Spa-Francorchamps Track Map Poster

Until 1920, the little stream at the foot of Spa-Francorchamps’ most famous corner marked the border between Belgium and Germany, and the customs post on its bank gave its name to the old hairpin there: Ancienne Douane, the former customs office. The circuit was laid out right after the border moved, and its 7.004 km (4.35 miles) and nineteen turns now run clockwise through the Ardennes with 102 meters (335 ft) of elevation change.

It began as a triangle of public roads between Francorchamps, Malmedy and Stavelot, about 15 km (9 miles) long. The first car race, planned for August 1921, drew a single entry, so 23 motorcycles raced instead. Before 1979 the old triangle was the fastest road circuit in Europe; that year it was cut to half its length, and until the early 2000s everyday traffic still drove up the famous hill.

That hill is Eau Rouge and the Raidillon. The road dips across the stream, named “red water” for the iron that tints it, then is launched steeply uphill through a left-right-left to a blind crest, climbing about 40 meters, a twelve-story building. The fastest cars take it at around 300 km/h (186 mph), and from the cockpit, as one champion put it, you cannot see the exit or where you will land. Take it without lifting and a car runs flat out from La Source all the way to Les Combes: 2 km, about nineteen football fields.

The poster numbers all nineteen turns and letters in thirteen names, from La Source to the Bus Stop Chicane, with the pit lane in a muted line. Rosso, the burgundy edition, echoes the iron-red water that named the corner. Spa is famous for weather that can be dry on one part of the lap and wet on another; on your wall, it is always a good day.