Round Four: Scorchio

Mid-afternoon Wednesday, arriving at the Circuit De Spa Francorchamps, east of the city of Liege and buried deep in the forest of the Ardennes, I’m fully expecting to be greeted by the low cloud and cloaking rain typical of the area, in fact the precise conditions forecast by every meteo service I’ve been able to access in recent days.

But all the forecasts are wrong. As I nose the car into a Paddock parking slot and open the driver’s door, the heat of the day pours into cabin, overwhelming the airconditioned coolness I’d been enjoying during the three-and-a-bit hour motorway blast from Calais.

KP and the boys are working hard to get the awnings up and a fully fitted race workshop installed in our allocated Paddock space. With the air temperature hovering at 29 degrees, I leave them to it and go in search of a cold Leffe.