British Grand Prix 2013, Silverstone - Race 8/19
- Thread starter Duke
- Start date
Soldato
Fail!? Better than the old days before they put the bypass in. I still remember when I did my Geography GSCE project based on track access to Silverstone (my home village) and Shennington.
These days its a millions times better.
Ah, good man, could you tell me which way I'd be better off going on Sunday? I only live half an hour from the track and am good at sneaking to the main entrance but I need to get to the East entrance and I know there is a little road from Silverstone to Whittlebury. Is that blocked on race day? Otherwise I'll just head to Towcester and come down the short bit of A43.
We came up the A5 towards Towcester and got directed off and there were signs marked east entrance, although we went in the main car park (field within circuit grounds).
Soldato
I would show you on an image that I took, but Google have messed about with online picasa so now I cant figure out how to embed/hotlink an image from my space!? WTF google!!!?
Anyway, when you go through Whittlebury the is a turning on your right by the war memorial. That road takes you past Krispin Mills mums house and the church all the way to the old A43 that used to run next to the village which is now call the B43 I think. They used to only allow locals down that road, so not sure what they do with it now as I havent lived there for 15 years and the folks moved to Brackley 11 years ago. That route wouldnt make much of a difference these days as if you are still driving up to the track, you have to go up the main dadford road which will be packed anyway.
You could always park in the village and walk the mile across the fields to the track, be it up the dadford road or up winter hill. Winter hill takes you up to copse corner. Im guessing they still have access to the track from there as you used to be able to park on that side and get into the track from there via Whittlebury. You also used to be able to fence hop from here as well.
Anyway, when you go through Whittlebury the is a turning on your right by the war memorial. That road takes you past Krispin Mills mums house and the church all the way to the old A43 that used to run next to the village which is now call the B43 I think. They used to only allow locals down that road, so not sure what they do with it now as I havent lived there for 15 years and the folks moved to Brackley 11 years ago. That route wouldnt make much of a difference these days as if you are still driving up to the track, you have to go up the main dadford road which will be packed anyway.
You could always park in the village and walk the mile across the fields to the track, be it up the dadford road or up winter hill. Winter hill takes you up to copse corner. Im guessing they still have access to the track from there as you used to be able to park on that side and get into the track from there via Whittlebury. You also used to be able to fence hop from here as well.
Yeh, problem is I live Silverstone side of the circuit so I'm coming in from country lanes from the village. I could cut through Towcester to take the road you did but it's probably not worth it.
Not to worry, I'm not going to risk going near Silverstone village. I just don't want to sit in the main entrance's traffic, albeit being pretty good nowadays. Thanks for the help.
Soldato
Yo
Got back not long ago, driving from Leicestershire was a breeze. Set off about 9 and got there for 10:10...
Just a few traffic speed restrictions on the M1, no jams, and the A43 was eerily quiet compared to last year.
Last year as soon as we hit the first roundabout for the A43 every road leading up to it was gridlocked, it was basically a car park all the way to Silverstone. But this year was completely different 2 or 3 cars driving in front or behind of you high speed all the way until the slip road to the circuit itself. Quite strange I found that!
We went and stood at Luffield first, never been there before but it was a decent view, bit miffed about the relentless rain and not seeing hardly any cars until the last 10 minutes or something, although the Saubers put in a bit of a show for us before then too so wp to them for that.
For FP2 sat at Woodcote grandstand, first time I've sat there and it's a great place to sit, can see the cars all the way from the start of Wellington, brake hard, feel their way through Luffield and see the back end wobble as they press on the throttle and look for traction accelerating down towards Copse.
Really enjoyed FP2 and seeing so many cars out - perhaps making up for no FP1 to speak of.
Getting out was easy as well.
All in all a good Friday fix of Formula 1
Got back not long ago, driving from Leicestershire was a breeze. Set off about 9 and got there for 10:10...
Just a few traffic speed restrictions on the M1, no jams, and the A43 was eerily quiet compared to last year.
Last year as soon as we hit the first roundabout for the A43 every road leading up to it was gridlocked, it was basically a car park all the way to Silverstone. But this year was completely different 2 or 3 cars driving in front or behind of you high speed all the way until the slip road to the circuit itself. Quite strange I found that!
We went and stood at Luffield first, never been there before but it was a decent view, bit miffed about the relentless rain and not seeing hardly any cars until the last 10 minutes or something, although the Saubers put in a bit of a show for us before then too so wp to them for that.
For FP2 sat at Woodcote grandstand, first time I've sat there and it's a great place to sit, can see the cars all the way from the start of Wellington, brake hard, feel their way through Luffield and see the back end wobble as they press on the throttle and look for traction accelerating down towards Copse.
Really enjoyed FP2 and seeing so many cars out - perhaps making up for no FP1 to speak of.
Getting out was easy as well.
All in all a good Friday fix of Formula 1
Soldato
On the subject of the RB seat I really feel it will be Ricciardo.
Soldato
"We have got two or three things to test on the car but we brought some upgrades here and they are all working; we know they work because we did some pre-tests in Montreal on Friday. When we did some aero testing earlier this week down in Spain, we signed loads of bits off. The only bits we have got to test on the car are tweaks rather than wholesale changes, which we have already signed off."
Sam Michael
Sam Michael
Soldato
Lewis having balance issues. (yes you read that right, Lewis, not Jenson) 
"I'm struggling a little with the balance of my car so there's some work to do overnight to get us into shape for qualifying. We haven't quite got it hooked up yet and you can really tell that on this circuit, particularly with Becketts and Maggots."
"I'm struggling a little with the balance of my car so there's some work to do overnight to get us into shape for qualifying. We haven't quite got it hooked up yet and you can really tell that on this circuit, particularly with Becketts and Maggots."
Soldato
For the last few years I've gone corporate hospitality with work but I'm not going this year as I've just returned from a family holiday in Italy. Will be watching it on the TV though and cheering on McLaren as best as I can!
Soldato
"The car doesn't feel too bad out there, we're just slow," he said.
"On the straights we don't have the issues we had in Canada, so that's good.
"But we're still going to be a long way from the front.
"I think we can improve a tiny bit, but I think Q3 is a long way off for us this weekend.
"I'm one and a half seconds off the quickest car, so there's good reason to be disappointed."
His team-mate Sergio Perez was more optimistic, feeling that the new parts McLaren added for Britain are an improvement - albeit not a sufficient one.
"We did another step but still we are quite far off," said Perez.
MY WORD HOW DEPRESSING.
I'm getting bored of this "we've made an improvement but we're still miles away from being competitive" stuff now...
Basically we're going to be saying the same after Abu Dhabi aren't we? "We're still some way off the pace but we're making small improvements"
Bah.
"On the straights we don't have the issues we had in Canada, so that's good.
"But we're still going to be a long way from the front.
"I think we can improve a tiny bit, but I think Q3 is a long way off for us this weekend.
"I'm one and a half seconds off the quickest car, so there's good reason to be disappointed."
His team-mate Sergio Perez was more optimistic, feeling that the new parts McLaren added for Britain are an improvement - albeit not a sufficient one.
"We did another step but still we are quite far off," said Perez.
MY WORD HOW DEPRESSING.
I'm getting bored of this "we've made an improvement but we're still miles away from being competitive" stuff now...
Basically we're going to be saying the same after Abu Dhabi aren't we? "We're still some way off the pace but we're making small improvements"
Bah.
We went and stood at Luffield first, never been there before but it was a decent view, bit miffed about the relentless rain and not seeing hardly any cars until the last 10 minutes or something, although the Saubers put in a bit of a show for us before then too so wp to them for that.
For FP2 sat at Woodcote grandstand, first time I've sat there and it's a great place to sit, can see the cars all the way from the start of Wellington, brake hard, feel their way through Luffield and see the back end wobble as they press on the throttle and look for traction accelerating down towards Copse.
Really enjoyed FP2 and seeing so many cars out - perhaps making up for no FP1 to speak of.
Getting out was easy as well.
All in all a good Friday fix of Formula 1
Epic wasn't it
Loud as ever We started at Luffield and moved to Vale end of P1. Then started off P2 at Int Pit Straight then moved to Village (Arena)
Soldato
Epic wasn't it
We started at Luffield and moved to Vale end of P1. Then started off P2 at Int Pit Straight then moved to Village (Arena)
The sound has an aphrodisiac quality about it
18,000RPM of pure Heaven 