Silverstone Classic 2014

[supersport]

No way Silverstone will let you blat around. All the Classic parade laps are done at a crawl. And don't anything other than pi$$ poor organisation from them.

[Reeso]

supersport said:

No way Silverstone will let you blat around. All the Classic parade laps are done at a crawl. And don't anything other than pi$$ poor organisation from them.

I'm not talking about racing round! That would be silly.
Just getting out of 1st gear would be nice.
To be fare, I was told by marshalls in the pits pre the parade that the pace is dictated by the pace car and it all depends on the driver of said car. Unfortunately we didn't get the female BMW racer as our lead as I suspect/was told things would have been very different. Plus, last year we were supposed to have Niki Faulkner leading in a new yellow Aventador (Lambo Factory Car). He certainly was going to be going quicker than 1st gear and let people find there own comfortable pace that they were happy with but the weather put pay to that!

Edited by Reeso on Friday 1st August 10:50

[P30LAM]

Reeso said:

DaveHutton said:

Thoughts on the event?

Hi Dave,

A great weekend all in tbh.

A great turnout for the club too. Lots of amazing motors on display. Loved the Diablos (SV and the SE30 ((P30LAM - lovely car, sorry we never met)

However.....The parade lap was a complete waste of time really!!
Ok the actual fact we were on the track so the public could see our cars moving is, was and always will be a good thing, but the usual Silverstone organisation was p1ss poor, and queuing behind 150 Mustangs, DB7's, Alfa's etc was a joke. We queued on and off for 3/4's of a lap with the remainder moving slowly, mainly in 1st gear. By the time the Marshalls has sorted the Astons into a one line at Brooklands to take them off the track I thought we would have one "good/flying" lap from there. To my amazement just as I was going to drop the loud pedal the pace car signalled to go back in the pits!!!

I know they run a tight program of racing etc, but from that point the track was clear. Our parade of 70 odd cars would have been able to do one more lap and off the track within 4 mins easily. The simple question is why we didn't!!! Everyone was game for a quicker one.

That’s 2 yrs we, as a club, have been screwed over by the track. I wasn't impressed by the pace car either as he started to go well before the last Astons and their rear pace car had even passed us at the end of the pits, and then he left straight away!!! They all have 2way radios! More communication required I think. If our pace car had held us for 2 more minutes at the end of the pit lane, we could have had a much better lap and the crowds would have enjoyed it more.
Watching some of the videos off You Tube it does look rather poor and very slow.

Don't get me wrong, overall The Mrs & I had a great weekend with great cars and really great people which, let’s face it, makes or breaks a weekend like this. The club did a great job this year. The new club trailer was a class effort and made us look a professional club with lots to offer and combining it with the BDM trailer and racing Gallardo was inspired. The evening dinner was enjoyable with good food, relaxed and entertaining and different from the previous year. (both years were great, just different which helped mix it up and keeps it fresh, although the one Drum & Bass track during dinner did throw me a little lol). The casino was fun whether you won or lost and the hotel was good for us except it was rather warm in the room (so we opened a window & put the fan on!)

We will be back next year for another great weekend. The only 2 suggestion from my side would be....
1. Having a word with the track organisers about next year’s lap as I know we could do our bit much better (maybe organising our cars in model order – easy and fairly quick to do if we are all ready and we all know what we are trying to achieve and who to watch for direction) giving the public a better show, as long as Silverstone do their bit much much better and give us a proper lap and the use of the pit lane if required to line us up like this year before we go out. (I've done this before with 40+ TVR's from a pub car park....it really isn't that hard as long as people know where they should be and given proper direction)
2. Seeing if we could extend the model order thing when it comes to parking on the stand. Very hard I know, esp if Silverstone shrink our parking area like this year!!!

Well done LCUK

Mr & Mrs Reezo

(E&OE...IMHO)

Many thanks. All the more reason to go next year. Look forward to meeting you.

Was my first visit so the track parade I had no idea what to expect but agree I would have loved a clearer, longer run. Only got 1/3rd the way to scaring myself :-)

I havent seen any youtube footage - do you have any links? Thanks!

[lamboman100]

Reeso said:

supersport said:

No way Silverstone will let you blat around. All the Classic parade laps are done at a crawl. And don't anything other than pi$$ poor organisation from them.

I'm not talking about racing round! That would be silly.
Just getting out of 1st gear would be nice.
To be fare, I was told by marshalls in the pits pre the parade that the pace is dictated by the pace car and it all depends on the driver of said car. Unfortunately we didn't get the female BMW racer as our lead as I suspect/was told things would have been very different. Plus, last year we were supposed to have Niki Faulkner leading in a new yellow Aventador (Lambo Factory Car). He certainly was going to be going quicker than 1st gear and let people find there own comfortable pace that they were happy with but the weather put pay to that!

Edited by Reeso on Friday 1st August 10:50

Reeso -- are you referring to the Lambo parade lap on the Saturday? Were you at the front, middle or back of the lap?

We were near the back. We (and several other cars) managed to get up to ~140mph on two long and clear straights (and have video footage to prove it). Still can't wipe the smile a week later

[Reeso]

I was the lead car, which I thought was going to be great leading you lot.....alas i had very little fun despite holding back as long as I dared to!!!

These links are from all over You Tube and other threads on here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ILirQje3-o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODEuVl-BUas

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86Uz6iu0j1c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlI2tHKx1Sw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DJMDDrsWS0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLMpbpj5fpc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2O2rxJw6Xg
the last 3 mins!!!

[P30LAM]

Reeso said:

I was the lead car, which I thought was going to be great leading you lot.....alas i had very little fun despite holding back as long as I dared to!!!

These links are from all over You Tube and other threads on here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ILirQje3-o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODEuVl-BUas

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86Uz6iu0j1c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlI2tHKx1Sw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DJMDDrsWS0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLMpbpj5fpc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2O2rxJw6Xg
the last 3 mins!!!

Great many thanks.

I too was pretty far back and did manage to get a few decent clips, not quite 140mph but certainly through 1st and 2nd and just into third. Was more dismayed at trying to keep up with the Murc in front of me....but then P30LAM is an old girl. First time I got to hear the V12 in anger though which was great!

[evenflow]

Reeso said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2O2rxJw6Xg
the last 3 mins!!!

How strange. I must have been standing right next to the guy who filmed that Lamborghini parade (last 3 mins). I remember the little girl staring through the fence in front of me.

[DaveHutton]

Thanks Peter,

All very valid and understandable points - I too was dissapointed with the parade lap, despite being in a Huracàn. What really narked me off was the horrible dragon stood in the middle of the track pointing at her watch, after they'd kept us in the pits for 20 minutes!!

I can't see the club having much influence over the parade as it is all dependant on the racing. We can however put our opinions about the organisation and pace of the lap. As far as a public viewing went, great - as far as a demonstration of Lamborghini power went, shocking.

The warmth of the hotel has been a massive discussion within the club committee, we're looking at using a different hotel but there are many elements of Whittlebury Hall that make it an ideal venue. But, we are looking into it.

This year, we were allocated space to however many people had booked with the club using the discount code, this is why we were in a different location with less car spaces. In short, we need to convince people to commit to the event early. The amount of enquiries about attending the event the week leading up to it was unbelievable - which is dissapointing.

Really glad that the club's effort in hospitality and overall display was pleasing. We certainly put that Ferrari lot to shame! In comparison to last year, I found that a lot more people wanted to hang around the club area and socialise, which, of course, is exactly what the club is there for.

Anyway, let's make a fantastic joint effort between the club and it's members to make next year even bigger and better!

[lamboman100]

^ You might wanna consider Fawsley Hall or Plum Park for accommodation next year. Both good and rumoured to have hosted F1 drivers during Grand Prix over the years.

[lamboman100]

A good 10min montage of the Lambo infield at SC 2014.

Probably the best vid from the weekend so far. Deserves a wider audience:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1rUzRzcYBU

[Davo456gt]

The lead out lap and Parade lap were about 14 minutes in total - not exactly close to racing pace :-)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5z64zZJwJgQ

[snapper seven]

Here's a link to the snaps I took at the Classic. A few Lambo and Ferrari ones near the beginning that might interest.

The Jota was quite something!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/snapperseven/sets/72...

Cheers
SS

Just to add, highlights of this event are being shown on itv4 this week.
Thursday @ 9pm
Saturday @ 7pm
Sunday at 1.05pm

[B1GRLM]

Seems a long time ago but I have just found these of a few leaving the pit lane for the parade laps.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/garyharman/sets/7215...

[XTR2Turbo]

Will the club be there in 2015 / any earlybird entry tickets?