Changes to silverstone

[McKay]

Does anyone have any pictures of the changes to Silverstone that have been announced on the Autosport website? I heard that a new loop is being added at Woodcote. This will affect the BTCC so i thought post it here,

[Sim_Da_BTCC_Man]

I used to have it. Unfortunalty I have a bucket of floppys and it could be on any one!

[ceejay]

Although not mentioned in the Autosport article, on Ceefax it said that there were also improvements being carried out at Brands , Oulton Park and Cadwell Park. I think figures were mentioned , with Oulton getting the most.

The changes at Oulton were mentioned on another forum, and as I live fairly close, I went to have a look see.

I think that the pits garages are being replaced, and the associated buldings, ( race control, commentry box etc. ), but the track is also being amended down at Knickerbrook.

I think that they are 'lengthning' or 'easing' the chicane and extending the runoff areas towards the small lake between Cascades and Knickerbrook.

Will go and have another look in a few weeks .

[The Stig]

Are the changes made to many of our premier circuits necessary or welcome ? Pardon me asking it's just that if you leave the shape of the circuit intact, investments might be more necessary to enhance spectactor enjoyment or safety. Eventually will all of our favourite circuits become sterile or un-interesting. I think the word "improvement" is not entirely accurate, perhaps only in the minds or thinking of the administrators.

[Paul Rayner]

Regular improvements are necessary if circuits are to hold top line races like Touring Cars. I don't know what's happening elsewhere this winter, but Oulton Park is having alterations in two places.

The first is the Knickerbrook chicane. The entry into it is being changed for safety reasons. Safety standards should always improve, but sometimes this does unfortunately take away some great corners (eg Silverstone, a shadow of its former self). I don't think that will be the case at Oulton though.

The other thing that's changing there is the pit complex. The garages were too small for touring car teams to work in, now they're building new, larger ones, with new corporate hospitality and a media centre on top of them. Is it necessary to improve the media centre and hospitality? I think so. The media centre at Oulton last year was just a room with a few of phone & plug sockets and 2 TVs, and I can't imagine that hospitality above the pits was very spacious. If championships like Touring Cars, the BSB and F3 want to attract top media coverage and sponsors, they need to have facilities to cater for them.

As for spectator improvements, I seem to remember hearing a while ago that Silverstone were putting back improvements to the pits this year so they could make things better for the spectators. As to what that will be, I really don't know.

[The Stig]

Circuits should never, ever compromise on safety, both driver and spectactor. and all don't. Just alarmed each pre-season seemingly, curcuits are advertising improvements but arguably in the wrong areas. Maybe the best improvements are those spectactors take for granted. Access roads, parking etc. Loads of famous circuits, Silverstone for example, need to be left alone. Exciting, quick and thrilling tracks will do as much as anything to entice spectactors through the gates surely.

[cav1995]

I'd like to agree with stig here and question the word 'improvement'. I'd like to see high speed corners not niggly chicanes. Those two chicanes on the mulsanne straight(don't know how it's spelt) are rubbish.

I'm not going to argue the toss though cause it's for driver safety at the end of the day.

[Craig Antill]

The two chicaines on the Mulsanne have absolutely nothing to do with driver safety - rather they are there for politics. Le Mans and the sportscar/prototypes championship was becoming far too popular for Bernie so he introduced a rule that set a maximum length of straight that applied to any circuit that an FIA championship ran on. The idea being he could remove Le Mans from the FIA championship and thus weaken the appeal of the series to the manufacturers who would then be more inclined to sign up for Boremula One. This failed, of course, because the ACO built the chicaines but, needless to say, Bernie managed to kill things shortly afterwards anyway by scrapping Group C and introducing a 3.5ltr formula.

[cav1995]

Blimey i never knew it was like that. Well then the chicanes definatley suck, suck, suck!

[Carl Breeze fan]

Ii was at Silverstone yesterday for the marshal training day, so I went to have a look. There is a new loop at Luffield, closer to Brooklands, and a chicane in the middle of Woodcote. We were informed from circuit operators that these changes are for bike races ONLY, and that all car races will use the old bits of track. In other words, we'll see no changes in a BTCC race at Silverstone

[Mocko]

Don't the bikes also use the old Abbey curve?

[Carl Breeze fan]

Maybe. Historic cars definatly do

[Sim_Da_BTCC_Man]

there are changes on the GP loop at Brands aswell. Can't remember exactly whats being done, i'll try and find the info somewhere.

[Le Mans]

From the BBC website:

The most obvious improvements will be a new loop added to the Woodcote section of the circuit and a tarmac run-off installed at Stowe Corner, where Michael Schumacher broke his leg in 1999.

Other safety advances include improvements to marshal posts, new gravel traps and Armco fencing around the circuit.

Spectators will also benefit with internal road systems - heavily criticised by Ecclestone last year - as well as toilet blocks and disabled facilities all getting upgrades.

Other Octagon-owned tracks - Brands Hatch, Oulton Park and Cadwell - will also benefit from a cash injection which totals £7.5m