[WEC] Silverstone in August - Recommendations?

[W2Motorsport]

Hello everyone,

I'm coming to the UK on a vacation from the States in August/September and will be arriving just in time to make the WEC race at Silverstone. I can only make it on Sunday, but I'm trying to determine where the best place to watch from will be. My wife will be with me and she isn't much for walking the entire race (she is used to attending dirt oval racing where you can see everything from your seat). I'm mostly looking for a place that is good to see on track action in front of you, but might also have a tv screen so that you can see the other action occurring elsewhere around the track.

Thank you, and feel free to recommend anything else I may not be thinking of. We are going to be coming from London for that day.

Thanks,
Jeff.

[Anyopenroad]

Originally Posted by W2Motorsport

Hello everyone,

I'm coming to the UK on a vacation from the States in August/September and will be arriving just in time to make the WEC race at Silverstone. I can only make it on Sunday, but I'm trying to determine where the best place to watch from will be. My wife will be with me and she isn't much for walking the entire race (she is used to attending dirt oval racing where you can see everything from your seat). I'm mostly looking for a place that is good to see on track action in front of you, but might also have a tv screen so that you can see the other action occurring elsewhere around the track.

Thank you, and feel free to recommend anything else I may not be thinking of. We are going to be coming from London for that day.

Thanks,
Jeff.

Quite a few grandstands will be open and they are all included in the ticket price (seats are unallocated). Personally I think the three best places to watch are:

Luffield (slow hairpin, viewing close to cars)
Club (long view of cars in a left-right and along the start/finish line)
Maggots/Becketts (awesome view of the long sweep)

The International Pit Straight grandstand along the start/finish straight was a great place to watch the pre-race and start, but it is being renovated and I'm not sure what will be there instead. I tend to watch the start from Club, it gives a decent (albeit head-on) view of the start/finish straight but is the best place to watch the slow two-by-two approach to the start.

If you don't want to walk the circuit at all, I would just park yourself in Club. Great corner, view of the start/finish and podium, usually a screen opposite, toilets and food outlets nearby.

[GT6]

There will be the usual ten tenth mob who usually meet up for the start at club, that waYou do not have to walk around as there are free buses that circulate around and drop off at places that you will find interesting. The wing is opposite club but to get to it you will need to use the buses. All the usual WEC stuff and food etc are to be found at the wing so well worth a visit. If you want loads of different view then actually upstairs on the bus is not bad as it circulates about. Upstairs in the wing is not bad for food and drink and places to sit and watch the race on screens for a while.

[W2Motorsport]

Thanks guys, for the recommendations. I'll do a bit of walking around to check out different place no doubt, but spending the whole day walking around is a great way to make my wife want to avoid going to races on future vacations so I'm trying to prepare ahead to park for a bit somewhere. It's nice to hear there is a bus available that may help my cause! Looking at pictures Club definitely looks like a great place to sit. The top level of the bus idea also sounds like something I may try as well.

I've followed racing in Europe most of my life, but I've never been to a real top level circuit race before, I go to dozens of dirt oval races here annually but have only ever been to club level races at places like Summit Point (West Virginia) and Virginia International Raceway before so Silverstone for a WEC race should be a real eye opener!

[Anyopenroad]

I hope you enjoy it!

You will be seeing Silverstone at its best. Decent crowd but not too crowded. Open grandstands so you can see more of the action (all too often the grandstands are all closed, which is a shame). Plenty of food (but expect to think "how much??" each time, though given the weak £ your exchange rate should ameliorate that problem!).

If you do one bit of wandering, try to get to the Maggotts/Becketts series of corners/sweeps. It's very impressive and can only really be appreciated from the stand. The bus goes there from Club.

You are a long way from VIR-levels of pretty though. Silverstone is an almost totally flat business park with about 4 trees. It is far from picturesque!

[The ginger prince]

Even though its August, never underestimate the ability of Silverstone to be freezing cold and windy! It can be a bit bleak and grey at times, but seems to work really well for the WEC.
Hopefully it'll be a decent race, I'm looking forward to it!

[GT6]

Yep food at the circuit is not as good as it could be but the food in the viewing area in the wing is not bad and not to expensive, As out travel lodge has no food we usually have breakfast there. There is a bit of a walk from the car parks but if you park near club you can walk through to club right by a bus stop.

[Aysedasi]

The food is actually a million times better than it was 10-15 years ago. You can have a freshly cooked pizza, indian food, chinese and all sorts from just behind the main straight and in the area behind the pits. Even good old fish and chips. I also say Club as that's where I will join others to watch the start from. The bus reference is very good as well - I've taken plenty of bus rides around the circuit while watching the race over the last few years.

[Mike E]

Originally Posted by Anyopenroad

You are a long way from VIR-levels of pretty though. Silverstone is an almost totally flat business park with about 4 trees. It is far from picturesque!

I was biting my tongue...

You may find Silverstone lacks the charm of a dirt oval.

But I second the Maggotts/Becketts recommendation. Watching downforce cars through that section is well worth the walk.

[Sodemo]

Its very windy usually, so bear that in mind. Can't really add anything more that hasn't already been said above.

[Woolley]

The stand on the inside overlooking the loop is quite good. If you get yourself to the top corner you can see all the way through from Farm to almost the end of Wellington straight, and then from the exit of Copse down to Chapel. It is uncovered, though, and I've seen people up there who look like they're practicing for Everest base camp...

[W2Motorsport]

Originally Posted by Anyopenroad

I hope you enjoy it!

You will be seeing Silverstone at its best. Decent crowd but not too crowded. Open grandstands so you can see more of the action (all too often the grandstands are all closed, which is a shame). Plenty of food (but expect to think "how much??" each time, though given the weak £ your exchange rate should ameliorate that problem!).

If you do one bit of wandering, try to get to the Maggotts/Becketts series of corners/sweeps. It's very impressive and can only really be appreciated from the stand. The bus goes there from Club.

You are a long way from VIR-levels of pretty though. Silverstone is an almost totally flat business park with about 4 trees. It is far from picturesque!

Well, we are on vacation so I can rationalize spending a bit extra on food. Some of the food options will probably intrigue my wife. The normal fare at a dirt track here in the states consists of hot dogs, fries/chips, burgers and of course deep fried oreos. Not exactly an inspiring menu to say the least.

As far as the track being pretty, it would be hard to top that area of Virginia. We will be spending some time in Scotland on this trip as well and from what I see that may well give Southern VA a run for its money. That said Silverstone is a world renowned track, that is more prestigious than anything we have here in the States. I've been racing virtual laps around it on racing sims and the like since I was a kid. It would be an experience to visit the track on an off day, let alone to see a race there. I'm very excited!

[W2Motorsport]

Originally Posted by Mike E

I was biting my tongue...

You may find Silverstone lacks the charm of a dirt oval.

But I second the Maggotts/Becketts recommendation. Watching downforce cars through that section is well worth the walk.

We do have some nice tracks here in Pennsylvania, and great scenery. But I will say that being able to go to places like Brands, Silverstone, Oulton Park, or even having the ability to take a day trip to Spa or some of the other big tracks in Europe would be great. (not to mention access to WRX races on top of all that!) I'm ready to trade any day

Based on all of these recommendations I'm going to just have to convince the wife to do some walking (or more likes bus riding) so we can catch the race from a bunch of different angles. I've been watching some past races on Youtube from Silverstone and it looks like there are so many great corners. I'm really looking forward to checking it out!

[Aysedasi]

Make sure you look out for some of us. If you go back through photos from the Le Mans Meetings threads over the past few years, you may well then spot the likes of AllonFS, GT6, Bentley03 and even me in my trademark floppy hat.......

[GT6]

Check closer to the race, the week before and you will find out when we will be in club and who is likely to be there.

[W2Motorsport]

Originally Posted by GT6

Check closer to the race, the week before and you will find out when we will be in club and who is likely to be there.

Okay sounds good. I'll check back then. Thanks everyone for the recommendations!