Silverstone

[JeremySmith]

While I have never visited Silverstone during the time I lived in England..It would be a travesty to loose this race from the calendar as it really is one of the worlds great remaining race tracks..

It would appear that it does indeed need some upgrades the general appearance of the place is well, rather tatty to say the least.. Your thoughts!

[JamesRamone]

Tatty - yes
Unacceptable - No

The last few times i have been, i never got the feeling the place was a dump. Admittedley it does need some work, but i think the matter is over exagerrated. Ecclestone needs to realise, Silverstone needs to have a Grand Prix, and him chuntering away about upgrades, and threatening to take it away does not help.

I'd rather have a grand prix at a mediocre facility Silverstone than a High quality facility like Malaysia any day

[JeremySmith]

I could not agree more James with you concerning a race remaining at Silverstone. It must remain simple as that. Rather than losing it to a spanky, but rather boring, dare mention his name? well never mind you know what I mean *bland* new circuit..

[Sato san]

I think the place is still fantastic !.. It could do with new Pits being built to bring them up to more current standard , but overall i really dont see what it wrong with the place apart from that . It looked lovely on the TV today .. I wish i was there !

[Knowlesy]

It depends really.

I have a friend who I often go to Silverstone tests with who complains every time about the facilities, about how it isn't as good as Barcelona, blah, blah, blah. The paths aren't lined with gold, the pits aren't good enough (no he doesn't work in them), it's too old.

Also people that have never been near the circuit tend to jump on this bandwagon as well. Silverstone is a disgrace they say, an embarrassment to F1.

It really does my head in. From a spectators point of view, what do you need? A seat with a good vantage point is all you want and you often get it.

From the teams perspectives, again, I see little wrong. The garages etc... are not exactly state of the art, but they are more than adequate.

Not much work is needed all round IMO. A few updates here and there, but nothing needs done that should threaten Silverstones place on the calendar.

It's a fabulous track that demonstrates the speed and agility of an F1 car like no other and it has that old school charm to it. That, really, is all you need.

Besides, it looked quite glorious on TV today.

If I had my way, the F1 calendar would be full of "hell holes" like Silverstone, Interlagos etc...

[jab]

I think it's comparison. The teams get loads of space and top facilities at the Tilke-rings, so Silverstone seems rubbish in comparison. To the ones who haven't been elsewhere it might seem great, but then we/they don't know better

[johntt]

Bernie cannot get rid of Silverstone - it was where the first ever f1 race started back in 1950. Also with Lewis doing so well axing his home gp would be madness (if anything we should see a second gp in Britain).

The reason its being threatened is that Bernie doesn't like the BRDC (some silly prejudice of some kind) and that the teams have been really spoilt by the new facilities at places like Bahrain and Malaysia.

There are much worse facilities on the calendar. Monaco would be rejected straight away for its facilites if it didn't already exist and Montreal would be written off as inadequate. Imola was rather tatty whe i went there a few years ago, but it survives because of its history (and rightly so), Interlagos is just terrible but it remains due to F1s popularity in Brazil and the lack of any other adequate facilites (that i know of)

[Knowlesy]

But not even the teams really criticise it, even if they are spoilt elsewhere.

Bernie does seem to have this ongoing thing with the BRDC. All rather tedious really.

[Born Racer]

Maggotts/Becketts

[maximus]

Has anyone else noticed just how well the cameras demonstrate the speeds the cars have this year?

[Born Racer]

Yes. I think there is more use of stationary cameras to give an impression of speed.

[Knowlesy]

Some cameras are situated much lower too. It's been really well done indeed.

[maximus]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

Some cameras are situated much lower too. It's been really well done indeed.

Especially at Maggotts/Becketts, good work by the camera crews!

They had the same effect with the cameras at Spa a few years ago too, worked really well. I'll be there this year though so I won't need them this time!

[Hugh Jarce]

I've been a few times and it just feels like a real race track - built and designed for racing not to have a corporate meal and a luxury pee.

I mean, who needs a padded seat when you can sit on a faded plastic school-like chair and get either sunburned to a crisp or soaked to the skin?

Sadly so much of F1 is corporate - that's why it doesn't tick the box for many.

But then again it doesn't ...

a) have sand blowing all over the track
b) court favours with oppresive communist regimes
c) have half empty stands
d) risk drivers lives with concrete walls to decimate cars
e) have no overtaking opportunities

I'm sure other fans could add to the list.

[duke_toaster]

Don't get me started on Bernie's plans to get rid of Silverstone ....

The UK, Monaco, Belgium, Italy and the US should be worth at least double points and deffo should be considered uncuttable from the calendar.

HOWEVER, Silverstone, as historic as it is, needs an almost total rebuild. The track is fine, but if there is limits to how much can be built, Rockingham could be redeveloped to hold F1 - not as an instead of, but as an English Grand Prix to go with the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. Germany - with no manufacturers at the time - had 2 GPs, Italy (1) had 2 GPs ... the UK with a whopping SEVEN constructors has 1 round, which Bernie wants to kill to kiss the asses of oil barons in the middle of nowhere.

F1 needs to realise that most of its fans are in Europe and choose the schedule accordingly - European and North American (even if the tracks aren't that full it makes the races great for European TV) races should make up the bulk of the schedule.

[JamesRamone]

I've basically agreed with everything everyone has said in this thread so far. Silverstone did look great on TV today I really wish i could go tommorow, sadly im otherwise engaged with Metallica at Wembley

[Aysedasi]

I'm managing a team at an Under-15s roller hockey tournament.......

[JeremySmith]

It is wonderful to read how enthusiastic you all are about this magic place..I thought it looked great on TV as well and I will admit that I had tears in my eyes after Q today not sure why exactly? Silverstone reminds me of Wimbledon in a funny sort of way, very *British* I love it with all of it's supposed shortcomings..It's look and feels like a real race track to me, even looking at it on TV in Austin Texas...

[Marbot]

There's such a variety of corner speeds and Becketts must be the best series of corners on any track anywhere in the world.If you were going to build a new track,you would want to replicate that series of bends exactly.Also agree that Silverstone looked great.......in the sunshine.

[Peter Mallett]

I've been privileged to race on the historic GP circuit which differs slightly to the FIA GP circuit. Club corner is taken at a slghtly shallower angle (you can see the track on the tv) and Abbey is a flat out blind as it always was.

Bridge corner is fantastic and yes, the Maggots/Becketts complex is great once you've figured out the correct entry to Maggots.

The general feel of the place is old fashioned and the pits complex is getting on a bit now but what do you need anyway? The garages are big and spacious, the area behind can fit all the trucks you need and of course there's loads of space for the corporate mobile homes (for want of a better description).

Compare it to Turkey, which is about the only decent Tilke circuit, and it comes out favourably in my opinion.

Bernie has never liked the BRDC although he is/was(?) a member. He always wanted to change things and the club wouldn't move in his direction.

[JamesH]

I raced at quite a few circuits in the UK, and Silverstone has by far the best facilities I have come across!!! (and scene of my biggest crash, well, one of them)

Rockingham I have been round, but not to race, and can't rememeber what its like!!

James

[SteveA]

As much as I love Rockingham (been going since it was a buliding site), its primarily a high-speed oval. I does big rumbling V8 stock cars very well, but the F1 fraternity would consider the in-field circuit(s) "Micky Mouse", just as they do Indy's.

[JeremySmith]

After watching that race, I really don't care what Bernie thinks of the circuit and it's facilities because if Silverstone as is provides that quality of racing then who gives a darn if it does not look perfect..

[duke_toaster]

Originally Posted by SteveA

As much as I love Rockingham (been going since it was a buliding site), its primarily a high-speed oval. I does big rumbling V8 stock cars very well, but the F1 fraternity would consider the in-field circuit(s) "Micky Mouse", just as they do Indy's.

The current infield circuit is used by the BTCC and it is great, it's like Indy in that it has the very fast ovally section but also a twisty infield.

[Piglet]

It's good to see the support for Silverstone.

Having worked there this weekend it is looking very very tired and run down. It scrubbed up well with the branding etc that looks pretty on camera but behind the TV pictures its in need of some investment. It's not as bad as Brands was at the end of the Octagon era but it's heading that way.

Having said that, the basic facilities are fine, the teams don't complain about the garages and facilities the way they do about say Magny Cours and their are way more toilets for the punters than at Spa.

AFAIK the problem with Silverstone Circuits investing in tarting the place up at the moment is the ongoing will they/won't they have a GP contract for the next 10 years. It's difficult to persuade investors to invest millions of pounds and to justify spending that amount of money if the short man is going to take away the contact anyway.

The atmosphere there was immense this weekend though, I can't imagine that you'd generate that in China or Malaysia or any or many of the "new circuits" - the crowds in the grandstands were going wild when "their boy" came round, it was fab. BUT whilst that is good for the sponsors who take their guests, the GP industry is now much more aimed at TV audiences and the vast number of people that can be exposed to sponsors that way.

I hope the LH effect will now mean that it would be very difficult for the GP to be taken from the UK and that means Silverstone - much as I like Rockingham you couldn't run a GP there in a million years.