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Battle of the Ardennes
What became sadly famous in WWII in the winter of 1944/1945, just a few kilometres south of today's Spa Francorchamps race track, later became synonymous with the merciless 24 hour racing battles on the famous rollercoaster track in the Belgian Ardennes in the heyday of the European Touring Car Championship. With the introduction of Group A in 1982, the championship finally shone again with full grids, works entries and a wide variety of makes. No fewer than 61 cars lined up at the start of the 24 Hours of Spa at the end of July 1986. In the large division 3, the naturally aspirated BMW, Rover and Holden battled against the fast turbos from Ford and Volvo.
The Ford Sierra XR4 ti turbos from Eggenberger and the Volvo 240 Turbo from RAS Sport were a real force on the long straights of Spa, but the relatively small turbocharged 2.3 and 2.1 litre engines were no match for the 24-hour distance. In the end, the race came down to a duel between the BMW 635 CSi with its 3.5 litre straight-six engines and the Rover 3.5 V8. However, as in previous years, the Rover suffered from rear axle problems while the BMWs continued their laps undeterred. The #10 Schnitzer BMW was clearly in the lead when an alternator failure forced it into the pits. The #11 sister car with Quester, Heger and Tassin therefore took the lucky win in 1986.