Grand Prix 2018 British Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

After trips to 4 continents & a sub continent Oceania, Middle East, Asia, Europe, North America in opening 8 races. whether its 4 in Europe & 1 in Asia or 3 in Europe & 2 in Asia depends where you classify Baku. We are home, & doesn't it feel nice, although everyone at the 11 teams will be delighted for the week off after the very draining im assuming 1st ever triple header & not only are we home but so are Formula 1 as everyone knows the 1st ever Formula 1 race took place in 1950 at this very circuit.

Definitely taking inspiration from cider_and_toast because i wouldnt dream of blatantly nicking ideas.;) LOL thought I might give a bit of history lesson as well. Silverstone does have 1 of the best circuits in the world but its layout was only stumbled upon by accident. because RAF Silverstone was opened in 1943 but in a classic world war 2 triangle layout which brought the perimiter roads. Also the 1st ever motorsport event to be held at the Silverstone airfield as it was then was a extremely low key event in 1947. & was organized by a guy called Maurice Geoghegan. he lived in nearby Silverstone village and was aware that the airfield was deserted had been for a while (of course world war had ended 2 years prior) so he & 11 other of his friends got to together & raced over the 2mile circuit, although his race was ended prematurely when a few sheep had wandered onto the airfield & Maurice hit 1 of the sheep, which killed the sheep & wrote the car off. in 1948 The Royal Automobile Club took a lease on the airfield, to set out a more formal racing circuit. they hired An ex-farmer,giving him just 2 months to turn the site from a wartime airfield & farm into a race track for the inaugural RAC International Grand Prix On the 2nd October 1948 an estimated 100,000 people flocked to see Luigi Villoresi beat a field of 22 in his Maserati. the 1st 2 races were organized & held on the World War 2 runways, with long straights separated by tight hairpin corners, the track only defined by Hay bales & ropes that also protected crops in the middle of the circuit. Then the royal automobile club decided to move racing to the perimeter track for 1950 & 1951 F1 races. 1950 1 of most known winners of an F1 grand prix. which even though it was widely known as the British GP Officially it was the 1950 Grand Prix d’Europe & it was significant occasion for another reason as King George VI & Queen Elizabeth (queen mum) were in attendance, which is still the only time a reigning monarch has attended a British motor race, then in 1951 BRDC took the lease from RAC who didnt want it & rest they say is history

The drivers are going to get a shock with this heatwave, because like Belgium all the drivers turn up here most years expecting cold & wet weather. but we have been experiencing temperatures in the high 20's for a few weeks & with the forecast it looks like it going to continue all next week as well. but im probally biased but this is 1 of highlights of the season up with Belgium & Monza. because such a great atmosphere with stands are packed from FP1 & full of fans with great British humour down the years. always some of the best celebrations because when Brit wins at Silverstone its on a par with a Ferrari win at Monza. But unfortunately this is the 50th & potentially penultimate British GP. very nearly the final in its traditional place in July, because Sean Bratches has all ready confirmed that it was the 1st choice for hosting the 1000th grand prix in April 2019. but then someone told him about Easter 2000 & he was put off for some reason haha but as i said this the penultimate British GP because of the Mexican standoff between Bernie's contract, Silverstone's owners & Liberty Media. after BRDC confirmed the rumours & triggered the break clause in their contract on day of the 2017 grand prix all because of unsustainable 5% fee escalator built into the deal by Bernie, after the Donington park fiasco. which means that what was a estimated cost of £12m - 2010, became £17m - 2017 17.9m - 2018 19m - 2019 ,& by 2026 if clause hadn't been invoked would've been in excess of 27m

thought i would give some historic Silverstone facts. that you may or may not know & I couldn't shoe horn in
  • sundays race will be 50th race on 14th different configuration
  • the priest that ran across the Silverstone track at Hangar Straight in 2003. ended up being jailed for 2 months
  • 1955 was the 1st time a british man won a the british gp
  • the startline has moved counties in 2011, as half the track is in Northamptonshire & half In Buckinghamshire
  • Silverstone Annually on Race day, annually becomes the busiest airport in Britain
Evolution_of_Silverstone_Grand_Prix_Circuit_1949_to_present.png
 
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Its a rant and off topic (ish) but...
All anyone wants is close racing at high speed.
It's not the tracks it's the cars.
The beauty of F1 is the tracks and weather conditions are all different but they race on them irrespectively.
But they can't race because they can't get close enough to race,.

CHANGE THE CARS

(Grrrr... having a bad day :bangfists:)

Ive been using f2 as an example for that for a few years. Because when people have been slagging off circuits i didn't get the vast difference in racing. Best example was the 1st season in baku, F1 was 1 worst of the season. yet both sprint & feature F2 races were the best races id seen all year in any motorsport. I was watching some classic f1 few days ago & wondered if reasons we had closer racing was because of lack of computing technology back in 90's & early 00s
 
Yes
Yes
and Yes

Years ago on here somewhere a number of us discussed regulation changes and how they never create close racing until after about 5 years; when everyone has refined their design philosophies and pinched what they can off the others. If we're luck y we get one or two years of genuine close racing with three or more teams vying for the championships. Then the need to tinker kicks in and we end up with one team stealing a march on the others for another four or five years.
 
This technically is about Britain, do you think qualifying might get moved 30 mins & hour earlier. To avoid a overlap with england quarter final
 
This technically is about Britain, do you think qualifying might get moved 30 mins & hour earlier. To avoid a overlap with england quarter final

It wouldn't surprise me, football seems to over rule everything at the moment.
 
Been to Silverstone F1 Grand Prix 21 Times now. I LOVE IT! Can’t undestand those who don’t but each to his own. The atmosphere is amazing. I like watching from Becketts but that Grandstand is expensive so it’s a good place to head over to watch quali, then you really see them squirming through the complex.Beckets is always freezing whatever the weather. It’s a covered grandstand and the wind whistles through it, i’ll Be speaking the sun! I’ve also watched from Stowe, Bridge ( before the new configuration), the old pit straight, Copse and the new pit straight, oh and inside when that was allowed near the exit of the pits, old pits. I got Damon’s autograph that time.
Last five or six times I’ve watched from village, overlooking the Loop. It’s a great spot to watch, you see them come round Abbey , all round the Loop and up Wellington, if you sit near the top. There’s often some action there. You even see abit of them going through Beckets and just past Stowe. There’s a big TV too. AND the tickets are some of the cheaper ones.
So excited this year! I’m going tomorrow morning, just sorting out food & beverages :thumbsup: Weather is glorious, so lots of campsite sunbathing as well. AND the quarter final mach after quali. Cant wait!
 
You get a pretty good view from Becketts but it is a bit far away from anything (and yes. does seem to be cold!). I usually end up walking around a lot and getting different views. I used to go watch F1 testing a lot in the late 90s/early 2000s, where you had the whole circuit pretty much to yourself (perhaps only a few hundred people used to go watch) and probably my favour spot was just before Copse - the speed they carried round that corner was awesome.
 
Personally, I have always preferred Brands Hatch as a venue, partly because of the results of the 1968 British GP and partly because of all of the great sports car races we have seen there over the years. I also believe that it is more challenging than Silverstone.
 
I'm not an expert of British tracks, I have raced a couple of times at Silverstone (f. Ford and Opel Lotus) and once at Brands, Donnington, Oulton Park and Thruxton and in my personal experience Outlon Park was the most rewarding by a significant margin, followed by Thruxton. Silverstone must be very nice to drive with a powerful car, with an f. Ford 1600 it felt very wide and with many sections when we had nothing to do, but I'm sure that with an F1 car it must be terrific (and in the past it must have been even better), plus the races there are usually very interesting. I'm surprised that no one has mentioned Oulton Park as their favourite venue in England (although I admit that maybe it would be tricky to host an F1 race there...)
 
Publius Cornelius Scipio . I’ve been to Oulton Park many, many years ago. I was very young. :embarrassed: I went with a boyfriend who was a car designer called Adrian Reynard. At the time he designed the cars for a guy who ran ( British Air Ferries ? Name Keegan ? I think. :thinking:

Keegans son was Rupert Keegan and he raced for the team. I think it was F3000? cant remember. It was the one down from F1. Anyway, It was very exciting. I was in the pits where the boards were hung out and Rupert was leading and the pit board kept saying ‘slow down’ . Other than that I cant remember much. :no:

siffert_fan Ive only been to Brands Hatch once and it was to watch the inaugral A1 race. Do you remember that? It died a death but I thought it could have been good. Had a great time anyway.

I live on the doorstep of Donington Park but was desperately hoping the F1 wouldn’t go there. I’ve watched moto GP there and that was really really good but it seems tiny to hold a current F1 race. Not just the track but the support structure. The F1 museum , for anyone interested is fantastic.

Basically I guess Silverstone has got under my skin. It’s a brill weekend and I love it. :dunno:

rufus_mcdufus ALWAYS freezing at Becketts. But still worth wandering to towatch quali. I cruise around on the Friday but kind of choose my place for quali and stay there. .....I have been caught out before by leaving it too late to get in a grandstand of choice. And yes, Becketts is a bit far back. And also away from the main activity area. Sit at the front of Becketts and you MIGHT just feel a ray of sun. but sit at the top of Village for a better view.
So where for quali? Somewhere near a screen showing the football?
Anyway, everyone enjoy the WONDERFUL British GP
 
An advantage with Becketts (if I'm remembering correctly or it hasn't changed) is that the car park near by can be got to from the "quieter" roads so not such huge queues of traffic. It's a while since I've watched an F1 race there though.
 
Well I camp in a field behind Copse, so not too far from Becketts and that can be accessed from the quieter roads. Also easy to make an early escape from when the race finnishes. I manage to avoid the queues most times. So you’re probably remembering correctly.
The thing these days is if you’re travelling in at a very busty time, unless you know exactly where your going, you’ll get directed by the traffic Marshall’s and have to park where they send you. I camp partly because it’s great fun and partly to avoid traffic all weekend...it’s just a short walk in from the campsite.
 
Okay treated myself & 1 more off the bucket list, but I'm going to attend my first ever F1 GP this weekend.

Would love some advice on the do and don't! Travelling down early Saturday morning once the lad gets back from his prom. Hotel booked for Saturday night, etc, etc.

But the main dilemma is once the quali is over on Saturday will I be able to watch the football ⚽ at Silverstone?

Let me know?

Oh love the map if I could change Silverstone from the obomination that happened in 1990, it would be to revert the track back to mid 80's blast and keep the changes at Becketts. It would be an absolute race for drivers with
cojones.
 
Okay treated myself & 1 more off the bucket list, but I'm going to attend my first ever F1 GP this weekend.

Would love some advice on the do and don't! Travelling down early Saturday morning once the lad gets back from his prom. Hotel booked for Saturday night, etc, etc.

But the main dilemma is once the quali is over on Saturday will I be able to watch the football ⚽ at Silverstone?

Let me know?

Oh love the map if I could change Silverstone from the obomination that happened in 1990, it would be to revert the track back to mid 80's blast and keep the changes at Becketts. It would be an absolute race for drivers with
cojones.
Congrats on ticking that off your bucket list! You’ll have a great weekend! I’m pretty certain they’ll have the football on. They have done in the past. It always clashes with the World Cup. They won’t play it on the circuit TV’s if there’s a race on.....and I think the GP2 is on then. But they show it on the big screens at the entertainment zones. Or they have done previously.
I usually go down Thursday or Friday and take back roads to my campsite and have no trouble with traffic. You should be okay if you go early. Are you going straight to the track or leaving car at hotel? The car parks can be a pain to get out of.
 
ATL11 other tips I can think of..
Take sun screen

Wear comfy shoes.

Plan your toilet trips, queues can be long even for the men.

Don’t take any bottles in the track they’ll be confiscated. Booze is ok just not bottles,take cans, cartons, flasks, plastic bottles instead.

Take plenty of water

There’s a wide range of food stalls but on race day the queues will be big between events. A supply of snacks is useful.

Grandstands are roving on Saturday, but don’t wait too late to pick your spot, they close them when full and you can be stranded.

A radio tuned to Silverstone is very very useful to keep up with events, as is being near a big screen.

I would say take layers and a waterproof as the weather at Silverstone can be four seasons in one day, but I think we may get summer this year!

There’s a big screen next to the main stage, and I thinkk that’s one place they'll be Showing the football...guessing though.

I’ll keep thinking.

Ps. They are definately screening the football from 2pm at about four or five big screens round the track.
Silverstone
 
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