Silverstone Circuit for Grand Prix, Good or Bad
Discussion
My experience of Silverstone, is that its a boring flat track, with high cross winds.
You can't get onto it, or out of it, without a 3 hour drive.
The facilities are poor.
If it rains, it turns into a quagmire.
The organisers dropped the ball with BCE quite seriously there one year, and he condemned it as a village fete IIRC.
Brands Hatch is just so much better.
I disagree.
I like Silverstone for the GP. Sure I think Brands is the more exciting track but there is no way in hell it could hold a GP. IIRC they would need massive works just to direct enough mains water to the palace to cope with a GP weekend, let alone anything else.
I will hold my hands up and say I am biased as I'm one of the lucky ones pass wise (although not lucky enough to have an F1 Paddock Pass!) but even round the outside there is plenty for everyone. Especially with the excellent Silverstone TV coverage, the E-Zones at Stowe and Copse and the usual Shops/stands to look round/buy from.
As for access it's the same for any major sporting event pretty much. To avoid sitting in traffic for 3 hours, arrive an hour earlier in the morning and leave one later in the evening. With the usual post GP concert you have no excuse not to hang around.
The mud thing was more the combination of the FIA moving the event to the Easter w/e, (We all know what the weather in the UK is usually like in April!)and a massively wet run up to the event. Since then Silverstone now has more hard surface parking area than any other 'attraction' site in the UK IIRC.
It is fair to say that the track can produce the odd snore fest but it has also produced one of the best GPs of the current era and many great and good races. The cross winds can add to the unpredictability IMO.
I'd rather Brands was preserved as a great challenging circuit. Did you see the plans that awful woman had for the track when she did the deal with Bernie? The GP loop is a joy to spectate and a wonderful contrast from the Indy bowl. Part of that is the walk through the woods, which would be lost forever.
And yes, the traffic would be hellish - even a slip road onto a closed to through traffic M20 wouldn't be ideal.
Besides, I'd hate to see the residents creaming in money from tourists. If they don't like the circut they should live somewhere else.
And yes, the traffic would be hellish - even a slip road onto a closed to through traffic M20 wouldn't be ideal.
Besides, I'd hate to see the residents creaming in money from tourists. If they don't like the circut they should live somewhere else.
brands is a great circuit but would need massive (and i mean massive) investment to get it up to GP standards. and doing that would ruin the appeal of the place. can you imagine massive grandstands around druids, all the way up through the forest sections. it would be awful. the pits at brands are also nowhere near GP standards.
silverstone entry has been upgraded a lot and is nicely situated in the middle(ish) of the country. getting to and from brandss is a nightmare for the smaller meetings let alone anything big. the first A1GP meeting had huge cues on the exit and chucking everyone out onto the M25 is another problem. whilst brands copes (just) with the WSB, bikes take up less room than cars.
if you can be bothered to get up early and get to silverstone early, you can get in without much fuss, then you find a spot at your favouirte corner and have a few hours sleep until something with a nengine goes past.
personally, keep the GP at silverstone, whilst its not the best circuit, it has the best facilities. the local nimbys wouldnt let brands get developed and it would lose its appeal for club and national racers and spectators alike. why should a circuit be ruined just for the F1 circus?
as for the cost?!?! brands would have to spend billions to get it to standards required by bernie and thats money wasted as there is no guarantee what the dwarf will do to the sport...
silverstone entry has been upgraded a lot and is nicely situated in the middle(ish) of the country. getting to and from brandss is a nightmare for the smaller meetings let alone anything big. the first A1GP meeting had huge cues on the exit and chucking everyone out onto the M25 is another problem. whilst brands copes (just) with the WSB, bikes take up less room than cars.
if you can be bothered to get up early and get to silverstone early, you can get in without much fuss, then you find a spot at your favouirte corner and have a few hours sleep until something with a nengine goes past.
personally, keep the GP at silverstone, whilst its not the best circuit, it has the best facilities. the local nimbys wouldnt let brands get developed and it would lose its appeal for club and national racers and spectators alike. why should a circuit be ruined just for the F1 circus?
as for the cost?!?! brands would have to spend billions to get it to standards required by bernie and thats money wasted as there is no guarantee what the dwarf will do to the sport...
love threads like this!
the words 'get real'springs to mind...
BH can never hold a GP, the cct is way behind what is required both for saftey and facilities.
only other cct in the UK that could be made up to spec is Donington, and that would cost stupid money, require more land around it incorporating, and this all assumes you could get planning concent...
it's either Silverstone or nothing....
the words 'get real'springs to mind...
BH can never hold a GP, the cct is way behind what is required both for saftey and facilities.
only other cct in the UK that could be made up to spec is Donington, and that would cost stupid money, require more land around it incorporating, and this all assumes you could get planning concent...
it's either Silverstone or nothing....
Keep the GP at Silverstone please- I'd rather keep Brands and the other home circuits just how they are. At least at present you can get (reasonably) close to the action without the acres of gravel or tarmac run-off that F1 would demand. Whilst I'd love to see F1 cars 'full chat' through Paddock Hill or the Craners, I somehow think the circuits would be ruined to make it happen.
From a selfish point of view, having driven most of the GB tracks, Silverstone is a comparativly dull driving experience too and I'd rather keep the character of the others thanks all the same.
Anyway, surely Brands and Donington would be massive non-starters noise-wise now..... don't you realise just how anti-social motorsport is and how badly it effects property values..........
From a selfish point of view, having driven most of the GB tracks, Silverstone is a comparativly dull driving experience too and I'd rather keep the character of the others thanks all the same.
Anyway, surely Brands and Donington would be massive non-starters noise-wise now..... don't you realise just how anti-social motorsport is and how badly it effects property values..........
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