** Official Thread for those attending the 2011 British Grand Prix at Silverstone **

I was in Club corner all day a few spaces away from where I'll be on sunday.
I think I was the only person in a Lotus cap in a sea of McLaren reds!
If you happen to be the bloke I was chatting to next to me, hello :)

Great GP2 race to end the day.









































 
Cracking pics all round!

Podium one reminds me of my victory there ;)

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I haven't been to British GP since 1999. General facilities have really improved, hugely improved access, more and cleaner bogs etc etc

But as a spectacle, what the hell happened? I remember there being huge stands for every team with a shed load of merchandise and loads of stuff going on. And there wasmore racing that just the standard support races.

Now, there are scattered stands for three or four of the teams, a general merchandise stands selling old stuff cheap and an air display. Oh and a couple of places to have a go at chaning tyres.

Seeing F1 or any racing for that matter is always great, and F1 is what you go to an F1 race for obviouslly. But based on my previous experience it was really underwhelming. Nowhere near the atmosphere or buzz of my last Silverstone expereince

I went to Austria in 2000 and remember thinking it was quite poor compared to Silverstone, well Silverstone now is like Austrai was then. Except Austrai was a shed load cheaper. 1999 feels like it was excellent value comapred to now. The MotoGP as a whole event was better and attracts a fraction of the crowed.
 
From what I hear of GA people start to turn up at the track very early for the best spots,

I'm sure you will b-able to get in somewhere though.

Enjoy it :)

Think me and the Missus are going to go next year.
 
Just got back im totally shattered and rather burnt somehow didnt think it was that sunny tbh but had a great day and must say lewis really did try his best :) .
Was my first time and if noones ever been and listerned to 24 f1 cars take off for real you must do it at least once in your life, tv and videos just do not sound like that its a totally unbelievable sound that goes right through your body!
I know all people say that who have been but i wasnt totally prepared for that body shaking awesome sound :D
 
Cracking day! Left here at 6. Got there at 6:20. Plenty of time to wander around and soak up the atmosphere. Whipped out camera to find I left the battery at home (****!)

Ah well, took a backup little digicam - arse, flat batteries. Fortunately, a merchandise store had some :D

Great day, was parked up on a grandstand between Maggots and The Loop and saw LOADS of action :D The atmosphere was second to none - whenever Jenson and Lewis passed, the crowd went absolutely NUTS. Aftershow party was good too! Lots of appreciation for ALL the drivers and especially for Damon Hill who, lets face it, has done a cracking job with the place.

I'm now booking tickets for next year's race.
 
Took me 3 hours to get back to Oxford.

The park and ride bus was great saturday but sunday it was farcical.
The queues to get back on the buses snaked at all sorts of angles across the car park and after standing in what I think was the right line, there seemed to be a mass decision to say oh sod it lets just all bundle on the bus en mass! Worked much better tbh! Then another 30-40 minutes to get out of the Hinton site and a slowish trundle home.

All in all a great day out.

I agree with FooAtari though about the lack of external stuff. I was looking for a good lotus hat and it took me ages and a lot of walking to find a stall that DIDN'T have Mclaren or Ferrari gear in it. On friday my mate who came with me wanted a Kobayashi hat as a memento but we blanked trying to find one of those.

Pics of the day (by the way, hardly anyone was taking photos. Is it just not the done thing?)



























































 
amazing weekend all round, camping over in the rain through to sunday, it has been awsome im defo going their next year no matter what the weather, rain or shine il be there camping over in the woodlands. :D thank you so much Silverstone and the BRDC for providing such great entertainment, well worth it infact its one better. :D
 
FooAtari said:
I haven't been to British GP since 1999. General facilities have really improved, hugely improved access, more and cleaner bogs etc etc

But as a spectacle, what the hell happened? I remember there being huge stands for every team with a shed load of merchandise and loads of stuff going on. And there wasmore racing that just the standard support races.

Now, there are scattered stands for three or four of the teams, a general merchandise stands selling old stuff cheap and an air display. Oh and a couple of places to have a go at chaning tyres.
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I know where you are coming from.

While circuit access has improved hugely (It used to take hours to get in and out) and the toilets are better, there has been a reduction in some aspects.

There are hardly any team exhibits anymore, it used to be that nearly every team had a stand where you could see a car and have a look around, possibly see a driver/team interview and maybe win something. I think the best was actually 2007 and 2008 when BMW had an entire area where they had the likes of Johnny Herbert doing doughnuts in an F1 car every 15 minutes and you could try your hand at various F1 team skills. We even got a signed autograph from Nick Heidfeld and Vettel when he was test driver and there was barely anybody even there.

Despite the new track layout and pits being finished this year, there was really very little at all for 2011. I think when the credit crunch hit, that had one effect, but more importantly F1 has lost a number of car manufacturers. Ultimately it comes down to the fact that they want to sell cars, which is why for example Toyota used to also have a huge stand. With less involvement from that side of things, there is less spending on what is basically advertising.

Advertising in F1 itself has also changed quite significantly too and I believe its they who fund things like team stands. Obviously long gone are the days of tobacco company sponsorship, I remember in 1996 they were giving them away free!

I think there are also some pretty stringent rules in place by the circuit and the FIA inregards to advertising and they most likely want their cut.

For example there is a Tetley's Tea stand at the event and last year after Friday, when I arrived on the Saturday morning they had to blank out every single mention of the word Tetley's on their billboards and hoarding. I can only assume this is because they haven't paid to advertise at the event as such.

It is a shame though because ultimatley I go to see the F1 race, but you do see the same thing every year in terms of the Parachute Team and the Red Arrows. I suppose at least this year they had a new display on the Saturday, but where is the after race stuff gone?

You used to get stuff like the Eurofighter display and a historic sports car race. Those kind of things were also good because it helps stagger the traffic leaving. Currently, unless you are hanging around to have a drink or watch the music stage, everybody now leaves at the sametime.
 
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you have to remember this track is still in development, they were talking about building some permanent grand stand, hotels and some car showrooms (from what i could gather from the silverstone radio) so the teams don't know where to put their stands and as a resualt from this we ended up with a scatter of small stands selling stuff for silly price's ect. But I do understand where your comming from, the silly loud music and the cars on display i missed this weekend, the mega mclaren showroom that had the safty car on display along with some special mclaren slr's and f1 cars.......but im sure once there is a proper layout planned out they will be back. :D
 
I loved the stuff after the race at Silverstone when I have been before. More racing, more displays, easier traffic etc.

I also loved being able to walk the track at Spa after the race.

Unfortunately, you cannot have both. Silverstone used to be the former, now its the latter.
 
Kerming said:
you have to remember this track is still in development, they were talking about building some permanent grand stand, hotels and some car showrooms (from what i could gather from the silverstone radio) so the teams don't know where to put their stands and as a resualt from this we ended up with a scatter of small stands selling stuff for silly price's ect. But I do understand where your comming from, the silly loud music and the cars on display i missed this weekend, the mega mclaren showroom that had the safty car on display along with some special mclaren slr's and f1 cars.......but im sure once there is a proper layout planned out they will be back. :D
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While they haven't finished everything with the Circuit yet, I don't think it's a case of the circuit being the reason. If the manufacturers/sponsors want stands, they would have them. As I said, I think it's largely due to reductions in spending.
 
Teledude said:
Anyone sit in club? tempted to book that or possibly silverstone six for next year :D
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I was in Stowe Lakeside (Constructors Lounge) so we had a terrace all the way from Stowe down vale and sat in the grandstand on the inside of the track at club. It was an awesome place to sit and was good for overtaking action in all races that weekend.
 
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