THE WORLD’S BIGGEST MOTOR RACING FESTIVAL 20-22 JULY 2012
By Jill Carter
Billed as The Largest Classic Motor Racing Festival in the world, Silverstone had a lot to live up to and it delivered. For the Classic Racing fans there were iconic vehicles as far as the eye could see and many were being raced by the heroes of the period. It was possible to get up close and personal with the cars, and often their drivers in the pit garages. Access to the grandstands was included in the ticket price and a good view of the racing could be seen from many a vantage point whilst listening to the informed commentary over the loud speakers.
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Photo by Lady Chisholm
Photo by Lady Chisholm
Many racers pencil this meeting into their diary as a must do event and many grids were oversubscribed with the best cars and fastest drivers mixing it on the track. It is a great tribute to the skills of the drivers and organisers that there was only one safety car deployed over the two days of twenty four races. With limited space it is not possible to go through the program race by race but the results can be found on the Silverstone Classic web site; www.silverstoneclassic.com.
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Photo by Lady Chisholm
The Classic was blessed with summer weather which shone warmly on 83,500 visitors, the largest crowd in its 22 year history. Seventy three car clubs exhibited over 7,000 cars which in itself was impossible to view all in the time available. Amazing as it may seem a great number of the public go purely to enjoy the entertainment and never watch a race! This year live acts included Eighties chart toppers Mike & the Mechanics who headed Friday night’s line-up while Adam Ant and Snakecharmer entertained thousands of fans on Saturday evening.
The Classic has something for all the family. Among the most popular attractions were a vintage fun fair, go-karts, aerial displays with wing walkers, the Parachute Regiment, the Red Devils, hot air balloons, Punch and Judy (celebrating 350 years), rally car and 4x4 experiences plus a retail village with nearly 200 exhibitors presenting a wide range of auto jumble, automobilia, art, jewellery, books, videos and gifts for everyone. To enable visitors to view as much as possible a continuous shuttle bus service was in operation.
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Photo by Lady Chisholm
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A carpet of red toured the Silverstone circuit marking a new world record when 60 Ferrari F40s took to the full Silverstone Grand Prix circuit to celebrate the Italian supercar’s 25th birthday. The F40 was the world’s first 200mph road car when it appeared in 1987 a fitting memorial to legendary Enzo Ferrari as his last project before his death in 1988.
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The Silverstone Classic Celebrity Challenge (8 laps), racing for charity was popular with the general public. Celebrities race in identical factory Morgans. Misfortune hit Brendan Cole one of the fancied front runners in the qualifying session when he ran into a tyre wall and was unable to take part in the race. Due to the disparity in lap times it is not thrilling to watch but does allow the autograph hunters a field day and more importantly raises much needed funds for the chosen charity’s Birmingham Children’s Hospital, the Bobby Moore Fund for Cancer Research UK and the RPJ Chron’s Foundation. Top podium honours went to Emmerdale actor Kelvin Fletcher. There were many smiling faces as the visitors left the circuit and all bodes well for 2013.
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