Silverstone: How does it compare??

[Tristan]

I'd say the majority of people here aren't British, so how does our national circuit compare with others on the tour??

What I mean to say is this: is it me, or does Silverstone look like a giant disused airfield (sic)?? Every other circuit looks proffessionaly done (I mean just LOOK at Sepang, it's gorgeous!!) whereas ours looks like something from the 1960's!! I think they're going for the "nostalgic" look.....

OK, I've never been there, let alone driven there, so my comments are purely based on looking through a TV screen, but even so DOES IT APPEAR THAT SILVERSTONE IS RATHER.... OUDATED?? Come on, this is the home of world motorsport; surely we in Britain should have the spangliest, s****iest, nice-est circuit going, not some track in a field in Northhamptonshire!!

Or am I just ranting??

[f1manoz]

The question where else would they hold a Formula One race in England. Every other circuit would probably need a major revamp as most of the whinging drivers would call a circuit such as Brands Hatch dangerous. Dangerous?? Let's see them race around the streets of Oporto having to dodge trains tracks and telegraph poles.

Talking of Brands Hatch, are the developments going ahead? Frankly, all the developments will do is destory a legendary race track. But that's progress. Considering Brands is quite scenic, challenging and fast, the present layout would be fine. Just the facilities would have to be brought up to F1 standard.

Donington Park might be viable, but the drivers would probably whinge about the Craner Curves being too fast and dangerous. Frankly, if GP 500 bikes can go through there flat chat, surely F1 drivers can. But like Brands, more facilities would be needed.

Any other track I think of wouldn't come up to scratch. Although what about an F1 car going flat chat round Thruxton????

PS - all this is just a rant!

[Craig]

Nah, let it stay at Silverstone - we don't need anymore of our circuits destroyed so that they can run one single F1 race per year...

[JeremySmith]

Silverstone looks fine to me...What is wrong with it??? leave it be I say..Sepang is a brand new facility,it should look good, but it has zero vibe..

[Minardi fan]

I was about to say the same - Sepang may look gorgeous, but it has no atmosphere and it's one of the worst tracks on the calendar.

So what if Silverstone is flat? It's Silverstone, it has a long history of motorsport, it is a high-speed circuit, and it has bags of atmosphere. It's great.

[Tristan]

No no, you're all missing my point. I agree Sepang is rubbish (I've been one of it's most outspoken critics) and I agree Silverstone SHOULD be the home of British motorsport. It's a great track, by all accounts.

However, in terms of facilities it's like Wembley: RUBBISH!!

What would you do to improve it?? Are the current plans nonsense, or could they work?? Remeber, Silverstone REALLY AUGHT to be the best track in the world, and it's not. Sepang is. WHY??

[bella]

well, most recently i've been to monza.
that was just like silverstone was last year - very wet, foot deep mud in the campsites, and yet no-one whinged. why? because it's italy. people will do anything to see their ferraris.
in terms of facilities, the toilets were decidedly dodgy (blue temporary ones that made the entire area smell..), and there were very few merchandise stands around, except down the main shopping aisle type place next to the straight between parabolica and the ascari chicane.

i actually believe they should build a whole new circuit somewhere with interesting gradients, rather than trying to upgrade and ruin brands or donny.

to improve it, however, i would lay more tarmac, build permanent grandstands (not just scaffolding ones), and DON'T CHANGE THE TRACK. it's fantastic as it is.

[Alan Jones]

Though the race wasn't great to watch , thought Silverstone looked pretty good.Always been fascinated since the first time i went around it on my Playstation

Must admit, always thought it a great track and was dismayed when I read about the debacle last year. Has anything changed or does it still need a major road into the circuit and a wet/dry carpark?

[bella]

didn't go into the carpark, but there is a major access route being built. it's about halfway there at the moment.

[Minardi fan]

Last year's fiasco only happened because the FIA were stupid enough to move the race to April and that it happened to be an extremely wet year.

As anyone who lives here knows, you just don't stage a GP in April. It's going to rain. Simple as that.

The facilities at Silverstone are better than those at Spa and the A1-Ring, where portaloos are the order of the day and the nearest shops etc... are right down at the track entrance. The Silverstone toilets are permanent, there are loads of them, and there are shops and food stalls all round the track.

[Tristan]

Aha!! So they're not AS BAD as elsewhere!! We're beggining to draw some conclusions here....

Is it just that us Brits enjoy a whinge??

[Alan Jones]

Thanks Bella and Mfan, had forgotten about the race being held in April.

[bella]

it has rained all the way through the year since october until april pretty much non-stop, so really the best time for a race is august.
sadly for cart, they haven't studied the climate charts, and have scheduled the champcar race for the end of september.
it's just never going to be held, is it?! at least f1 can race in the wet.

er, less of the shops all round the track. there's a couple at stowe, most of them are down at the start finish straight. don't know about the rest of the track, but up to stowe from copse, there's not much. oh, i suppose the few in the centre count.

[f1manoz]

Sadly for me, I've never been to a grand prix (yet ) but I do know that Albert Park in Australia is quite good for facilities, but considering, although in a park, is purpose built for the race every years, it's no surprise.

I travelled to England a few years back and had the pleasure of visiting Donington Park, and must say that compared to most Australian circuits, it was a blast. There was plenty of facitlies available, whether food, toilets or merchandise. (I didn't attend an F1 meets, it was Formula Palmer Audi race.) I've been to a few Australian circuits and I remember Russell Ingall once saying that no European competition would visit many, if any, of the circuits in Australia because they are just so bad.

On the subject of Silverstone, the circuit is stepped in history. Never being there, I don't know what it's really like but if Bernie is serious about keeping the race there, he should put some money into it, which I believe he may be doing soon. F1 should not leave the home of British Formula One racing.

[Valve Bounce]

I don't know exactly what you mean. My brother took me there many years ago when Alan Jones qualified on pole. He used some great maps, and he found all the back roads to get there easily. As far as the track is concerned, it is two dimensional - whereas Brands is not flat, and there are three dimensional turns. So the latter adds a lot to the character of the circuit. Having said that, there is really not that much wrong with Silverstone , maybe it's because Mika passed TGF like a dose of salts, and Mika won.

[Martin de Miguel]

Silverstone has a nice motorsport feeling however if I were you guys I would push first for an improvement in the road system, it's a big chaos, some of the money that is going to be used to revamp the race track should be allocated to improve the roads. Last year Silverstone was awarded the distiction of being the worst organized GP of the year, and this year is on top of that classification again, I strongly believe that the place were motorsport began can not afford to continue in that direction.