4pm as per LM??

Spa 24 has been a regular trip for me since about 98 I use Sea France (Dover-Calais) get a book of tickets in January for £90 a return for five days fully flexible, changeable, etc. The route to Spa you have two choices avoid Brussels or go round the ring road which is OK if its Midnight or Midday, the rest of the time its busy very busy!

A rough schedule is they have assorted practice and qualifying sessions on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday last year they drove the cars into Spa from the circuit along the main road that was fun, then a reception in the town hall.

Saturday (race day) warm up is about 8 am then race in 4 till 4 it will always rain at some time during the 24!

Good luck

lj79 · 14 Feb 2005, 11:46 (Ref:1225021)

Osella - you don't have to go near Brussells to go to Spa and you can avoid much of the drab Belgian motorways if you had for Reims and Cambrai. When you get to Cambrai cut across towards Valenciennes and Mons and Liege (Luik) is sign posted from here. This route takes you through large areas of the Western Front and some interesting places to stop off. You can also go cross country via heading for Dixmude and Ypres (Ieper) and meander south through the rural parts of Belgium.

You can get Dover to Dunkirk for about £50 return at the moment too - its about 30 mins extra crossing time than Calais.

marcel82 · 14 Feb 2005, 15:12 (Ref:1225209)

Quote:

Originally Posted by David L

Spa is about 70 to 80 mins from BRU..

Regards

3hrs, if you're going to see F1, and they have thrown away free tickets for Fridays practise

I remember going to England by ferry from Ostend once, but we landed in Ramsgate rather than Dover. not sure if that line still exists, though.

Duffacus · 14 Feb 2005, 16:00 (Ref:1225286)

Me and my father went to the Spa 24 Hours by car last year and this is how we did it:-

The ferries are about every half hour with P&O but you can always give them a ring if your struggling to find times etc. (That’s what we did, you get the best clarification that way) I'd say the earlier you can get there - the better.

Left for Dover from Nottingham early (5am) Thursday morning, took the M1 down to outskirts of London, swapped to the M25 ring road around the outskirts of London, then onto the M20 down to Dover. Took about 3 Hours.

We were put on an earlier Ferry being as we were there and it took around 1 hour 10 minutes to get to Calais.

From there we drove down the A16/E40 (runs parallel with the coast) until Oostende (Ostende) where the road changes direction more inland, still on the E40 though. This road then takes you all the way to Liege.

But be where - DO NOT get caught out like we did and run into Brussels! We missed the entry for the ring road and drove straight into the heart of the city. We must have driven around there for about 40 minutes trying to find the way out! It is very easy to miss the ring road, its about 30 seconds before you enter the city just on the right, the problem is it just looks like an exit/junction off the motorway when actually it is the motorway! It's very deceiving.

Afterwards once you get to Liege we camped out in a camp site about 9k from the track (I know some prefer the atmosphere of camping at the circuit but we wanted a more, erm.. relaxing approach!) The camp site was very peaceful/quiet and relaxing and everyone seemed very nice.

Getting to the circuit is not hard from the camp site, you can ask for a map there, or we may still have ours somewhere.

The journey from Calais to Liege can be very tiresome at times but we didn't mind too much, I agree some of the roads can be terrible, it all depends if you want the quickest way there or not.

When coming back we followed the same road back, (this time finding the ring road around Brussels!) and again we were put on an earlier ferry back to England. We left around 6am in the morning and the journey back was great, watching the sun fully come up and stopping off for breakfast at a motorway stop.

It takes about 3-3 and half hours from Liege to Calais.

It seems a lot but trust me - it is well worth it!

If you want any other info, don't hesitate to contact me.