Bad Treatment at Silverstone.

[Jonah]

I went to Silverstone yesterday as a guest of one the the World Supersports teams. Tremendous racing, good weather & great to see what went on in the garage & pits. They were only using the half distance "International Circuit" & unfortunately Silverstone had decided that the only grandstands to open were on Woodcote & the pits straight. Abbey stand may have been open. Woodcote stands were full & the stand on the pits straight only gives a view of the straight. The view from the infield was almost entirely obscured by the hospitality stands erected in preparation for the British FI round & the infield grandstands which were not in use.

I asked one of the stewards why the grandstands were not being used & he said that the management line was that there were problems with them. He followed this up by saying that the real reason was that if they were open they had to be manned by stewards on each set of stairs + a security person per stand + fire extinquishing kit & they could save a lot of money by not doing this. The only place to get a view fom the pit straight round to Maggots was from the concrete steps usually reserved for disabled people. My day there was a freebie but I was p******** off at the lack of access to decent viewing. People were charged £40 entry + £10 paddock which is a rip off for the limited viewing available. I was also informed that all the stands would be available for the F1 although no work would be done to resolve the supposed "problems".

Rant over.

[smithydar]

i'll agree about the racing it was awesome.

cant comment on the venue though as ive never been.but its a poor day out if you cant even see what youve gone there to watch.save a few quid by shutting the stands and its a few more quid in their pockets.greedy b******ds.

darren

[peter pan]

I have nearly always found Silverstone a grim experience from a spectators point of view, and as a result no longer go there for any racing F1 included. Last time I watched a GP there was several years ago, and I vowed I would never go back. Even when they were given money to improve facilities they appeared to spend it on a new building for a small fraternity of racing drivers and Stuff the paying public. the whole place seems to be exclusive with signs saying keep out, members only,no public access etc etc. If they really wanted to see how to organise an event involving paying members of the public, they should visit the Festival of Speed or the Goodwood Revival. These events are amazingly INclusive being reasonably priced, allowing public close access to the cars, drivers, mechanics, well organised with exellent facilities for the public including places to eat, toilets, free viewing stands, lots of ancilliary attractions (including airshows) and the most amazing thing is both the Festival and Revival are TEMPORARY events with almost no permanent infrastructure. Silverstone really needs to buck its ideas up and understand that it is the paying public (all of them) who pay their wages at the end of the day, they should treat them accordingly.

[Martin Keene]

Agreed. For the self proclaimed home of british motorsport, Silverstone's treatment of paying fans is disgusting, they should go and take a look at Rockingham. They have some of the best facilities I have have seen at *any* public venue, leave alone a motor racing circuit. Shame they don't have enough races there really...

[steve_m]

I remember when I was a lad, we used to sneak into the paddock at Brands Hatch, cycling to West kingsdown via my grand parents in Horton Kirby for an ice creme and orange aid !

Hardly any of the racing was professional, just lots of blokes racing cars they built in their garages, Triumphs, Rovers, lots of Minis and a few merkin cars.

They were the days, getting a thick ear for getting too close to a running engine with a water leak . . . the smell of oil and burning rubber at Druids, the treat of having a hamburger from a van !

Just seems that now it's all about money.