Ferrari

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Comment by Dirk Glassly on February 17, 2009 at 5:46am

Hi Dennis
thank you for the comment. About Silverstone: I have a love/hate relationship with the place. I go a lot because it is only about 12 miles from my home, and they have some great events, including a lot of vintage / historic racing. The circuit has various configurations for different types of meetings, but the full international / Formula 1 circuit is pretty fast with some great fast curves. The 'club' circuit is pretty small and less interesting. I guess the mid-summer Silverstone Classic is the best event for our interests, but there's many others through the year. I love the Classic Endurance Racing that complements the Le Mans Series event - those 1970s Group C cars are just amazing. The main problem with Silverstone from a photographer's perspective is the high (Formula 1) fences all around and the flat elevation (it's a windy old airfield), resulting in limited places where you can get a clear shot of the cars on the track. Laguna Seca it aint. There is terraced concrete at the slow infield section, and there is banking around the perimeter in places where you're on a higher elevation, especially at the fast Stowe corner, and those in the know can find a few other spots around the track to get a clear view. But a first-time visitor who wants to get clear shots could have a frustrating time if they don't get advice before-hand. I've written to the management at Silverstone suggesting they build platforms at the key places so photographers can get a view, but they say 'health and safety regulations' prevent that. So folks perch on railings and other precarious places instead! All of the above assumes you hav't got a trackside media pass (I don't). With a pass of course you can get track-side of the fences and therefore better low-angle shots, but they're hard to get I think.
One really annoying thing is they hardly ever open up the grandstands - mostly they are kept locked, or maybe only one or two opened-up. At the FIA GT meeting last year the know-nothing track commentator said over the PA what a shame it was so few people are here - basing his analysis on the fact "the grandstands are empty" - he didn't know the grandstands were ******** locked! I wrote about that too and they've promised to do better.
Obviously being England there's also the weather issue - totally unpredictable is the best advice. And Silverstone has little shelter once you get out of the pits / start-finish area. Last two summers have been very poor, with a few exceptional weekends, so maybe we'll get a better summer in 2009 following the coldest winter for 25 years. For places to stay, I guess the best bet would be a pub or hotel in a village somewhere near. There are nearby towns (Northampton, Buckingham, Milton Keynes) but I think most visitors prefer the villages and pubs with accommodation. Silverstone is the centre of UK 'Motorsport Valley' (F1 teams Williams, Renault, Honda, Red Bull, Force India, close by, Cosworth and Ilmore (Mercedes) at Northampton, Aston Martin, Lola, Prodrive and of course McLaren not too far away, etc..) so a lot of local pubs cater for motorsport fans and industry people.
The Silverstone website www.silverstone.co.uk/ seems very slow updating this year - they still havn't posted the full race calendar. I guess they're recovering from the chock of losing the Formula 1 GP from 2010. They'd love to sell you a 'hospitality' package - something I've never tried.
hope this is helpful - get back to me if you need more.
regards
Dirk

Comment by Dennis Gray on February 16, 2009 at 3:53pm

I like this image. Tell me about Silverstonme?