► Why the world loves Silverstone
► The British GP location’s growth
► What does its future hold?
‘It’s a country fair masquerading as a world championship event.’ That’s how Bernie Ecclestone described Silverstone, the so-called ‘Home of British Motor Sport’, in 2002.
Back then, ‘Future of British GP in doubt’ was a copy-and-paste headline for newspaper editors as Silverstone faced sustained (and often legitimate) shelling over its tattiness and the gridlocked state of its tardy traffic management on race days. Compared to bright, shiny state-funded mega-venues sprouting up in the Middle and Far East, F1’s original circuit based on an old Second World War airfield in the centre of rural England was considered a sorry anachronism – and a running joke in Formula 1 circles.
But no one is laughing at Silverstone now. In this post-Ecclestone F1 era peppered by crowd-pleasing Netflix documentaries and a mainstream ‘Top Gun on Wheels’ movie starring Brad Pitt, Silverstone has been transformed into an international motorsport ‘destination’ – a bustling hub that features not only a Grand Prix circuit considered among the world’s best, but also a suave hotel and sophisticated Escapade trackside accommodation, a thriving and expanding business park, a carefully curated museum, even a university and now a kart circuit. The venue for the first F1 world championship GP 75 years ago would be barely recognisable to the 100,000 patrons who turned out on 13 May 1950.
What sparked the turnaround? There’s no short answer to that, within a labyrinthine tale of mismanagement and false starts stretching back at least 40 years. But Silverstone CEO Stuart Pringle, a key figure in the modern success story, draws a ring around 2009-2010 as the time when fortunes finally began to turn. That was when an audacious bid by Donington Park to claim the British GP rose and quickly evaporated amid a puff of hot air. ‘The GP was lobbed back at Silverstone at short notice in 2010, and at that point we had to build The Wing to get a new F1 contract,’ says Pringle, in reference to the now familiar pit and paddock complex built between the old Club and Abbey corners. ‘It was the first seriously modern building at Silverstone, and was designed as a multi-functional space not just for race meetings but as a conference and exhibition centre.’
He then adds that the original business plan around The Wing ‘failed’ – partly because of the lack of a hotel back then, but also mainly because the multi-million-pound F1 deal Ecclestone demanded – complete with annual five percent escalator – ‘almost simultaneously bankrupted the business’.
Following a change of management in 2014, when the circuit-owning British Racing Drivers’ Club took back executive control, the penny began to drop that a new strategy was required, not only to secure the future of the British GP but to finally allow the venue to thrive and develop. Pringle credits then-BRDC chairman John Grant for triggering the turnaround. ‘John’s idea was to use other people’s money,’ he says. ‘For example, we needed a hotel, so we did a deal with a third-party operator because we didn’t have the cash or ability to build one ourselves.’ The 197-room Hilton Garden Inn now sits opposite The Wing and is linked by a signature walkway across the start/finish straight. Grant, Pringle and the Silverstone team also began to work on ensuring the business of Silverstone didn’t revolve solely around the annual British GP.
Beyond the major developments within the boundaries of the race circuit, the most obvious transformation is what has sprung up in its immediate environ. The 285-acre business park, situated on land previously used as car parking, appears to expand with every visit. Again, ‘other people’s money’ was used to develop the park, in this case property development and investment specialist MEPC. The approach to the circuit’s main entrance is now dominated by cutting-edge new technology businesses – and on the other side of the now four-lane Dadford Road (which used to be a country lane), Aston Martin’s monolithic Technology Campus.
Britain’s status as the centre around which the motorsport world spins is well-established since the 1960s, when British expertise usurped the pre-war powerhouses of Italy and Germany as the preeminent force in world motorsport. But it evolved independently of, arguably even despite of, Silverstone.
The so-called ‘Motorsport Valley’ is a catch-all term for the UK’s racing heartland stretching from Berkshire and Oxfordshire to Northamptonshire. Silverstone happens to sit at its heart – but now that’s more than just a happy coincidence. When General Motors confirmed its intention to launch Cadillac into F1, there was little surprise it chose Silverstone’s Business Park for its operational HQ.
The growing popularity of F1 is clearly a factor in Silverstone’s growth. Pringle offers full credit to the much-heralded ‘Netflix effect’ triggered by the Drive to Survive documentary series that has pulled in new and younger fans. ‘We managed to capitalise on it better than most,’ he says. ‘What it’s done is change the buying behaviour of customers, creating a fear of missing out.’ British GP attendance numbers have shot up, especially since the twin behind-closed-doors races held in the summer of 2020 during the Covid pandemic. This summer, four-day attendance hit the half-a-million mark for the first time. The high number of British drivers on the grid these days helps.
For years, there was a perception – fed in part by Ecclestone’s criticism – that Silverstone was in a sorry state because of BRDC greed. The reality was the cost of running the British GP and the exorbitant promoter fees meant the circuit ran at a loss for decades. The corner into profitably was finally turned, ironically, just as the Ecclestone era was coming to an end around 2017, when US giant Liberty Media took the F1 reins. At that point, Silverstone’s management took a risk by triggering a break clause in its crippling F1 contract, forcing a renegotiation on better terms. Fortunately, Liberty recognised the value of Silverstone remaining on the F1 schedule and a new deal was struck, then extended for 10 years from 2024. The future of the race is finally secure – but the challenge of running Silverstone to an operating profit remains acute.
‘We are now dealing with a legacy of 40 years of underinvestment in the structure of Silverstone,’ says Pringle. ‘The good news is the business is now consistently profitable. The amazing thing about the BRDC is it chooses to operate on a not-for-profit basis, and it puts almost all of what is earned back into the infrastructure for the good of all motor sport, including the grass roots and not just F1.’
Twenty-five years ago, Ecclestone and his old FIA president ally Max Mosley stitched up Silverstone by scheduling the British GP to run in April instead of traditional July. Inevitably it rained, car parks turned into quagmires and the debacle almost cost the race its place on the calendar. ‘The majority of Bernie’s criticism was unwarranted,’ asserts Pringle. ‘I think it was commercial pressure. He read and played the BRDC very well. He knew a group of racing drivers would highly likely have their hearts rule their heads [on maintaining the British GP], and actually I’m very glad they allowed that to happen. If they had called his bluff he would likely have taken the British GP away from the UK, and then it would have been difficult for it to return.’
It’s been a long road back from that lowest ebb. No one who experienced the mud bath of 2000 would have predicted what Silverstone has become a quarter of a century later. The old place has rebuilt its battered self-esteem, and the self-styled ‘Home of British Motor Sport’ soubriquet now actually fits. It’s the envy of the racing world.
CAR contributor on motor sport-related subjects. Still addicted to F1 after all these years, plus all the rest on race track and special stage.
By Damien Smith
