Quote:
Originally Posted by chunterer
I thought Silverstone being off was only down to covid. Clearly more to it than that.
I think it's nonsense not having a British endurance round. Very disappointing.
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I tend to agree however my reasons are slightly more selfish. Its closer to my house, you get more track action for the money and less chance of red flags/delays.
However, every SRO event i attended at Silverstone there never seemed to be many people compared to Brands Hatch (more spread out maybe?) and it was rumoured for a couple of years before it was pulled that if things didnt improve then SRO wouldnt be coming back.
I think there's bigger things going on at Silverstone however, in recent years they lost GT Open, WEC, ELMS & GTWC Endurance. I remember the interview last year with the ACO (im sorry i forget the guys name) where it was said that Silverstone were asking for alot of money and concerns around travel regarding Brexit were suggested reasons for why WEC/ELMS didnt return. Not to mention that Silverstone were in a pretty poor financial position throughout 2020 due to Covid.
Someone mentioned previously that Brexit & the potential travel issues were behind the absence of Silverstone from the calendar but i fail to see that as a valid excuse given that theres been no issue to Brands Hatch holding a round of the championship and British teams have been travelling back and forth between European rounds all year. Obviously no country apart from maybe France (SRO are French) has a god given right to host two rounds of the championship but Spain & Italy get both Sprint & Endurance rounds. I just think its a shame given that the first ever GT3 weekend was held at Silverstone and SRO have hosted events there for such a long time. I do wonder what the future holds for our country with regards to international level motorsport events given that most championships from Europe are choosing to swerve us now.
More interesting to me is the silence from people within the industry, the media & fans. Nobody seems to be willing to ask the question "Whats happening down at Silverstone?"