Silverstone Circuit
Encyclopedia : S : SI : SIL : Silverstone Circuit
| Location | Silverstone, Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire, England |
|---|---|
| Major events | Formula One; GP2; SBK; British Superbikes; BTCC; WTCC; British F3 |
| Circuit length | 5.141 kilometres (3.194 miles) |
| Turns | 17 |
| Lap record | 1'18.739 (Michael Schumacher, Ferrari, 2004) |
Half the circuit is in Northamptonshire and half is in Buckinghamshire, roughly equidistant from Milton Keynes, Northampton and Oxford. It is built on the site of a World War II bomber base, RAF Silverstone, which opened in 1943. The airfield's three runways, in classic WWII triangle format, lie within the outline of the present track. During the Grand Prix, the airfield becomes the busiest in the UK, complete with its own air traffic control.
The first two races were held on the runways themselves, with long straights separated by tight hairpin corners, the track being demarcated by hay bales. However, for the 1950 event the race was switched to the airfield perimeter road. This layout remained largely unaltered for the following 37 years. For the 1975 meeting, a chicane was introduced to try and tame speeds through the mighty Woodcote Corner, then a deviation to Bridge Corner added for 1987, before the track underwent a major redesign between the 1990 and 1991 races. The reshaped track's first F1 race was perhaps the most memorable of recent years, with Nigel Mansell coming home first in front of his home crowd, prompting mass hysteria in the grandstands. On his victory lap back to the pits Mansell even found time to pick up stranded rival Ayrton Senna and give him a lift on his side-pod, after Senna's McLaren had expired towards the end of the race.
In recent years Silverstone has been, some say unfairly, criticised for its deteriorating facilities. Silverstone has, in the past, been attacked due to traffic jams on race day. This problem had been largely eliminated with the completion of a dual-carriageway road just to the north of the circuit which bypasses Silverstone village. When the race was moved to an April date in 2000, rainy conditions turned the fields used for car parking into mud baths, causing chaos for spectators trying to park.
On 2004-09-30, British Racing Drivers' Club president Jackie Stewart announced that the British Grand Prix would not be included on the 2005 provisional race calendar, and if it was, would probably not occur at Silverstone [link]. However on 2004-12-09 an agreement was reached with Bernie Ecclestone that the track would in fact host the British Grand Prix up to 2009 [link]. After this year's qualifying session on 10th june, the England world cup game will be shown on 3 big screens around the circuit.
On 2006-04-19, Damon Hill was announced as the new president of the BRDC.
Winners of the British Grand Prix
Non-Formula One races are indicated with a pink background.External links
- [Silverstone Circuit]
- [Google Maps satellite view of Silverstone]
- [Silverstone Circuit History and Statistics]
- [2006 F1 GP Tickets on sale now]
Location
[Wikimapia]
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