The Gold 8 Spa Francorchamps grandstand is in prime position for views of the start of a race at the Belgian Grand Prix Circuit. It gives fans a perfect vantage point of the action at the tight La Source hairpin.
The article provides a full guide to the Gold 8 grandstand at Spa, including its location, seat and ticket details and examples of the view.
Contents
What is the Gold 8 Spa Francorchamps grandstand?
The Gold 8 grandstand, also known as Gold 8 Source – Start or Gold 8 La Source, is a premium seating area that’s usually only available at the Belgian Formula 1 Grand Prix. Being part of the Gold group of grandstands it should offer some of the best views at the circuit, putting spectators up close to the action.
Being a Gold grandstand also means that it’s one of the most expensive places to sit to watch the Grand Prix. For the 2023 F1 event a weekend ticket in this stand cost 610 Euros.
Gold 8 grandstand location
The Gold 8 grandstand is located on the outside of the track right at the La Source hairpin, Turn 1 on the Grand Prix circuit. There’s a large run-off area on the outside of the corner here, and the stand is directly behind the fence on the other side of that area.
The stand is positioned so it’s looking directly back down the start / finish straight. If a car outbraked itself for La Source and skidded off in a dead straight line it would end up in the tyre barrier directly in front of the Gold 8 grandstand.
Tickets
Tickets for Gold 8 sell out quickly on the Spa GP official site. If that’s the case but you still want some tickets for seats in this stand, I’d recommend purchasing them through P1 Travel. They’re an official F1 ticket reseller, have a great reputation, get really great reviews and their tickets are at low prices.
Buying a weekend F1 ticket for the Gold 8 grandstand will also get you full access to all of the General Admission areas across the whole race event. You can explore the circuit, food, drink and entertainments zones and know that you can always return to your reserved seats. You can’t go in any other grandstands, however.
Gold 8 grandstand details
- The grandstand is covered. It has a roof over the top, but no covers on the sides. The roof is quite high at the front but extends forwards enough so those in the front rows should stay dry. But people sat on either side may get a little wet in the most extreme rain
- The seats are individual chairs with fixed seat based and fixed seat backs.
- There is one giant TV screen visible form this stand. It’s on the outside of the circuit near the turn-in point for La Source, so just off to the right of the grandstand.
Gold 8 Spa Seating Chart
Below is the seating chart for the Golf 8 Grandstand at Spa Francorchamps.
As the chart shows the stand has 3 sections.
Sections A and C are 20 seats wide and section B is 30 seats wide. The seat numbers increase from right to left and start from 1 at the beginning of each section.
There are 24 rows in the grandstand. The front row is row 1 and the back row is row 24.
Gold 8 Spa grandstand view
The Gold 8 Spa grandstand at Spa Francorchamps has views the whole way back down the start / finish straight, right up to the exit of the final corner Chicane. From there you can follow the cars as they come around La Source and start their descent down the hill towards Eau Rouge and Raidillon.
There’s a slight right-hand kink in the ‘straight’ between La Source and Eau Rouge, and you’ll just lose the cars out of sight behind the concrete wall as they go around that kink. You’ll then regain sight of the cars as they climb up Raidillon and head down the start of the Kemmel Straight.
You can also see the action up and down the pit lane. Depending exactly where you sit your view of every pit box may or may not be a little obstructed, but generally it’s a great vantage point for pit lane action.
The map below shows the areas of the circuit that are visible from the Gold 8 grandstand highlighted in pink.
The stand is well elevated above the level of the circuit. As the cars come closest to you around La Source you may have to look through the catch fence, but if you’re in the back (higher) rows that’s less likely.
The further to the right in the stand you sit (as you look at the circuit) the clearer and straighter your view back down the start / finish straight. All of section A and the right hand side of section B has a view straight down the start / finish line.
If you sit low down in section C you’ll struggle to see the start line at the pit wall will block your view. But sit higher up and you can see over the wall.
The video below shows the views from a number of different seats:
- Section B, Row 1, Seat 30
- Section B, Row 24, Seat 30
- Section C, Row 20, Seat 20
- Section C, Row 5, Seat 4
Is the Gold 8 grandstand a good place to sit at Spa?
The Gold 8 Spa Francorchamps grandstand gives the best views of any grandstand of the La Source hairpin, Turn 1 on the Belgian Grand Prix circuit. There’s often a lot of action here, especially at the start of the race.
Fans sat in the Gold 8 grandstand had the best seats in the house for the huge crash at the start of the 2012 Belgian Grand Prix which involved Alonso, Hamilton, Raikkonen and other drivers.
The view from the Gold 8 grandstand is, in my opinion, much better than from any of the Spa Gold 7 grandstands which are just to the left of it. Being able to see the start / finish line and the run in to Turn 1, as you can from Gold 8, is a massive bonus.
If I was buying a ticket for the Gold 8 grandstand I’d request to be sat high up in the back rows to get the best vantage point.. Honestly I wouldn’t worry too much about being on the left or right hand side, the view from either is great. You may want to ask to be more central just so you’re not near the exposed sides of the stand.
Nearest parking area
Blue parking area 15 is the closest to the grandstand, but it’s usually reserved for VIPs and people with accessibility requirements. The Yellow Spa parking areas are second closest and will be around a 20 minute walk from this grandstand if you use the Ster entrance gates. Check out our full guide to Spa Francorchamps parking for more info.
Tickets for the parking can be purchased directly through the Spa Grand Prix website.
Nearest campsite
The Yellow Spa Francorchamps campsite is closest to the Gold 9 stand. You can walk from the campsite to the La Source circuit entrance in around 15 minutes, then it’s only another couple of minutes to this stand.
Other Spa grandstands
Check out our spectator guides to the other grandstands at Spa Francorchamps:
- Max Verstappen stand
- Speed Corner grandstand
- Combes grandstand
- 17 – 27 area grandstand
- Gold 1 pit grandstand
- Gold 2 GP2 grandstand
- Gold 3 grandstand
- Gold 4 grandstand
- Gold 6 grandstand
- Gold 7 grandstands
- Gold 9 grandstand
- Silver 1 grandstand
- Silver 2 grandstand
- Silver 3 grandstand
- Silver 4 grandstand
- Silver 6 grandstand
