Silverstone Classic 2022 moved to Aug Bank Holiday

[Peter Mallett]

Just landed here after a bit of a mare this morning. Hopefully some great racing to come. Not sure if I'll get to the Wing though.

[midgetman]

Just got away from work and heading out to Silverstone for an afternoon of racing. Greatly looking forward to hearing 4 strokes for a change!

MiniMM has been there all morning and kindly popped out to pick me up. Sounds wonderful.

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[midgetman]

Enjoyed my afternoon, managed to get across to the Delta truck after the last race and MiniMM had a seat fitting. He can dream on

Some of the grids appeared a bit light - does the clash with Ricard make a difference?

However I do like the clear water between the Classic and the Revival. Later cars resonate more with me, the car club displays have a huge variety and at least I don't have to get into fancy dress to get in the paddock

Speaking of the paddock the access to the cars is first class. In all honesty I was more interested in watching the teams at work on the cars than some of the racing. Very enjoyable.

And the highlight for us? A Rothmans Porsche 956 (962? IDK) rolled into the parade queue and out stepped Derek Bell himself! A perfect moment.

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[E.B]

Just an early posting of Sunday's link for the Classic.
Will be starting to broadcast c 8:30am-9:00 am UK time.
If you click on it now in advance you can set an email reminder notification for when it goes live.

https://youtu.be/Y9tsPT6s3_I


Live timing: https://livetiming.tsl-timing.com/223458

[Peter Mallett]

Didnt go today. But here are a few pics from the Friday quakifying. Will post Saturday tomorrow.

https://peter-mallett.smugmug.com/Mo...assic-20220826

[E.B]

Originally Posted by Peter Mallett

Didnt go today. But here are a few pics from the Friday quakifying. Will post Saturday tomorrow.

https://peter-mallett.smugmug.com/Mo...assic-20220826

Great photos Peter....., thanks for sharing.

Look forward to tomorrow's additions.

[percy]

A few pics...

[Peter Mallett]

Good stuff, thanks.

[coppice]

Lovely 3 days , great weather and some super racing. Access all areas a joy, as ever and much appreciated. Actually , access nearly all areas , as one well known double barrelled team had apparently had an attack of self importance and erected some of that idiotic privacy taping. Which I ignored , obviously.

[Peter Mallett]

A few pics from Saturday. I confess that Silverstone doesn't lend itself to photos unless you are trackside so after these I got a bit bored and just sat and watched.

Pre War BRDC 500 https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjA4Q9x

Tony Dron Memoerial HTCC https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjA4QPg

Had a longer chat with Iain who, happily, was in much better form.

[Peter Mallett]

Originally Posted by coppice

Lovely 3 days , great weather and some super racing. Access all areas a joy, as ever and much appreciated. Actually , access nearly all areas , as one well known double barrelled team had apparently had an attack of self importance and erected some of that idiotic privacy taping. Which I ignored , obviously.

Not entirely certain who you mean, but if my guess is correct, all you have to do is ask. I've shared garage space with them and found them to be very sociable.

[delta]

Must admit i really wanted to be home tucked up in bed.So sorry to everyone who came to see me. I was really in a lot of pain.Here goes.
We had a good couple of days after racing at VSCC Mallory at Delta HQ and all four cars were ready to load up for Wednesday morning.Trouble was Wednesday morning going to work i got side swiped and knocked of the bike. Few cuts and bruises and poor chap in van was so sorry but amazed i think as i said no worries i am fine but i must get to work and go to Silverstone. Patched my self up at work but more of a problem was I found out i had shingles. Managed to get phone call to Doctor and a team member collected medicine for me on his way up to Silverstone. I would not want to wish shingles on to anyone blooming painful but hay ho there are a lot of people worse off.
We had a new driver and new car to run. A lovely little Crossle 4F.The driver has food and drink warehouses and supplies all the large super markets. He also brought crates of beer,cider and larger for marshals BBQ which this year went really well with excellent turn out. I do not think we have started a thread this year but a big thank you to the orange army for coming along. Super evening.
Back to racing and this weekend Duncan reached race number 670 in his Alexis so getting ever closer to that bench mark i have set of 750.My new driver did some practice in damp conditions on Thursday but looks like he missed a gear a couple of times and come Friday morning the engine threw a rod so that was his weekend over. I was very disappointing with my performance in my Lotus 22 and was some 3 seconds slower than i was back in 2018.Finished P29 but then disqualified for being under weight. This after not really wanting to race a car after 52 years I then offered my car to Eddie the Crossle owner and he raced on Sunday which I was delighted to of done as it had been a dream come true for him to race at the Classic.
I also shared a sports 2000 with my life long friend in the Thundersports race. Probably enjoyed this race more although the throttle jammed wide open in qualy on Friday but managed to switch off and just missed hitting the armco by the grace of god.We changed the cable and finished the race on Sunday in last place after an unscheduled early pit stop and then second time co driver stopped out of position so we all had to run up the pits.I have to get in passenger side and two other crew haul him out of the car.We were then boxed in and I could not get back out . Think the pit stop took around two minuits instead of 1.!!! I was very cross but could only laugh after the race.
There you go. Its not the race meeting it was I got told by a very senior person in Motorsport the other day," trouble with you Rowley is you just want a piece of tarmac to go racing on ". Spot on . Not sure on spectator attendance but looked to be down on numbers.
Sure was good to be back in my own bed last night. Happy days again.

[midgetman]

I hope you get over that nasty infection soon Iain and are back to the rudest of rude health. Thanks for the hospitality Saturday evening it was great to chat racing with you. Here's to the next 750 race starts eh?

Hope you had a big lie in this morning, you sure deserve it.

MM & MiniMM

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[PBE]

Originally Posted by coppice

Lovely 3 days , great weather and some super racing. Access all areas a joy, as ever and much appreciated. Actually , access nearly all areas , as one well known double barrelled team had apparently had an attack of self importance and erected some of that idiotic privacy taping. Which I ignored , obviously.

Dear Coppice.
If you are referring to me and my team which I suspect you are, I’m not sure why you feel it necessary to be so overtly rude. Particularly to a fellow TT. Frankly even if it’s not us you refer to, the same applies. Maybe just ask why? We were running 6 and sometimes 7 cars in one bay with lots of mechanics and fervent works going on nearly all of the time in what was an extremely tight space. With fluid spills, hot exhausts, re-fuelling, mechanics under cars on axle stands, bonnets, wheels, bodywork etc taking up space there is a point where a bit of sensible safety kicks in and we needed to control the amount of public in the garage. On Friday we had one lovely old chap trip over a jack handle while the mechanic worked underneath the car, thankfully on axle stands. One of my mechanics had to leap across my Nash to stop a young girl putting her hand on the exhaust after we had just finished checking the ign timing. When things were quieter, we removed the tape.
My mechanics and myself spend hours taking to anyone who asks about the cars. You will always find young children sat in our race cars, these experiences form memories from a tender age and hopefully set our future with old cars. On Sunday afternoon I spent a couple of hrs giving children rides around the paddock in our Austin 7 whilst talking to them about all the race cars we could see. Whilst constantly commuting between the pits, I would stop and offer rides back to those looking in need of a bit of help.
You may think that what we did was ‘idiotic’ and that’s fine, your opinion of course but one thing we as a team are not is ‘self-important’.
Maybe next time just come and say hello, have a cuppa from our machine and ask the question rather than get abusive on a public forum post event.

Peter – thankyou. You are always welcome in our pits, as is anyone.

PBE

[coppice]

Thank you for clarifying . In hindsight , I was a tad rude , and I am happy to apologise .

I was tight lipped about privacy tape it as the appeal of the Classic has always been the access all areas policy , which is a rare privilege . I assume all competitors are aware of this , and while I'm sure the odd hiccup occurs , I have never witnessed one in the many years I've been attending . While it's decent of you to say 'just ask' , the fact is that one did not have to ask anywhere else . The opportunity to wander (very carefully ) among a cornucopia of wonderful machinery is a rare privilege and the primary reason I attend .

I really don't want to have to negotiate access - if I do I will simply stop attending. That isn't 'dog in the manger' but reflects the fact that because of F1 demands , Silverstone is , by a huge margin the worst circuit in the UK to watch racing . The pit and paddock access is the Classic's USP .

[PBE]

Many thanks for the apology - its much appreciated. I do of course get your point re access at these historic meetings, I'm a beneficiary of it too when wandering around the other amazing garages. I'll make sure my team are aware of this in future and ask them to do their best not to restrict any access as appropriate. Do come and see us for a brew or a beer next time. It would be good to meet you in person.
Best. PBE.

[Mike Crow]

Originally Posted by PBE

Many thanks for the apology - its much appreciated. I do of course get your point re access at these historic meetings, I'm a beneficiary of it too when wandering around the other amazing garages. I'll make sure my team are aware of this in future and ask them to do their best not to restrict any access as appropriate. Do come and see us for a brew or a beer next time. It would be good to meet you in person.
Best. PBE.

I got a touch tetchy about the tape too but I went back to the old paddock on Friday afternoon when all the new stuff was on track and it was a delight. No crowds, all garages open, cars all fettled and ready to go and looking grand and people ready to chat. The point about people perhaps unused to race cars crowding a working area is well made.

I agree 100% with Coppice - it’s only the paddock that makes the Classic remotely with going too. I was at Combe today where the spectating is superb.

[Thundersports]

I've seen tape at the event in the past which used to irritate me but didn't stop me attending. Missed my second Classic in about 20 years as to be honest I couldn't face the terrible spectator viewing and the drive from the South on a Bank Holiday weekend. Getting the circuit feed on youtube was a bonus but what the heck is having a GT4 race about?!

[Peter Mallett]

I confess, I enjoyed the British GT event in May, but found the GT4 race to be a bit tedious in the context of the Classic. But Masters is expanding its portfolio so I guess if they can support a grid, the organisers will accept it.

[midgetman]

I've said before that I like the clear water between the Classic and Revival meetings. It's a different set of cars, different atmosphere and chimes better with the bland modernity of Silverstone than a faux "golden age" meeting would. So I thought the GT race was OK. Being designed for F1 the racing does not tend to be as close IMO as at Goodwood so I appreciate the variety.

I must confess I didn't watch that much on track action, I really enjoy the behind the scenes happenings. To watch the Group C cars roll up to the collecting area then realise that this one was being driven by Derek Bell was worth the effort to get to the Wing alone. And he overtook us in his gorgeous 924 Carrera as we walked back! He's quite some octogenarian.

I take my hat off to people like PBE and team working with all us plebs poking round, I'm so glad they do. Thank you.

I didn't think the crowd was down. There seemed to be more car clubs than ever and the widest variety of cars.

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[coppice]

The GT 4 event was a bit meh as the kids say . I was disappointed that the big 60s touring car race was on last , and quite late . As I have a 3 hour plus drive home and had been away since Thursday I missed it , sadly .

I did very much enjoy the recent LMP cars - I am not a Le Mans habitue and although the cars are plug ugly they are very impressive on track

Improvements? Open up all the Village grandstands , not just one , and the trackside up to Farm . Bin GT4 and replace it with a huge grid of FF1600 - if any one formula can deliver 'Silverstone Type Finishes ' it is FF1600 . Forget the F1 demos - if you have seen the cars in period they look very pedestrian now , as they are not driven hard .

And now my local this weekend, Croft Nostalgia - I hope entries are decent but I am not confident they will be as Croft does seem a circuit to far for many .

[midgetman]

Huge grid of FF1600 - now you're talking!

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[Plantagenet]

I'm slightly biased as a FF1600 racer but I would love the opportunity to race at the classic. HSCC organize this and by simply extending the invite to both classic FF and historic FF (both series run by HSCC) they would easily get a grid of approaching 50.
Let's hope some of the powers that be are perusing this thread for thoughts....

[Peter Mallett]

Originally Posted by midgetman

Huge grid of FF1600 - now you're talking!

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As long as no longer than 20 mins, you need at least one car to finish.

[brands]

Very enjoyable 3 days. Great weather, quiet campsite (Woodlands) and security were most unSillystone like (entering the circuit in a car club vehicle).

We spent a couple of hours touring each of the two pits/paddocks on Friday, starting with the Wing area. Worth wandering part of the Stowe circuit being used as an overflow paddock, as a certain orange monster was lurking there.
A few barriers in the Wing garages, I assume to deter the casual visitor, but there was always a walk around route if you really wanted to see cars close up. Or just ask.
A few of the multi prep teams outside the garages had barriers up but we were invited into several to take a close look at and take a snap or too.
Chatting to owner/drivers and being able to get up close to the cars is the best part of the event.

We spent most of the weekend at Luffield terrace watching the races, having a big screen close to was useful.
Loved the Group C display and demo and it was lovely to hear a few 90s F1 cars whizzing around, especially the Macca.
GT4 races were an excellent time to visit the car clubs on Saturday and go for food on the Sunday.

Food and drink was expensive but palatable.