Silverstone Pit Garages

[Elderly]

Now that the new GP pit complex has been 'Christened' by the Moto GP and the F1 events,
are they going to be used for trackdays, or will the original ones be kept for us 'mere mortals'?

Edited by Elderly on Tuesday 12th July 15:28

[Megaflow]

My understanding is the new pitlane / garages are exactly as described and will only be used for international race meetings. National meetings will still use the old pit lane / garages.

So, no...

[ViperDave]

I'm about to do a track day on the international circuit and have a pit/garage booked. cant see how that will work if its in the old pits.....

[mrmr96]

Elderly said:

Now that the new pit complex has been 'Christened' by the Moto GP and the F1 events,
are they going to be used for trackdays, or will the original ones be kept for us 'mere mortals'?

The circuit can be split to run the "North Circuit" aka "National Circuit" (Maggots cuts through to Arena) and the "South Circuit" aka "International Circuit" (Arena cuts through to Chapel) separately. They can also use the new "Arena GP" layout aka "The Grand Prix Circuit" (including Arena), or the "Historic GP" layout (including Bridge).



So it will depend what circuit you're using as to whether you'll even use the Club/Abbey straight. However, there is an outdoor hard standing area on the inside of Stowe corner (near the mini Stowe circuit) which always used to be used as the 'pits' when you were using the South Circuit. So even if you're using the South Circuit now, you may have to use the hard standing instead of the GP pits. They did used to use the old GP pits when doing trackdays on the full GP circuit, so I see no reason why they wouldn't use the new pits.

In reality it probably comes down to cost. If you book with Gold Track (about £399 for a day at Silverstone) then I'd expect that includes the option for a new pitlane garage. If you book with a club (more like £150/day) then you'll probably be outside. This I would imagine is because the circuit will charge the track day operator more or less depending on the facilities made available, and this cost is passed on to the punter.

I'd always ring the TDO and ask them if they are using the pits, and ask to book a garage if I wanted one. (Generally they are a good idea if you're swapping tyres over etc, as it's better not to be in the wind/rain and it's a good place to store your gear.)

[illmonkey]

Silverstone class is using both of the garages. A friend is running cars from both.

[gtdc]

Megaflow said:

My understanding is the new pitlane / garages are exactly as described and will only be used for international race meetings. National meetings will still use the old pit lane / garages.

So, no...

not sure where that's come from. We'll be using the new pits for some of our events.

[Elderly]

mrmr96 said:

They can also use ............... or the "Historic GP" layout (including Bridge).

Taking my own topic 'Off Topic', I was under the impression that Bridge
was no longer going to be part of any configuration, I'm glad to be wrong!

[gtdc]

Elderly said:

mrmr96 said:

They can also use ............... or the "Historic GP" layout (including Bridge).

Taking my own topic 'Off Topic', I was under the impression that Bridge
was no longer going to be part of any configuration, I'm glad to be wrong!

You're not wrong. Historic Bridge circuit is no more.

[mrmr96]

Elderly said:

mrmr96 said:

They can also use ............... or the "Historic GP" layout (including Bridge).

Taking my own topic 'Off Topic', I was under the impression that Bridge
was no longer going to be part of any configuration, I'm glad to be wrong!

Hmm... well when I looked last year there were some events using Arena GP and some using Historic GP. But checking the Silverstone website today they only list 'National' (North) 'International' (South) and 'Grand Prix' (Arena). I can't see a mention of the historic one there, nor can I see it listed on the trackdays.co.uk website. So maybe it's been scrubbed since I last checked?

Links:
http://www.silverstone.co.uk/track/circuit-maps/
http://www.trackdays.co.uk/tracks/silverstone.htm#


EDIT: Bugger - I think it is gone now.

Found this forum link:
http://www.ten-tenths.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1...

Which refers to this article:
http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/04042011/66/silverst...

Which basically says it will be taken over for use by spectators.

[Elderly]

gtdc said:

You're not wrong. Historic Bridge circuit is no more.

[DiscoColin]

gtdc said:

You're not wrong. Historic Bridge circuit is no more.

Is it that they simply aren't offering it any more (i.e. but may at some point in the future) or has the tarmac gone and the vicinity redeveloped?

[gtdc]

Gone forever.

[AndrewO]

ViperDave said:

I'm about to do a track day on the international circuit and have a pit/garage booked. cant see how that will work if its in the old pits.....

I was looking to go this Friday, just need to check the weather. I'll be in a Black/Orange M3.

How does a viper handle corners ?

[Megaflow]

gtdc said:

Megaflow said:

My understanding is the new pitlane / garages are exactly as described and will only be used for international race meetings. National meetings will still use the old pit lane / garages.

So, no...

not sure where that's come from. We'll be using the new pits for some of our events.

It seemed to be what the commentators at the grand prix where getting at all day long when talking about the new facilty. Badly as it turns out...

[fergus]

I'm doing a bike day with FE next mon on the Arena GP circuit and received the reply today that we will be based in the new pit complex

[gtdc]

That's right. We're ruuning our car evening from the old pits. Genius - means we don't tread on each other's toes at changeover time.

[fergus]

gtdc said:

That's right. We're ruuning our car evening from the old pits. Genius - means we don't tread on each other's toes at changeover time.

Will pop ocer to say hello!

[gtdc]

Excellent. I have chocolate and jelly babies.

[boxsey]

fergus said:

I'm doing a bike day with FE next mon on the Arena GP circuit and received the reply today that we will be based in the new pit complex

Glad to hear that they're not letting the bikers down....which is more than can be said for the car drivers!

[y2blade]

fergus said:

I'm doing a bike day with FE next mon on the Arena GP circuit and received the reply today that we will be based in the new pit complex

glad to hear they look after us bikers

have a great day mate