Last week I travelled to the Silverstone Classic Media Day, which of course took place at the legendary ‘Home of British Motorsport’. Along with 200 other media guests I listened to the details about this summer’s special 25th anniversary meeting – which will now include an exciting new spectacle featuring F1 cars from the Senna, Schumacher and Mansell era.
I was also lucky enough to get a few exhilerating passenger laps around the full GP circuit in a 1931 Talbot 105 and a 1952-3 Allard J2X V8 Le mans Racer – to get a taste of the eagerly anticipated event that will take place this July.
With interest in historic motor sport at an all-time high, the Silverstone Classic is one of the most popular events on the world racing calendar, and having attracted more than 1,100 entries in each of the last three years, 2015 will be no exception. Last year a record 94,000 fans poured through the gates, advance ticket sales suggest that more than 100,000 are expected to visit in July.
“Silverstone Classic represents the very best historic racing anywhere on the planet,” said Event Director Nick Wigley. “The breadth of cars the event attracts is simply extraordinary, from Pre-War 1920s and ‘30s machinery through early Grand Prix cars, the glamour era of the ‘50s and ‘60s to 1980s F1 turbocharged beasts, Group C sportscars and Super Touring and GT legends from the ‘90s. It really is a comprehensive spectrum.
“That generates massive appeal for enthusiasts, and throw in all the off-track entertainment too – with live music, shopping, the adrenaline zone and vintage fairground rides – and you have a superb weekend for all the family. There’s just a fabulous festival feel.
Last year, more than 9,000 privately-owned classic cars were on show, and a record 114 clubs have already signed up for 2015, with 31 anniversaries being celebrated for good measure – from the 25th birthday of the Honda NSX and Mazda MX-5 to 30 years of the Sinclair C5, 40 years of the Jaguar XJS, half-a-century of the Aston Martin DB6, Rolls Royce Silver Shadow, MGB GT and 60 years of the Citroën DS and Rolls Royce Silver Cloud.
A brief history of the event
Twenty-five years ago, Stuart Graham – the only man ever to win the iconic TT race in the post-war era on both two wheels and four – was the innovator who first had the brainwave of launching the Silverstone Classic, having noted the popularity and success of similar historic events in Germany and the USA.
Thus was born the International Historic Festival, which took place at Silverstone a week after the British Grand Prix, and proved to be the catalyst that has inspired all retro-flavoured motor sport events that have followed in its pioneering wheeltracks. The 1990 event was praised by a leading magazine as ‘heaven on earth’.
Old Favourites and New Additions
From Formula 1 to touring cars, GTs and sportscars to pre-war prototypes, Silverstone this summer will have them all. The traditional favourites are back in force and in fine fettle – including the FIA Masters Historic F1 Championship, the Royal Automobile Club Historic Tourist Trophy for Pre-1963 GT cars, the FIA Masters Historic Sports Car Championship for Pre-1966 GT cars, front and rear-engined Pre-1966 F1 cars and the Group C endurance racers.
Appropriately enough with Silverstone having hosted the very first round of the FIA Formula One World Championship, there will be more F1 cars racing at the Silverstone Classic than anywhere else, and they will be joined in 2015 by Pre-War Sportscars, a major feature of early Classics but one that has been absent from the bill for a number of years.
New to the scene will be the Guards Trophy – a sold-out grid of Pre-1966 GTs and Pre-1969 sportscars – and, to commemorate the 75th anniversary and Silverstone’s role as a bomber base during the Second World War, a pair of Battle of Britain races for British-built Pre-1966 GTs, touring cars and sportscars, bringing together an eclectic mix of MGs, Lotuses, Aston Martins, Jaguars, Minis and Ginettas to name but a few.
The crowd-pleasing touring cars return once again, with BTCC Champions Gordon Shedden and Matt Neal seeking a rematch in their Team Dynamics-prepared Lotus Cortina, after leading the U2TC race last year only to retire before the chequered flag.
Following a well-received debut in 2014, 90s GT Legends will be back this year, with the addition of Bernd Schneider’s 1997 FIA GT Championship-winning Mercedes-Benz CLK-GTR. They will be joined, to much acclaim, by a new high-speed demonstration, 90s F1 Legends, celebrating the post-DFV ‘80s/90s high-revving turbo era.
Off-Track Family Fun
The Silverstone Classic is about so much more than the high-octane action on the circuit, with endless entertainment for all the family. There will be live music from Paul Young and Status Quo – classic British rock to complement classic British racing – and Fleetwood Mac and ZZ Top tribute acts, hot air balloon flyouts, a twilight pyrotechnics display and Lancaster, Spitfire and Hurricane aerial flypasts.
A new adrenaline zone includes a zip wire, climbing walls, Wacky Wheeler Jeeps, a reverse bungee swing and a 40m-high giant wheel for a panoramic view of all the action. Interactive driving activities are provided by the Off-Road Zone, Caterham Drift Experience, the 2CV Tin Snail Challenge, rally and 4×4 rides and a street car shoot-out – the vast majority of which is included within the general ticket price.
Throw into the mix a Vintage Funfair, giant scalextric, a huge retail shopping village – with more than 170 exhibitors already signed up – Silverstone Auctions and TV presenter Mike Brewer’s popular Car Clinic, and all the ingredients are firmly in place for a spectacular anniversary event.
Full details of all tickets (which must be purchased in advance) – as well as hospitality packages and weekend festival camping – can be found on the official website www.silverstoneclassic.com.
Our full gallery of pictures from the day can be found here on our Flicker account.
