Silverstone (again) set to terminate British GP contract.

Silverstone (again) set to terminate British GP contract.

Author
Discussion

Eric Mc

122,028 posts

265 months

Friday 7th July 2017
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The basic outer circuit was set on the airfield perimeter track, around which Wellington bombers used to trundle.

Goodwood also makes use of the old perimeter track.

thegreenhell

15,330 posts

219 months

Friday 7th July 2017
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1945




2016


anonymous-user

Original Poster:

54 months

Friday 7th July 2017
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Not much of the original left as said.



Edited by anonymous-user on Friday 7th July 12:17

ukaskew

10,642 posts

221 months

Friday 7th July 2017
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The biggest disappointment if they do lose F1 would be the butchering of the circuit to meet the demands of well heeled F1 visitors and then not having F1 at the circuit to take advantage of it.

The whole Wing thing is a farce without the accompanying stuff on the other side of the start straight to accompany it (the bridge and hotel), which they are never going to have the funding for. And don't even get me started on them sinking the pit straight so you can't even see half of it.

Visiting the circuit as a regular punter is a bit of a joke now. If an event does use the Wing and allows access to the pits you've either got to get a bus or take a ridiculously long walk through the very temporary looking Loop infield section to reach it.

It's telling that most regular events still use the old pits.

lord summerisle

8,138 posts

225 months

Monday 10th July 2017
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ukaskew said:
It's telling that most regular events still use the old pits.
Because, most club events run on the National circuit: they would struggle to get enough marshals to cover the full GP circuit for the average event. Its only things like F1, WEC and 24hr endurance events where enough marshal's will volunteer for the event.

aeropilot

34,583 posts

227 months

Monday 10th July 2017
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Eric Mc said:
The basic outer circuit was set on the airfield perimeter track, around which Wellington bombers used to trundle.

Goodwood also makes use of the old perimeter track.
As does Castle Coombe still, and pretty much as did the original layout at Snetterton as well.



Edited by aeropilot on Monday 10th July 20:29

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

54 months

Monday 10th July 2017
quotequote all
Silverstone was one of the best circuits on the calendar but the changes have ruined it.

Would not be disappointed to see it go.

Just watch how amazing it use to be.

Shocking how much tracks have been ruined.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyEJIoG52xw

Edited by anonymous-user on Monday 10th July 21:18

suffolk009

5,388 posts

165 months

Tuesday 11th July 2017
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Rachel Brookes of Sky reporting that the BRDC have indeed just triggered the break clause.

Durzel

12,265 posts

168 months

Tuesday 11th July 2017
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Surely this is all just public posturing and brinkmanship ala Tesco vs Unilever with the whole Marmite thing?

I wonder what the point is of news reporting on this kind of thing when it has been proven so many times in the past (particularly in football) that what is said in the media surrounding contract negotiations is pretty much nothing to do with what is actually going on behind closed doors, but is merely used as a tool to put pressure on either party.

Vaud

50,477 posts

155 months

Tuesday 11th July 2017
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No loss if they fail to agree terms.

Highly over-rated track and fan experience in my view, and I've seen it from the cheap seats through to being a guest of a team...

turbomoped

4,180 posts

83 months

Tuesday 11th July 2017
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no surprise that they have announced they are stopping after 2019.
It is seems grotesque that they suffer losses every year and meanwhile F1 enriches itself.
Lots of other events and testing they can have there instead now.

joema

2,648 posts

179 months

Tuesday 11th July 2017
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turbomoped said:
no surprise that they have announced they are stopping after 2019.
It is seems grotesque that they suffer losses every year and meanwhile F1 enriches itself.
Lots of other events and testing they can have there instead now.
spot on. This isn't Silverstones fault. It's greed from the management company. If their model is to sell it to the highest bidder they'll soon end up with very few viewers as host states paying those premiums get bored and drop it.

Not sure if it's posturing at this stage as we've had similar before.

But Silverstone has plenty of other top racing events and without sustaining the loss they can hopefully plough some money into the facilities.

Pintofbest

805 posts

110 months

Tuesday 11th July 2017
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turbomoped said:
Lots of other events and testing they can have there instead now.
Without the money they get from F1 they will not survive, the notes are in the announcement. A huge amount of the general overhead and debt servicing is covered by the GP weekend, without that the bills wouldn't get paid.

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

54 months

Tuesday 11th July 2017
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Pintofbest said:
Without the money they get from F1 they will not survive, the notes are in the announcement. A huge amount of the general overhead and debt servicing is covered by the GP weekend, without that the bills wouldn't get paid.
Moto GP must take in a good crowd.

Worth going to see as well.

Many tracks around the UK and further afield do very nicely without F1.

F1 cars ruin the track surface for other forms of Motorsport especially bikes so this might actually be a blessing.





thegreenhell

15,330 posts

219 months

Tuesday 11th July 2017
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They won't survive if they continue to lose millions on one event every year. They reported loses on the GP of £2.8m in 2015 and £4.8m in 2016, and that will only increase year on year unless something changes.

If they ran the current contract to its conclusion in 2026 they'd be paying approx £1m extra each year than the previous year, so they'd need to find either £1m in savings or £1m in extra revenue each year just to stand still.

l354uge

2,895 posts

121 months

Tuesday 11th July 2017
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Just after this announcement liberty actually announce the London show that's happening tomorrow.

Coincidence? or warning shot at the BRDC?

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

54 months

Tuesday 11th July 2017
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thegreenhell said:
They won't survive if they continue to lose millions on one event every year. They reported loses on the GP of £2.8m in 2015 and £4.8m in 2016, and that will only increase year on year unless something changes.

If they ran the current contract to its conclusion in 2026 they'd be paying approx £1m extra each year than the previous year, so they'd need to find either £1m in savings or £1m in extra revenue each year just to stand still.
Are those losses on the event or overall losses?

Is the GP the only loss making event?


ukaskew

10,642 posts

221 months

Tuesday 11th July 2017
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joema said:
This isn't Silverstones fault.
The BRDC signed a contract with a 5% annual uplift on it that they couldn't afford.

I agree 100% that the situation is ridiculous, but nobody forced them to sign that particular contract.

Evangelion

7,725 posts

178 months

Tuesday 11th July 2017
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Well here's my circuit for 2020, the London Olympic Park Grand Prix.



Put the designer's cheque in the post please, Tilke eat your heart out.

rubystone

11,254 posts

259 months

Tuesday 11th July 2017
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Pintofbest said:
Without the money they get from F1 they will not survive, the notes are in the announcement. A huge amount of the general overhead and debt servicing is covered by the GP weekend, without that the bills wouldn't get paid.
Can you post a link to it? I was told that the standalone cost to them of the weekend resulted in a deficit for the event of £4.8m for 2016 rising to £7m by 2019. Substantially different to them saying they would lose even MORE money by NOT staging the event!!!