Well ..... what a cracking race. I had the most fun I've had watching a Grand Prix for years. A really enjoyable day. I got up at the crack of dawn (well a bit before.. 3AM, to get myself ready to arrive at Sixfields stadium for first few buses to leave for the circuit. This worked fairy well because there wasn't too much traffic around at this point and the journey into the circuit was smooth and steady with no hold up to speak off. But even arriving at the circuit before 6AM there was already a thin line taken up at the front all around the general admission areas. I took a walk round towards Club which has radically changed since last year, they've taken away most of the spectator banking, most likely in preparation for a Bernie approved pit straight grandstand for next year and beyond.
I eventually settled at Vale right at the front, having found a good gap in the line, opposite the Vodafone gantry, and big TV screen at the braking zone for Club. This is one of the few areas that has actually been improved with the general admission fan in mind, because they've extended the grass, well more mud at the moment to be honest, and brought the viewing area closer to the circuit. So they've taken away the decaying tarmac of the old stretch between Stowe and Club which was raced on before the 1991 modifications. This was a good call... so okay... you don't get the widest view here, but do see them emerge from Stowe, a chance overtaking into Club etc, and round Club. Plus you can see the big TV, and the PA speakers there are new and therefore not quite as shite as the ancient ones at other parts of the circuit.
So all in all I was pleased with the spot I ended up with... I had the luck to be sat next to a Williams fan, and some very general and knowledgeable people in general so I was able to get involved in some really good conversations. So my fears of being stuck elbow to elbow in clueless Hamilton bandwaggoner's were mercifully unrealised.
The Silverstone radio and TV was pretty good as well, had some good interviews including all the inevitable regulars and Jamie Green joined Ian Titchmarsh on the commentary team, I think he was pretty good, I might prefer him to Anthony Davidson actually because there is less of the cockiness. Jamie is a decent DTM driver... but he's humble enough to appreciate that he just wasn't quite good enough to make it to F1 (even though he probably would have been, no less so than Davidson etc) and there's none of this relating everything he talks about to his racing like there is with Davidson. But his technical input is just as good.
Red Arrows display was awesome as you’d expect even if the guy commentating was a bit cringe worthy, but always a good highlight leading up to the Grand Prix itself.
So… I had front line viewing, Semi hearable PA speakers allied to my ailing radio le mans radio, big TV and… live timing on my iPhone! So I was able to follow the race really quite well, better than for a while actually because I’ve had the misfortune to be working during the last grand prix since pretty much before Monaco. The data reception got slightly overwhelmed at times, bit it was steady and reliable enough to get the job done and the official (free timing app) though not as detailed as the epically expensive one, is more than good enough to help you follow the gist of the race and enable you to read it… I called things pretty much spot on.
The atmosphere was electric as well and Hamilton and Button in particular played to the crowd but they were all pretty good, the atmosphere is the touch which really puts the icing on the cake, and it really does make it worthwhile leaving your armchair viewing to experience this.
I also walked on the new arena section after the race… which felt really weird, it was like walking some Tilkedrome, it didn’t feel like Silverstone at all, felt more like Bahrain lol! Having said that… Tilke hasn’t been involved with this, and it has thus far actually worked fairly well, thanks in no small part to the bumps, which I were able to examine close up since the cars were bottoming out on these quite heavily and left black and yellow marks… I was reminded of walking the Porsche and Karting curves at Le Mans and dissecting the accidents from remaining evidence of tyre marks and collision marks etc. Very enjoyable.
Getting home wasn’t too bad… the actual traffic organisation is pretty smart and the bus was able to leap frog most of the slow traffic back to Sixfields. Indeed I only really encountered traffic on the M1 which was mostly not Grand Prix related but very annoying, since it was stop start… so much so that I elected to get lost in Milton Keynes instead of stay on the M1 until the junction nearest home. Normally for Silverstone I’d drive along the A5 until Towcester and then take the back roads through the Silverstone village to the circuit… not possible during Grand Prix weekend especially if they priced you out of he carparks forcing you into park n ride. Even so it still only took a couple of hours to get home.
All in all a very enjoyable day… they
are improving the spectator experience and will be adding some “better grandstands next year” however I strongly feel that for the Grand Prix the basic general admission fan is being priced out. Because the areas were you’d traditionally be able to go are now being cordoned off with more expensive tickets being laden on them. So the basic roving admission is being ever more restricted and priced out which is a huge shame. It’ll probably work far better for lower profile but equally awesome events such as the LMS.
The food is still pretty poor as well… they claim it’s improved, but in reality they’ve simply re-branded the same old muck, which is still prohibitally expensive and invariably inedible. I took a pack lunch each day, though I did have some doughnuts on race day, the guy next to me said “Doughnuts for breakfast?!” So I replied “….well they’re nearly edible you see!” Which caused many knowing giggles.
However, having really enjoyed race day… I am actually considering epic wallet rapage again for next year, possibly with a grand stand ticket. Yes I really do have less sense than money.