Going to Silverstone next weekend (British GP)

[apple tango]

I'm lucky enough to be going to the British GP next weekend. Extremely excited.

Has anyone been before? Is so, I have the following questions.

Which would be the best corner to stand at? We only have the cheapest standing tickets.

Is it a good idea to take a deck chair? Although I don't like the though of lugging it around all day.

Should I take ear plugs?

What time should we get to the circuit? I presume the earlier the better.

Cheers
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CBR125 -> Bandit GSF600 '99 -> SV650 02

[smegbrains]

Yup I'm going with some friends again this year. We went in 2010 and had an amazing time, the weather was scorching too.

We are on general admission too, last year we ended up in front of Becketts grandstand, we got right up against it; as it's on a slope we got to see part of the new Arena/Village complex too. Vettel had a bit of a slide right in front of us and we got to see some overtaking too.

Don't know what it's like this year but in 2010 the ground in front of Becketts was a sort of black stony lumpy stuff, I imagine it would be majorly uncomfortable to sit straight on. We had little fold up chairs that folded down to go in a smallish bag, brilliant. Although as soon as the race starts everyone stands straight up so you might be well with just a sit-mat or a blanket if you're planning on wandering around a lot.

We've got weekend tickets so Friday is roaming grandstand day, sit anywhere you like near enough so we like to sit in the posh ones, the Arena/Village grandstands see LOADS of action. Saturday you can either upgrade to roaming (£40 in 2010) or go in General Admission areas only - depending on weather we might take the opportunity to get under cover.

I didn't take ear plugs and came home with about 20 pairs of them, they're given out all over the place. If you're cheeky you can dive into some of the stands and help yourself to whacking great handfuls, I've got some nice ones in a little screw cap holder. I'm deaf so not massively bothered by the noise but it is *LOUD* to the point of pain for my friends.

Time-wise, on Sunday we didn't mess about, up at sparrow fart, bag the spot we'd scouted out. I think the gates open around 6-7am. Nothing of note happens for a few hours so take something to read! If you're on your own you are pretty much stuck there unless you're not bothered about losing your "spot" that you found. As we were in a group, we took it in turns to stock up on bacon butties/have a wander. There's loads of stuff going on around the circuit, I went for a walk during GP3 quali and stumbled across Hamilton/Button doing a media love-in.

If you're just coming in on the Sunday then you'll probably want to make the most of your day and have a walk round the circuit to get some of the atmosphere in. I wouldn't worry too much about finding somewhere to sit, especially if you're on your own you will be able to wiggle in somewhere half decent before the race starts I expect. Depends how important it is to get the "best" spot to you - I know I would rather soak up some atmosphere in trade-off for a not as good view.
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Current Bike: Honda CBR 600F
Ex Bikes: Suzuki GX 125

[Frost]

Never been to the F1, but i was stood round the back of a 1990 lotus v12 the other week when the fired it up. On no throttle is was god damn LOUD. When he started blipping the throttle it was too loud. When he revved it to the limiter i basically had to run away It went beyond sound and just became a sharp stabbing pain in the ears!
Further away it was far more tolerable, though i expect 24 of them leaving the grid to bump the noise level back up to stupid levels.

Silverstone is flat. very fucking flat. Makes you think you're in the Netherlands kind of flat. So stand somewhere twisty to have a chance of seeing as many corners as possible. The low speed corners are usually where the time is made up anyway, and are where you will get overtaking when the tires start to go off.

Expect the burger van to be expensive and still have an epic queue, so taking some food from home would be a good idea.

Weather wise, expect the unexpected! Take a hat as it'll be useful come sun or rain. A big coat would be good too as even if it's sunny you can still sit on it.

[Nexus Icon]

Get to the gates by 5am or you're pretty much sitting where you have to, rather than where you want to. Personally I like Vale as a spot to view from. You can see the cars coming in hot from the maggots/becketts complex and slithering around braking into vale.

It's also where Lewis tends to do his victory donuts. So, if you subscribe to his confidence this week, it will be the place to be.

Stowe and Becketts are great viewing points if you have grandstand tickets but not so great for GA since they stopped GAers from walking in front of the grandstands.
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Greetings from Shitsville!

[skylineonfire]

For me, Village grandstand is probably the best, few nice corners, and a straight leading into and out of them, so you get the best of all worlds, heavy breaking and cornering, and flat out acceleration as they leave. Plus just at the back of them there's a bunch of burger and refreshment vans and toilets.

[apple tango]

Some good advice here, cheers.

I'm just going on the Sunday (with a mate) so I'm now considering not worrying too much about where we stand/sit as i'd like to walk around the track to see stuff that's going on.

I might buy some cheap binoculars and a cheap radio to listen to the commentry.
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CBR125 -> Bandit GSF600 '99 -> SV650 02

[Jodie]

Take a waterproof jacket and sun cream

It's usually windy and can get cold, even on hot days so a hoody and some shades too

[Slacker24seve...]

Went courtesy of Renault a couple of times, it really was awesome.

The changes of direction through Maggots and Becketts are pretty special. Its a good idea to mooch between Bridge and the last corner too; everything from there is pretty good - the grandstand in the last section gets a lot of action and is nice and loud but its not actually that fast.

Re: earplugs - definitely.
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Triumph Daytona 675 track bike + girlfriend's Honda Hornet 600
Selling a hack/winter bike for less than a grand? PM me.
Banger rallies are ace

[chrisw]

We went a couple of years ago.

If you aren't in a grandstand of any kind, yes, defiantly take a seat with you. We forgot and had to buy some there - pricey! Seats also act as a bit of a 'this is my spot' thing so you can nip for a pee without getting pushed out (if you're in a good spot).

Take you're own food if you can, while it wasn't that expensive, it's still a closed venue so you don't have much of a choice.

Take waterproofs & warm clothes AND suncream, who knows what the weather will be like.

Never felt the need for ear-plugs. We went to a few testing sessions and had pit access for one of them before we went to the GP. The GP put us much further away so it really wasn't needed.

[apple tango]

Has anyone used this for parking before?

https://www.silverstoneschoolsparking.co.uk/

The school furthest away only charges £5 for parking on the sunday.

To park at the circuit it's apparently £55 or something ridiculous.
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CBR125 -> Bandit GSF600 '99 -> SV650 02