planetf1.com

Apparently Perez had trouble to get to the circuit...

Very bad traffic to get into the Circuit!! And they close one line, not a good idea... Hopefully all drivers can make it for Fp3

fitjiffa wrote: Yes,.brilliant organisation. Going to silverstone but staying in london.

It's only an hour and a half drive.

I thought I would add my experiences to this thread...

I left Southampton at 0600 and got to the circuit at 0800, hoping to park in Litchlake but obviously I was turned away and just parked in the field where we were directed. That was all fine and I got to the grandstand at Village at 0830 and managed to see everything. I tried a few B&Bs but I knew that was a long shot. I eventually managed to find spaces at Hamilton fields campsite and, after FP2, decided to suck it up with the traffic and head there. Then, sitting in my car waiting to leave, they announced that all campsite were now only taking pre-booked people. So I had all my camping stuff in my car and nowhere to stay - other than sleep in the car but probably get moved on by the police!!

So I eventually decided to head home and, after travelling 1.5miles in 1.5hours, eventually got to the A43 and away. I then got home to read the advice about not coming today and have to say that I took the advice; I love F1 and have been to Silverstone for 10 years but, after commuting to London all week and travelling a lot yesterday, I didn't fancy another 2 hour drive (if it's good) to get there so will see what the traffic and weather updates say today and then leave super early tomorrow for the actual race. I did consider staying in a hotel in the Oxford or Newbury area but they were approaching £200 which I couldn't justify when driving would cost me a tank of fuel and I can stay in my house for free.

Seeing other people's comments, I understand they cannot tarmac fields but they MUST have considered this kind of eventuality; all the 'what-if' scenarios and thought they would have something such as additional park-and-rides to cater for these extremes. It's all very well saying that it was the wettest June etc but then "perfect preparation prevents p*ss poor performance". I will be looking into getting a refund for my ticket today, they should surely pay money back if they advice is to stay away. What is most annoying is spending all the money on the new track and new Wing complex when we could do with more hardstanding in the fields and, whilst the A43 is very good, the movement on the Dadford Road needs some additional thought.

For what it's worth though, I had a great day by the circuit yesterday and some awesome photos of the cars reflecting in the puddles! Also, I was sat next to one guy in the grandstand who arrived near the circuit at 0930 but didn't get to see anything until mid way through FP2!!

The best thing to come out of not being able to camp this weekend?? Having a nice, clean tent without needing to hose down a weekend of crusty mud!!!

Hmm, this would probably help Ecclestone in promoting the London Grand Prix as a new (possibly alternative) event.

the thing is i hope they are refunding the ticket and parking costs of those they have told not to attend, they put out a notice telling people not to come then they have no choice but to refund that ticket.

this is going to cost them big style.

you can't sell tickets then tell people not to come and expect to keep the cash.

Jinx wrote:

lamo wrote:Silverstone does have solid parking for about 7,500 cars. Pre 2000 disaster that was probably less than 1,000.

Here is a map, how many places in the world have car parked on concrete for 40,000 cars?

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&cp= ... p&ct=image

shanghai circuit is all tarmac parking - that's why I'm disgusted that even the Chinese can do it better than the English! And they even built the trains stations for the trains to go all the way to the circuit.

On another issue, how do we pre-book park and ride when we never knew about such a thing? the fact I'm asking now is probably too late.

concrete fields - horrible. there is much less land in UK and not everyone can afford to waste land like this. what about wildlife? Country side in UK is highly valuable and there is way too much of concrete and tarmac on the ground around the country already, not enough of free ground to soak the rain (although this year is outstanding in terms of rain quantities)

There is actually something they could have done. A UK company offers a 'roll out' plastic thing for fields for parking. Its basically like a giant plastic grid on a roll, it lays over the mud/grass and allows the grass to continue growing through the holes, but provides a huge level of grip on the surface.

It's cheap and can be installed in a couple of hours: http://www.gridforce.co.uk/ground-reinf ... rking.html

If they had something like that put in, it would solve the problems and save them money (simply because they wouldnt need to issue refunds and have empty seats)

hundleton1 wrote:the thing is i hope they are refunding the ticket and parking costs of those they have told not to attend, they put out a notice telling people not to come then they have no choice but to refund that ticket.

this is going to cost them big style.

you can't sell tickets then tell people not to come and expect to keep the cash.

They did promise refunds for unused tickets. But still, to have a GP and ask people not to come is stupid...

Hi

I was there in 2000, the year of the mud! the race was held at the end of April and we'd had a really wet winter and the water table was higher than normal.

It sounds like there are similar problems. Basically what happened in 2000 was that on the Friday the fields (carparks) were so wet that many people got their cars stuck and had to be towed out. As you can imagine this cause chaos. So on Saturday they shut the carparks to stop the same problem and to stop them getting churned up in the hope that they would be able to reopen them on the Sunday which they did.

We were staying somewhere near Old Buckingham I think and the owner of the B and B gave us a lift as far as we could without getting caught in the trafffic jams. From there we walked.. I think we must have walked about 10 miles that day.. At the end o the day we walked as farv as we could, then found a pub and waited for a taxi to get back to the B and B.

Race day was fine. Well almost. They opened the car parks so we parked ok and we didn't get stuck in the mud but some people sill did so we ended up waiting an hour and a half to leave the circuit.

So I guess I'm suggesting that you try and leave the car away from the circuit and walk if at all possible. i know they are asking people not to coe but isn't that just to not bring the car as there is no parking?

Oh and in 2000 there were drivers who had probalmes getting to the ciruit too, rather like yesterday.

SnakeSVT2003 wrote:Didn't something like this also happen about 12 years ago? I vaguely remember reading about it at the time. What exactly were these "improvements" that were made during the renovation?

That was when they moved it to earlier in the year which was just asking for trouble - the summer is the only time to even attempt to have it here due to the weather but we're having an unusual amount of rain at the moment it's just unfortunate.

Most of the car parking is in fields so torrential rain like this is a nightmare.

having been to silverstone seven times i have to say after going two years ago for the last time i will never go there again, the facilities are awful almost borderline like a dump, the place is massivly overpriced and the value for money is absolutly awful, i am embaresed by the place to be honnest and will never go there again. this is not based on one visit but it getting proigressivly worse every year i went and the value for money with the rediculously priced tickets getting worse every year. if silverstone is the best we can do we do not deserve to have a grand prix. hosting a grand prix is not a right that a lot of people think this country is entitled to as they make such a terrible job of it. and yes i have been to other grand prix in other countries and they were all better facilitated and better value even taking into account the travel costs.

This is not news. All the recent upgrades are for corporates, media, celebs. and the rich (including all those made rich by F1).

Ordinary fan? Well, we'll sell you an expensive piece of dirt/mud to park/spectate. No, wait a minute, even tho you have prepaid you can't have it. A real,standout international event.

If they cannot provide sufficient hardstanding they should forfit the event.

I am a fan with nearly 50 years of GP experience but I refuse to pay these guys for what they are prepared to offer us mere mortals.

Don't even ask about disabled facilities!

Jinx wrote:

lamo wrote:Silverstone does have solid parking for about 7,500 cars. Pre 2000 disaster that was probably less than 1,000.

Here is a map, how many places in the world have car parked on concrete for 40,000 cars?

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&cp= ... p&ct=image

shanghai circuit is all tarmac parking - that's why I'm disgusted that even the Chinese can do it better than the English! And they even built the trains stations for the trains to go all the way to the circuit.

On another issue, how do we pre-book park and ride when we never knew about such a thing? the fact I'm asking now is probably too late.

Shanghai - is that the Grand Prix that nobody turns up to?

Jinx wrote:

lamo wrote:Silverstone does have solid parking for about 7,500 cars. Pre 2000 disaster that was probably less than 1,000.

Here is a map, how many places in the world have car parked on concrete for 40,000 cars?

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&cp= ... p&ct=image

shanghai circuit is all tarmac parking - that's why I'm disgusted that even the Chinese can do it better than the English! And they even built the trains stations for the trains to go all the way to the circuit.

On another issue, how do we pre-book park and ride when we never knew about such a thing? the fact I'm asking now is probably too late.

Jinx wrote:

lamo wrote:Silverstone does have solid parking for about 7,500 cars. Pre 2000 disaster that was probably less than 1,000.

Here is a map, how many places in the world have car parked on concrete for 40,000 cars?

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&cp= ... p&ct=image

shanghai circuit is all tarmac parking - that's why I'm disgusted that even the Chinese can do it better than the English! And they even built the trains stations for the trains to go all the way to the circuit.

On another issue, how do we pre-book park and ride when we never knew about such a thing? the fact I'm asking now is probably too late.

Look at Silvertsone, and then Shanghai on Google Maps/Earth.

Notice the nice countryside, and lush surrounding area of Silverstone?
Notice Shanghai looks like an giant industrial estate?

Is it any wonder there is a difference in the amount of parking? If it were a choice between people having parking problems, or tarmacking acres of English countryside, I know what would win every time.

And yes - there are trains built that go all the way to the circuit in Shanghai.... Shanghai is one of the largest cities in the world, and has been massively redeveloped since the 1990's.... long after the train was invented.
Silverstone on the other hand, is a little village, famous for hosting world class motor racing - it has remained largely unchanged in size/layout in the last 1,000 years.

Next year, you're better off staying in Shanghai

What I want to know, and can't find out (as I don't use Twitter it seems!), is the parking situation tomorrow. I went yesterday and was directed to a grass field which was fine, given today a miss as advised and want to go back tomorrow. If I have a general admission ticket, will the fields (which were free yesterday) be available or will you be turned away if you don't have a pre-booked parking spot??? Anyone know?

Just seen this on twitter

@JennieGow: Just to confirm. All parking will be open for tomorrow. @SilverstoneUK will do all they can to get as many as they can to the race. #F1

Got in and out with no problems today.

mikeyg123 wrote:
What land do you think they should use? What happens to the mass of concreted over fields the rest of the year? Seems a bit selfish to spoil part of the British country side so that once every few decades motor racing fans are not inconvenienced.

Not only that but from Derek Warwick said, some ofthe land that is used is owned by Farmers it would mean buying all that land from the Farmers who would no doubt sell it at a much inflated price.

Or like happened at my nearest circuit. The farmer simply refused to sell to let them extend.

Got in and out with no problems but we parked in Whittlesbury and walked the rest of the way, the state of some of the fields where cars are parked has to be seen to be believed, I cant imagine that nobody got stuck there today after the rain that wrecked Q2.

Really is a mudbath lol

Toby. wrote:

fitjiffa wrote: Yes,.brilliant organisation. Going to silverstone but staying in london.

It's only an hour and a half drive.

On a good day, with no traffic. When there's a flood warning and there are 130,000 people going, it might be sensible to leave a little more time, no?

hundleton1 wrote:Just seen this on twitter

@JennieGow: Just to confirm. All parking will be open for tomorrow. @SilverstoneUK will do all they can to get as many as they can to the race. #F1

Thanks for this heads up. I am going to head there tomorrow, leaving mega early so that's all I can do and hope for the best.

a_d_king wrote:

hundleton1 wrote:Just seen this on twitter

@JennieGow: Just to confirm. All parking will be open for tomorrow. @SilverstoneUK will do all they can to get as many as they can to the race. #F1

Thanks for this heads up. I am going to head there tomorrow, leaving mega early so that's all I can do and hope for the best.

Mega Early should be that you aim to get there at about 7am - even then it'll likely be busy!

IMO Silverstone has always gotten away with being a badly organised race as far as the fans are concerned because of the history and tradition behind the event. The circuit has had many years of not being that great, save for the Becketts complex and the latest additions to the circuit are hardly ground breaking.

Access roads have been improved but I have even been stuck for quite a time for events with far less visitors that they have on the F1 weekend.

My biggest problem, and this is not just with Silverstone, is that there is so much money in F1 but it appears a smaller and smaller percentage of it is being spent to reward the vast number of fans that support races but either can not or choose not to pay for VIP tickets.

I was so angry listening to a lady from Silverstone on 5live this morning stating that people with public parking should turn around as they will not be let in but if you had corporate / hospitality parking you will be fine. My blood boiled, and I'm not actually going this year!!!!!

RickM wrote:

a_d_king wrote:

hundleton1 wrote:Just seen this on twitter

@JennieGow: Just to confirm. All parking will be open for tomorrow. @SilverstoneUK will do all they can to get as many as they can to the race. #F1

Thanks for this heads up. I am going to head there tomorrow, leaving mega early so that's all I can do and hope for the best.

Mega Early should be that you aim to get there at about 7am - even then it'll likely be busy!

Even more mega early Aim to leave Southampton just after 3am and get there for 5am or just after! That's the plan, quite how my enthusiasm changes when my alarm goes off tomorrow morning, we'll see!

a_d_king wrote:

RickM wrote:

a_d_king wrote:

hundleton1 wrote:Just seen this on twitter

@JennieGow: Just to confirm. All parking will be open for tomorrow. @SilverstoneUK will do all they can to get as many as they can to the race. #F1

Thanks for this heads up. I am going to head there tomorrow, leaving mega early so that's all I can do and hope for the best.

Mega Early should be that you aim to get there at about 7am - even then it'll likely be busy!

Even more mega early Aim to leave Southampton just after 3am and get there for 5am or just after! That's the plan, quite how my enthusiasm changes when my alarm goes off tomorrow morning, we'll see!

Ouch! Good luck though - I'd have thought you should be ok getting in that early. Go and grab one of those pork baguettes that they have at the portable cafe's all over silverstone - they are awesome!

vikram wrote:From Jakes twitter: Obviously you can make your own decision, but @SilverstoneUK are saying if you are general admission parking/access then DON'T come tomorrow


I was there last year and the pedestrian access was pretty shambolic. This after an upgrade of the facilities is sadly disappointing.

Have you any idea how much it will cost to change it ALL.

JohnnyGuitar wrote:

Jinx wrote:

lamo wrote:Silverstone does have solid parking for about 7,500 cars. Pre 2000 disaster that was probably less than 1,000.

Here is a map, how many places in the world have car parked on concrete for 40,000 cars?

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&cp= ... p&ct=image

shanghai circuit is all tarmac parking - that's why I'm disgusted that even the Chinese can do it better than the English! And they even built the trains stations for the trains to go all the way to the circuit.

On another issue, how do we pre-book park and ride when we never knew about such a thing? the fact I'm asking now is probably too late.

Shanghai - is that the Grand Prix that nobody turns up to?

been going to that GP since 2009 - there were in general less people going when Kimi left but this year, the turnout was tremendous - well cos kimi came back, so...

Nyphur wrote:

Jinx wrote:

lamo wrote:Silverstone does have solid parking for about 7,500 cars. Pre 2000 disaster that was probably less than 1,000.

Here is a map, how many places in the world have car parked on concrete for 40,000 cars?

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&cp= ... p&ct=image

shanghai circuit is all tarmac parking - that's why I'm disgusted that even the Chinese can do it better than the English! And they even built the trains stations for the trains to go all the way to the circuit.

On another issue, how do we pre-book park and ride when we never knew about such a thing? the fact I'm asking now is probably too late.

Look at Silvertsone, and then Shanghai on Google Maps/Earth.

Notice the nice countryside, and lush surrounding area of Silverstone?
Notice Shanghai looks like an giant industrial estate?

Is it any wonder there is a difference in the amount of parking? If it were a choice between people having parking problems, or tarmacking acres of English countryside, I know what would win every time.

And yes - there are trains built that go all the way to the circuit in Shanghai.... Shanghai is one of the largest cities in the world, and has been massively redeveloped since the 1990's.... long after the train was invented.
Silverstone on the other hand, is a little village, famous for hosting world class motor racing - it has remained largely unchanged in size/layout in the last 1,000 years.

Next year, you're better off staying in Shanghai

funny that! it's no longer world class when you have to shoo people away from attending!
Yes, Shanghai looks industrial, so do many parts of the world so what's your point?
The point I'm trying to make is if you want to host such events, do it properly, not half hearted like this. It doesn't speak well for the host nor the country. I'm not from China, and I don't like many aspects of the Chinese way but when they do something on a world-level scale, they make sure they don't lose face and demand the best out of their organizers etc.

Even Australia GP was so well organized, held in a park where there is no parking. They organize FREE travel from the city to the circuit. It was so convenient. I think what was good in the past - that kind of motorsporting kinship with the campsites etc, is just not feasible given the significantly increased demands for space, if you mean that we shouldn't spoil the land surrounding the circuit for example. The circuit facilities must first be able to accommodate how many people/cars etc if they say that they have this capacity/capability. In fairness, they should also have warned people that we risk x% not being able to attend for reasons such as the weather. They should make these info as available as possible and as realistic as possible and not sell us crap on their website that they can accommodate the fairy cakes they said they could and yet, we see that they clearly can't.

Anyway, all this talk doesn't change the fact that I'm here and wasted money that I can never get back. And yes, with the kind of response some of you here have given, it would be my last time here. Clearly, the country and organizers dun need/appreciate our patronage. I only feel bad for those fans who cannot go to other GPs and are stuck with silverstone becos it would cost them too much to travel elsewhere. And such is life.

vikram wrote:the fundamental problem with silverstone is that its in the middle of nowhere.

That should give them plenty of space around it build proper parking facilities to accomodate everyone...

Jinx wrote: I only feel bad for those fans who cannot go to other GPs and are stuck with silverstone becos it would cost them too much to travel elsewhere. And such is life.

It costs us (in my experience) roughly the same to attend the Belgian, Spanish, German, European and British grand prix...... even less for Turkey and Hungary. So don't worry about us

Jinx you are clearly very angry at your experience of Silverstone, and who can blame you really, after travelling so far to attend this event anyone would be extremely tiddled.

Unfortunately our unpredictable and sometimes severe weather often negatively impacts national events, but that is not a big secret, it happens all the time.

With the greatest of respect there is no point in blaming ‘the country’ for hosting these events, nor the organisers for not having concreted thousands of acres of precious and beautiful land to make it more convenient for visitors just in case we encounter a particularly wet month.

Hopefully you will make it to the GP tomorrow and have a great time!

RickM wrote:There is actually something they could have done. A UK company offers a 'roll out' plastic thing for fields for parking. Its basically like a giant plastic grid on a roll, it lays over the mud/grass and allows the grass to continue growing through the holes, but provides a huge level of grip on the surface.

It's cheap and can be installed in a couple of hours: http://www.gridforce.co.uk/ground-reinf ... rking.html

If they had something like that put in, it would solve the problems and save them money (simply because they wouldnt need to issue refunds and have empty seats)

Apparently they looked at that (or a similar) solution, but the shear acreage that would have needed covered was just too much.

Dear Mr Jinx, I feel for you and your situation, but you need to understand something of the history of F1. First off, we didn't "build Silverstone there" as you put it. After WW2 motorsport hadn't taken place for some time and enthusiasts were stuck for suitable venues. So aerodrome perimeter roads were utilised and one of those was at Silverstone and it grew, organically, from there. Silverstone is not used once a year but most weekends from Spring to Autumn for club, national and international events. In England, we don't really do "world class events" (as will probably be proven by the forthcoming and farcical Olympics) we just kind of muddle through and that's how we like it. I have attended 44 Gps and 16 Le Mans. Oh and one NASCAR at Phoenix. At Le Mans our seats were often taken by shrugging Frenchmen who "didn't speak English" and at Imola, we never did find our grandstand and almost missed the 'plane home. In the USA they have hurricanes and tornadoes. In New Zealand they have earthquakes. In Asia they have tsunamis. We are now having a "world class" weather event but you expect us to cope as if the situation were normal. A little humanity and understanding would go a long way...

RunningMan wrote:

pjv1990 wrote:Its a shame because common sense would say reschedule the event for August, like Belgium rescheduled for September in '85 (even though it was different circumstances) because whats the point if the fans cannot make it?

What would that achieve? The problem is the weather is usually not very predictable, and this year, the weather is very very wet. We've had flood warnings all over the place. June set records for being the wettest etc. Usually July, whilst not as hot as lets say Spain, isn't usually this wet. It's usually alot dryer.

The king of ironies will be if it was a dry race. Which it might well be. That's exactly what happened in 2000... wet wet wet wet wet wet wet dry.

how is the weather looking for the race?

I was to Silverstone back in 09 (not for GP) and it was a mud pit even back then.
I had this image of Silverstone being a great circuit so it will have decent facilities for commoners being in a developed country and then what I saw was just plain disappointing.
The problem is compounded by the fact that they increased capacity, sold more tickets without actually improving the support infrastructure.
If they cant do that, dont increase the capacity.
The management has been bad. There are lot of things they can do. The revenue generated by this GP is huge.
But even fans will have to adjust a bit. Ban the damn camper vans from entering the silverstone on GP weekend. Sell all the parking in advance for a nominal fee(not to earn revenue, but to manage parking chaos). Have shuttle services from 2-3 cities. Sell its tickets also with GP tickets in advance. Take a hint from organisers of other GPs. In India you got to buy 1 parking ticket if you bought 4 tickets. For 2 tickets you got to buy a bike parking. So lot of people were carpooling. Then there was shuttle service from city. It ran like a clock in its First year.
Same can be done to Silverstone. Keep booth to check for parking tickets at the entry of access road. You have parking, get in, else park your car elsewhere or use shuttle. Shuttle buses can be contracted for GP and can be arranged from multiple cities.
Its all down to management. It can be done better. Weather is always a factor at this time of year in silverstone so this problem is not going to go away totally. So they must improve their execution. If others can do it, surely Silverstone management can do it with the help of local law enforcement and government agencies.
In the end fans should not have to suffer like this at any GP.

Those reading my earlier post will have gathered I am not a fan of Silverstone. Those watching Sky F1 yesterday afters will have been treated to a film of the '64 GP at Brands Hatch ( now there's a spectator circuit). Much was made of ease of car/ pedestrian entry/exit.
The most noticeable thing was that all those involved were 'in it together' , everything was basic - paddock, pits, stands and, yes, circuit safety. Fast forward 48 years and everything is upgraded for the GP except the dirt for the entry-level customers. And don't forget, in those days, practice days were free, or very cheap, the paddock/pits had open periods outside of race day, drivers signed autographs in public areas.
And, please, let's not talk cost - Britain makes more out of F1 than anywhere else. Time the fat cats - F1's equivalent of Bankers - put some back in and said thanks to the fans who make it possible.

ACBC wrote:Those reading my earlier post will have gathered I am not a fan of Silverstone. Those watching Sky F1 yesterday afters will have been treated to a film of the '64 GP at Brands Hatch ( now there's a spectator circuit). Much was made of ease of car/ pedestrian entry/exit.
The most noticeable thing was that all those involved were 'in it together' , everything was basic - paddock, pits, stands and, yes, circuit safety. Fast forward 48 years and everything is upgraded for the GP except the dirt for the entry-level customers. And don't forget, in those days, practice days were free, or very cheap, the paddock/pits had open periods outside of race day, drivers signed autographs in public areas.
And, please, let's not talk cost - Britain makes more out of F1 than anywhere else. Time the fat cats - F1's equivalent of Bankers - put some back in and said thanks to the fans who make it possible.

And do what exactly?

mikeyg123 wrote:

ACBC wrote:Those reading my earlier post will have gathered I am not a fan of Silverstone. Those watching Sky F1 yesterday afters will have been treated to a film of the '64 GP at Brands Hatch ( now there's a spectator circuit). Much was made of ease of car/ pedestrian entry/exit.
The most noticeable thing was that all those involved were 'in it together' , everything was basic - paddock, pits, stands and, yes, circuit safety. Fast forward 48 years and everything is upgraded for the GP except the dirt for the entry-level customers. And don't forget, in those days, practice days were free, or very cheap, the paddock/pits had open periods outside of race day, drivers signed autographs in public areas.
And, please, let's not talk cost - Britain makes more out of F1 than anywhere else. Time the fat cats - F1's equivalent of Bankers - put some back in and said thanks to the fans who make it possible.

And do what exactly?

How about:
hardstanding for every parked car
terraced viewing giving enough space for every fan to see a decent panorama of track
paddock and pits access of some kind, some time
a commitment from drivers to be available to ordinary fans
disabled parking that can be accessed when the circuit is very busy
wheelchair access to the grandstands
free wi-fi

that do for starters?