G has always wanted to go to the Silverstone Formula1 Grand Prix. Since I met him, five years ago, it's been his number one dream. So it's no wonder, then, that he bought us tickets. And so, last weekend, we packed our bags, hired a car, and drove 2 hours to Faringdon where we'd be staying because the whole of Silverstone and surrounds was pretty much booked out (or devastated by a careless arson attempt).
We got up so very early every morning to drive to the circuit, but we made it…
Much excitement at this point. The F1 took place over three days: (1) practice (2) qualifying (3) race. Day 1, Friday, was very lazy and quiet at Silverstone. It was exceptionally hot, and we had managed to get very good parking so at least we didn't have to walk very far to get in. We helped ourselves to the free earplugs in giant wheely bins at the entrance, and made our way to our seats.
As you can see, we're very early and there aren't many other people around. And, you can also see that I bought myself some very silly plastic shoes for the occasion. Don't tell anyone, but they were exceptionally comfortable!
It got very hot very quickly and we soon realised that we had left our hats behind (disaster!) so we went to one of the hundreds of Mclaren shops to purchase fan memorabilia in the form of a sun-protective hat so that I wouldn't frizzle.
The shop (above) was bustling and busy at about 6am. It was quite entertaining: all the shops around this one were quite empty. British folk are rather patriotic!
Here you can see my (G's) new Mclaren hat. It's very sunny.
And there's the branding. A few hours later everyone in the stadium seats would be wearing neon-orange variants of this hat.
Another self-portrait. We have so many of these, oh dear! After watching a few practice runs we got up and went walking about. The circuit was enormous! It took a while to get from one end to the other, and it was so exceptionally hot that you really could only go from grandstand to grandstand in any one walk.
Here's G standing on the side of the track taking a photo of the cars going past. I thought it very entertaining that the gentleman on the right is wearing a t-shirt from home! And, I'm not sure if you can see, but there are hundreds of tiny little bugs (or, 'miggies' as we call them) all over him. Those bugs bite. And there were thousands. You had to keep moving to stop yourself from becoming lunch.
Some supporters really got into the whole 'fan memorabilia' thing – look at that guy in the background with the flag!
We had promised ourselves a soft-serve ice-cream from Silverstone, so, when we came across an ice-cream van, we stopped off and got one. Yum! It melted very quickly.
This is the sign on top of the Santander tent. In case it's not obvious, it is made from giant lego bricks, more or less the size of real bricks. Made me think of Justin, and of James May's giant lego house.
And lastly, one of the most entertaining things we saw were loads of people wearing backpacks that were in fact portable kegs. They also all had these enormous flags flying way up above their heads so that everyone could always see where to get beer from! You paid the 'bartender' and they gave you a cold beer in a plastic cup. And, you never have to get up and queue at the (numerous) bars.
Ha!
It got too hot too quickly so we didn't stay for the festivities after the practice laps. We headed back to Faringdon (an hour's drive away) and had delicious dinner with G's grandparents. Up again very early on Saturday morning.
At least we remembered our hats this time! And we discovered that our tickets got us into the covered grandstands for Saturday, so we were very comfortably shielded from the sun.
A close-up of the top of the Silverstone Clubhouse. You will have noticed that I haven't posted any photos of cars… G's photos to follow after this post.
The thing about the covered grandstands is that they're awfully close to the pit lane. And they're awfully close to the track. And that means that we made particularly good use of the free earplugs! The noise… I can't describe it. It sounded like a very, very loud car that had a double-layer of sound to it: one very loud, very chesty rumble that reverberated in the pit of your stomach. The other, a screeching high-pitched scream that went right through your ears and hurt somewhere just inside your lower jaw. The earplugs blocked out the second one.
Lunch! (A "gourmet" burger)
And beer. Note the plastic festival cup, and G's very appropriate supporter's shirt. And our funny hats.
This is us sitting in the grandstands somewhere in the middle. It was so exceptionally hot! I may have mentioned that already.
This is a quick picture of the lady sitting in front of us. She didn't seem to lather on the sunblock as often (or as much) as we did. She also didn't have a giant floppy hat. Surprisingly, this kind of sunburn was very common: people everywhere were topless, shirtless, hatless and sunblock-less. Perhaps they are not used to hot weather in England?
We soon headed back to Faringdon and we discovered the end-bit of an Italian food festival. Loads of baked goods, cheeses, cold meats and treats. Behind me in this photo there was a music stage, and there were various bands playing quite loudly all weekend. Not much of a crowd, but the townsfolk did come out and show their support.
And finally, Sunday:
I was fast asleep on the way to Silverstone (poor G had to drive all the time). This is the petrol station we stopped at every morning to buy coffee. Like most stations in the UK, they have face-and-registration-recognition cameras. They scan you and your car before releasing any petrol. Revolutionary!
Luckily there was a lot of cloud on Sunday – – if not, we would have been as burnt as the other lady! It was very, very busy and it was quite difficult to move around. This is very early in the morning – – as you can see, people are much more eager to find a seat than on previous days.
I'm trying to take a picture of our matching supporter's shirts … oh well. At least I can tell you about the lanyards: you wore them around your neck the whole time because they're your access pass … your ticket is in a plastic holder at the end of it. As you can see, it was a bit chilly in the morning (in fact, it had even rained a bit).
One thing I didn't mention previously, although I'm sure G will because he got some nice photos of them, was the AMOUNT OF HELICOPTERS! They landed on the field in the middle of the track and there were easily about 40 of them. They took off, returned, landed and zipped about willy-nilly the whole weekend. You could go flying on one for a hefty fee. They look like miggies here.
At about 9am the stands were filling up and the sky was clearing… Can you see all the luminous orange hats starting to build up?
We found this photo very funny: three Mclaren supporters in full gear with a ferrari umbrella!
A nice picture of the clouds that glided past us early in the morning.
Ah! I had forgotten about this. The nachos were our lunch – – and that yellow gunk is melted cheese. Only, the cheese never un-melted. It stayed liquid the whole time we were eating it … even when it got cold. Needless to say, we didn't finish our nachos.
Before the race, all the drivers got onto the back of a flat-bed truck and drove around the track and waved at the crowds. Looking through the camera, you could clearly see each one of them. This is the general view, though. Just outside of this image is a giant screen so you could see the other racing moments, and, in this case, get a close-up look at the drivers as they are interviewed on the truck. The crowd was very excited.
And this is where I leave off for G to post his car pictures, before I come back and tell you about Monday. Just one parting thought… the entire stadium went insanely mad every time a Mclaren drove past. So, following the cars in your line-of-sight, you could see everyone, everywhere, enact an enormous mexican wave… even for the full 52 laps! Humorous.
Bakercourt's Blog 
S-----y Said:
on July 18, 2010 at 5:14 pm
I'm not so interested in cars or racing, but it looks like a fun day out. The sunburn shot (and the nachos) made me cringe a bit, though.