My youngest daughter wants to go to the British GP next year, hosted in (hopefully) sunny Silverstone. We are going to travel down from Scotland to watch the racing...
I've got access to a camper van / tents / hotel points - what's the best way - camp nearby / hotels and Ubers / something else ?
Should we go for guaranteed seats on grandstands etc or just wing it and bounce around the circuit for the weekend ?
I expect it to cost a bit, that is a given....
Never been before... WWSTD
Make sure you have comfy footwear as there can be a fair bit of walking if you want to experience the full circuit, rather than sitting high up in a stand the best view is anywhere at eye level to see how fast they corner. Definitely don't park at one of the £35 farmers car park, we didn't get out the field until early Monday morning, plenty of traffic marshalling at 6am Sunday but just pandemonium free for all Sunday evening
I'd recommend Spa before I'd head back to Silverstone, fly to Dusseldorf then stay in Maastricht with an easy drive to the park and ride
I took my dad for his 60th back in 2008. Can't comment on where to stay or anything but we drove down from Sheffield on the day and booked parking at the circuit and I don't recall any particularly horrendous traffic either arriving or leaving. They've had 18 years to cock that up though so take it with a pinch of salt.
We had start-finish grandstand seats and it was fine but I reckon there are better places. Have a look at the circuit map to figure out where you'll get to watch most action. Becketts grandstand looks like a good view + covered in case of bad weather, or probably Farm if you're going for general admission.
I'd suggest taking earplugs as well. In 2008 it was so loud that you could feel your skeleton vibrate inside your body when the cars went past. I know things seem quieter on the TV these days but I was at the MotoGP in Aragon last year and the bikes were almost as loud, so who knows?
Are you going for the day or the whole weekend?
When I went, we went for the weekend and walked around the track on days before the race. Race day we then had grandstand seats.
Appreciate it's a treat for your daughter but my lad's mate did his uni sandwich year with Red Bull (working on this years car). Traditionally all staff were treated to the British GP weekend, but the financial fair play rules meant that the team had to cut that cost.
Dan and his colleagues planned to go themselves, then found they could go and watch one of the European rounds cheaper than travelling an hour down the road to the British GP.
Should we go for guaranteed seats on grandstands etc or just wing it and bounce around the circuit for the weekend ?
It's rammed, get tickets for a seat - especially Sunday. You can get to other circuits for about the same money, but it does involve all the airplane/getting to from circuit/transfers etc etc shenanigans as well, if that bothers you. I'm going this year with daughter, we're gong down Sat, staying in High Wycombe - the hotels nearby - Northampton, Milton Keynes, Banbury etc charge silly money for a room, yes High Wycome is 40 mins down the M40, but it's no bother, we can use the park & ride at the services and bus in.
It better be Sunny...
I'd say take an FM radio and headphones, rather than ear plugs - Radio Silverstone is excellent for keeping you up to date with everything. 🙂
We're currently most likely going to bring a motorhome down from North of the Wall and camp for the weekend. What was going to be just daddy/daughter time is starting to snowball - could be 4 of us - which makes it sound like 3K for a weekend away with seated tickets... it's not going to happen twice.. A trip to Spa etc is going to be as much once we start adding flights etc. Maybe I need to look at somewhere with a higher probability of sunshine...but at least taking the motorhome means we could keep some of the food costs down a little... jeez...
Stay on site at Woodlands. Way better experience than using the off site camping or mucking about with parking and shuttle buses each day.
Woodlands has a proper little festival vibe, food, music etc, its very family friendly, you can sit in the pub garden and usually watch the Wimbledon final, the big top tent has some comedy, some great bands, some child appropriate stuff all weekend etc.
Then - Get grandstand seats 100%. With general entry only you'll be queuing up at 7am to get in find your 'spot' which you then need to guard with your life all day till the race actually starts at 3pm. Awful. Also, with children or just Daddy/Daughter, could actually be logistically impossible really.
With a Grandstand you can wander round all morning, watch the Carrera Cup or the F2 from somewhere else on track, and wander up to your own personal seats as the installation laps are happening.
Treat it was a Holiday, Thursday till Sunday night/Monday morning. Worth every penny.
(For God sake, if you do one thing, Take an FM Radio!)
As an F1 fan since the 1970s I really should go to a race one day!! 🤣 🏎️💨
I’ve motorbike camped at Woodlands for bike racing, always took planning as motorbike had to be left in a pound, but at least it was safe.
I enjoyed the friendliness and the motorhomes and caravans were well spaced - this is often not the case at other “pop up”campsites.
It can be very windy round the circuit and also, it’s worth walking round so wear good footwear as it’s a long way round.
Have fun, however the bikes and bike spectators are a lot better!
I used to go to bike races when I lived down south - Thruxton, Donnington etc - but they were all a day trip.
For the GP - does a 3 day grandstand ticket still let you potter around to General Admission on the other days ? Seems that would be the best option - have a covered seat for race day, but the chance to wander round on the other days and see the whole circuit....
Might have to sell a kidney (moderately abused)
My daughter and I went last year, camped in Woodlands from Thursday to Monday. We didn't have grandstand tickets.
It was a great experience - expensive yes, but there's a lot of stuff happening if you want to get involved. Hours of cars on track, obviously, but we also watched some well known live music acts, comedians (at Woodlands), visited the museum, went on some of the rides, etc. We walked endlessly - obviously we were camped in the far corner from the nearest access point to the circuit, so about a mile and a half to even get in, never mind how far it is around the track. Oh, and the toilets were about a ten minute walk from our tent. Worth bearing in mind if you may need a pee in the middle of the night.
Race day - we got in early and walked around to a good point on Hangar Straight. And sat there for hours before anyone else turned up! We didn't really need to get in so early but it passed quickly enough. The weather veered from hot and sunny to thunderstorms all through the day, and being unable to shelter anywhere, we'd get wet, then dry out, then get wet, then dry out, etc. We both had good waterproof jackets but I'd take waterproof trousers if I went again.
Food and drink inside the circuit are expensive, obviously. Merch is a phenomenal rip off - I can't remember the prices now but stuff was being sold at a huge mark-up over what it normally went for.
It was a good weekend. Entry/exit and general organisation was slick. It was very busy, especially on race day. (There was a huge traffic jam of people after the race because some of the drivers were supposedly going to make an appearance in one of the fan areas which stopped several thousand people from being able to move for a while.)
I'd go again even though I'm not a fanatical F1 fan these days. (Not like in my day when Senna and Prost blah blah blah :D)
found they could go and watch one of the European rounds cheaper than travelling an hour down the road to the British GP.Iirc last year one STWer went to the Japanese GP for about the same cost as a weekend at Silverstone.
Thst would be me.
I have listed prices below - like for like rather than comparing to camping which you can do both places. I was a bit lucky finding a cheap flight with Air China, and dropped my car off to get service/MOT/timing belts etc replaced so haven’t included petrol cost to there from Leeds as would’ve been done anyway. Food at Suzuka very reasonable (though one place did absolutely refuse to serve me their spicy noodles as they said I couldn’t cope….) and not at all a rip off unlike every sort of event in the UK. I would definitely go back but would stay longer in Japan, however couldn’t spare the extra time off work last year.
Japan/Suzuka Costs
Gatwick-Nagoya return via Shanghai £421
F1 ticket £145
Train return from Bedford to Gatwick £25
Nagoya airport train £8 x2 £16
Hotel £410 twin room inc breakfast 5 nights Thurs-Tues
Kintetsu 5 day rail pass £20.80
Ltd Express reservations £4.30 x3 £12.90
Shiroko shuttle bus - only used x3 & walked others due to queues - £7.50
Shinkansen (bullet train) to Osaka £40 returned on standard train included in Kintetsu pass.
Food (estimate) £200
Total £1274
Silverstone
GA Ticket £500
Parking £170
Petrol £100
Premier Inn £400ish
Food £200?
Total £1370
interesting - the parking bit is taken away by a Motorhome space (which allows others in your party to camp) - so all 4 of us (potentially) would get to stay on the same pitch -- that works out at 800 quid though once you've added in 4 days of entertainment at the campsite - then 2k for the tickets to get in for 4 days... a bit of merch, a bit of food... probably 850 each in total - the kids might need to give up some pocketmoney for a bit, which according to my man math is £212 a day for lodging, food, entertainment - not horrendous and certainly not going to be repeated at that cost/scale if i did pull the trigger.
Stay at ridings and that brings the cost down a chunk...by what looks like 500 quid... I can entertain myself...
I would love to go to Japan though - even as a general ask, never mind to go see a race
Spa walking about the place shows how to do it, in the UK folk just chuck their rubbish at their feet no respect whatsoever but so clean and tidy at Spa
Silverstone all these helicopters hovering above to drop off folk that probably don't even watch the racing just want to be in vogue with all the new London taxis driving the VIPs to the marquee
Unbelievable how much wealth is on show on the Sunday
From Pouhon the crowd is Orange mostly Max support
We were spoilt with 22° no rain, it might not be so good in the rain . Quite common in the Ardennes
I’ve done silverstone a few times. Last one was as a family of 5 in a hired motorhome.
We stayed in one of the quieter campsites which was a 10-15 minute walk from the track and we had general admission tickets for the weekend. We have done grandstands before and although the view is better when you’re higher up and if you’re in a covered stand it can be a nice break from the rain or the sun (it’s brutal when it’s hot), being able to choose where to sit and watch from each day/session was much better.
We have toyed with doing one of the European races and it’ll definitely be cheaper but Silverstone definitely has a lot more entertainment going on over the weekend.
It’s like a little festival with music acts every evening (decent ones too, as in people you’ve actually heard of).
It’s bloody expensive and it’s probably got even more expensive since we last went in 2023 because of ticket prices but it’s a really good weekend.
Having been to a few grand prix many years back, I agree with those that say a European race would be my choice. I think I did three Silverstones with my dad, all good, but the circuit is flat so the view tends to be cars zipping by very quickly....
Donnington in 1993 was awesome, pissed it down but we could see Senna work his magic down the Craner curves.
Spanish grand prix in 2000 was awesome as well, sat on a hill and could see most of the track, weather awesome. Tapas for food, so that takes the win 🙂
I go every year for MotoGP, every year the track facilities get shitter, and last year the circuit even ran out of beer before the racing.
But things to check, get a seat/location where you can see as much of the track as possible, things are going past REALLY fast. So the more track you can see the more action you get. Start finish is utter rubbish, you get to see about 1ms of action every lap.
Time your toilet breaks carefully, the queues can be REALLY long after a track session!
The walking surface on around the circuit is really variable, take good shoes, if your walking you can be on loose rocks and gravel depending which bits you are walking around.
Take food/snacks again the queues are REALLY long after track sessions.
