Photos and Story by Jonathan Sharp
Back from a very long day (July 30th) at this year’s Silverstone Classic. It’s funny I had looked at the few entry lists that I could find on line and was not that fired up about attending, especially at 5am on Saturday morning when my alarm went off. Yet I had a great day and I wish I could have attended for more than just the Saturday.
The Silverstone circuit area is vast, being as it was once an RAF bomber Command base during WW2. As the grids for each race are also vast, the race entries have to be spread across the two paddock areas, the new and somewhat sterile International paddock known as the wing complex, and the much more traditional National paddock. As the paddocks are at least two miles away from each other this means unless you like hiking, having to either flag down a double Decker bus, or if you are lucky, a VIP car to get you between each paddock. Not ideal if you are a mechanic with cars located in both paddocks!
The Classic event is much more than just a series of races each day. Over the weekend the infield area is packed out with one-make car club displays; a free funfair and a Ferris wheel, a shopping village, the inevitable classic car auction, and even a concert area for the free evening of rock music concerts. I imagine you could actually spend the whole day there and not even see a race unless you happen to catch sight of some of the action on one of the many large TV screens located around the infield area.
Below are races by classes.
RAC Woodcote trophy for pre 1956 sports cars
RAC Tourist trophy for historic cars (pre 1963)
Stirling Moss Trophy for Pre 1961 Sports Cars
The Maserati trophy for HGPCA Pre 1966 Grand Prix cars
International Trophy for classic GT cars (pre 1966)
Garage Shots