Dromo began a close collaboration with Spa-Francorchamps in 2021 as the circuit prepared a major safety and infrastructure programme connected with the return of international motorcycle endurance racing. The assignment required respect for one of motorsport’s most recognisable landscapes while coordinating new run-off areas, revised track edges and specialist pavement work around high-speed sections including Eau Rouge–Raidillon.
COUNTRY:
Belgium
Project gallery
TEAM LEADER:
Jarno Zaffelli
PROJECT TEAM:
Federico Vennarucci (Head of design),
Filippo Piccoli (Site Manager),
Orazio Bonassi (Pavement specialist),
Alberto Marzi
Elisabetta Maria Terenziani,
Lorenzo Bonezzi
Tatiana Rota.
CONTRACTOR:
Bodarwè
WORK:
Investigate, engineer and resurface
MIX:
LeNoir
YEAR:
2022
Project engineering in detail
Safety without erasing the circuit
At Spa, elevation, speed and limited visibility are inseparable from the identity of the lap. Safety work therefore had to be studied as a system of trajectories, run-off, barriers, gravel, asphalt and operational access. The objective was to accommodate both car and motorcycle requirements while retaining the sequences and compression that define the circuit.
A surface designed for the location
Dromo developed a dedicated asphalt mix called LeNoir for selected works at Spa, including the Eau Rouge–Raidillon area and the new Turn 9 section. Mix design, texture, level control and drainage had to be considered together because small surface differences become significant under the vertical and lateral loads generated through the circuit’s fastest changes of elevation.
Design and construction as one process
The project illustrates Dromo’s approach to existing circuits: survey and simulation guide the geometry; safety assessment defines the performance target; material engineering and site support carry that target into construction. On a venue with a dense calendar and international homologation requirements, coordination and verification are as important as the drawing itself.
Related Dromo capabilities
Project evidence
From the Dromo project archive.
