Silverstone Classic 2015: Historic Racing or Car Club Gathering?
2015 marked the 25 anniversary of the Silverstone Classic and, for the first time I spent the Saturday and Sunday at the event, for varying reasons, earlier in the year, at the media day we were informed that: "One day is not enough" and, well yes that is correct, the three day festival of "Rockin' and Racin'" really needs at least 2 days for one to fully appreciate all of the sidelines to the racing going on, on track. I spent the Saturday (fortunately as the weather his year was particularly grotty on the Friday and Sunday) taking in a number of the sidelines previously mentioned here when I previewed the event a month or so back.
So, now we shall try and decide what the Silverstone Classic really is, is it a historic race meeting? Or, is it a family friendly event for the car mad with the added bonus of historic racing as a sideline? Lets see if we can decide.
Saturday:
Saturday had always been marked down as an exploratory day for me to allow me to check out the bulk of what else was on display. I started in the (open) paddock and, wow, where to start? Plenty of classic and more contempoary metal (and carbon composite) to explore from pre war 90+ year old race cars, 50s, 60s and 70s touring and GT machines, 80s and 90s Formula 1 machines, early 90s GT machinery, Group C behemoths and, one of the weekends big draws, the 1900s BTCC touring cars complete with a plethora of BTCC drivers past and present! Open paddocks aside - there was plenty, car clubs by the dozen, from Abarth to Zagato there was something on display somewhere with the supercars taking most of the lens time of the many amateur photographers out for the weekend, not to say that the less exotics didn't get any attention, Triumph Stags, Citroen SMs even the fairly modern (in comparison - the original is now also 25 years old) Mazda MX5 all drew crowds, as did many more besides.
Moving away from the cars for a moment, there was also a (free) funfair to keep the children entertained, a shopping village selling everything you would expect at this type of event in, die cast models, motoring themed art, tools and garage products, automotive styling accessories, t shirts and such like plus, a few things that may not immediately expect to find in boutique female clothing, luggage and leather goods, a chocolatier, and a rock specific radio station! Other such sidelines included Go Karts, Quads for the children, Caterham Drift Experience, a Wall Of Death motorcycle display and of course the Silverstone Auction where plenty of classic, exotic and former racing cars such as Ferraris, Jaguars, Aston Martins, a pre Benetton Toleman F1 car in its Benetton livery, 2 Osella F1 cars taking the total Osellas I've viewed this year to 3 now! plus various other items including designer watches and automobillia such as a fully signed Canadian GP poster from 1972 and a Lamborghini starter motor. One lucky gentleman purchased a classic Cooper Monaco race car on Thursday evening and raced it at the event!
Top everything above off with the again free concerts on the Friday and Saturday night combined with air displays and hot air balloon fly outs its difficult to know what else you could ask for? well, except for the racing...
Sunday:
So Sunday I set aside as race day and with 9 races plus two sessions planned ( a little down on Saturday's 11 plus 2) there was definitely something for everyone's enjoyment, unfortunately the weather was not kind so some races saw slightly depleted grids on Saturday's turnout, unsurprising really considering the worth and rarity of many of these vehicles. However plenty did race and, it was pretty damn spectacular, the weather adding to the enjoyment of 30/40+ year old cars sliding and drifting around Silverstone, the drivers racing and racing hard! Many of Sundays races started behind the safety car for obvious reasons but once started there was action aplenty, Historic Formula Junior saw a massive startline incident in the wet which took around 6 cars out of contention and led to a long delay as the track was cleared, while the historic F1 race saw a fantastic battle between two Tyrrells of varying vintage for a podium place.
In short I don't know the answer to my question, however around 1000 race cars took track over the weekend, plenty of respected drivers turned up to drive some of them, many car clubs turned up to view and be viewed and around 100,000 people came though the gate to enjoy the action on and off track so, if you like cars, old race cars and want a fantastic weekend out with plenty else for the family to do, give the 2016 event serious consideration. I for one am counting down already!
So, now we shall try and decide what the Silverstone Classic really is, is it a historic race meeting? Or, is it a family friendly event for the car mad with the added bonus of historic racing as a sideline? Lets see if we can decide.
Saturday:
Saturday had always been marked down as an exploratory day for me to allow me to check out the bulk of what else was on display. I started in the (open) paddock and, wow, where to start? Plenty of classic and more contempoary metal (and carbon composite) to explore from pre war 90+ year old race cars, 50s, 60s and 70s touring and GT machines, 80s and 90s Formula 1 machines, early 90s GT machinery, Group C behemoths and, one of the weekends big draws, the 1900s BTCC touring cars complete with a plethora of BTCC drivers past and present! Open paddocks aside - there was plenty, car clubs by the dozen, from Abarth to Zagato there was something on display somewhere with the supercars taking most of the lens time of the many amateur photographers out for the weekend, not to say that the less exotics didn't get any attention, Triumph Stags, Citroen SMs even the fairly modern (in comparison - the original is now also 25 years old) Mazda MX5 all drew crowds, as did many more besides.
Moving away from the cars for a moment, there was also a (free) funfair to keep the children entertained, a shopping village selling everything you would expect at this type of event in, die cast models, motoring themed art, tools and garage products, automotive styling accessories, t shirts and such like plus, a few things that may not immediately expect to find in boutique female clothing, luggage and leather goods, a chocolatier, and a rock specific radio station! Other such sidelines included Go Karts, Quads for the children, Caterham Drift Experience, a Wall Of Death motorcycle display and of course the Silverstone Auction where plenty of classic, exotic and former racing cars such as Ferraris, Jaguars, Aston Martins, a pre Benetton Toleman F1 car in its Benetton livery, 2 Osella F1 cars taking the total Osellas I've viewed this year to 3 now! plus various other items including designer watches and automobillia such as a fully signed Canadian GP poster from 1972 and a Lamborghini starter motor. One lucky gentleman purchased a classic Cooper Monaco race car on Thursday evening and raced it at the event!
Top everything above off with the again free concerts on the Friday and Saturday night combined with air displays and hot air balloon fly outs its difficult to know what else you could ask for? well, except for the racing...
Sunday:
So Sunday I set aside as race day and with 9 races plus two sessions planned ( a little down on Saturday's 11 plus 2) there was definitely something for everyone's enjoyment, unfortunately the weather was not kind so some races saw slightly depleted grids on Saturday's turnout, unsurprising really considering the worth and rarity of many of these vehicles. However plenty did race and, it was pretty damn spectacular, the weather adding to the enjoyment of 30/40+ year old cars sliding and drifting around Silverstone, the drivers racing and racing hard! Many of Sundays races started behind the safety car for obvious reasons but once started there was action aplenty, Historic Formula Junior saw a massive startline incident in the wet which took around 6 cars out of contention and led to a long delay as the track was cleared, while the historic F1 race saw a fantastic battle between two Tyrrells of varying vintage for a podium place.
In short I don't know the answer to my question, however around 1000 race cars took track over the weekend, plenty of respected drivers turned up to drive some of them, many car clubs turned up to view and be viewed and around 100,000 people came though the gate to enjoy the action on and off track so, if you like cars, old race cars and want a fantastic weekend out with plenty else for the family to do, give the 2016 event serious consideration. I for one am counting down already!
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