Silverstone 2005
This weekend just gone the British Grand Prix took place at Silverstone. Being married to an F1 nut means that unlike most men who would have to fight to be allowed to go, I was actually the least enthusiastic of the two of us! That said, I do love cars and, more importantly, cars that go fast. This means that the prospect of 3 days watching the fastest drivers in the world duke it out was not an altogether unpleasant one!
Friday 8th July
This was the most civilised start of all three days as we left Cheltenham at 8:30am. We tootled round to Ben's house (Olly had been told he had to work by the evil Sesame empire), picked him up and drove on towards Silverstone, full of excitment and expectation. However, we were driving in rush hour down the A40 which mean that we ended up being caught in traffic for long streches of the journey. Grr. I'm not a patient driver at the best of times but when it's early in the morning, well, you'd better get outta the way! Anyhoo, we finally troll up to the track about 10:15am and start our wonderings. After filling our boots with doughuts and coffee we find a place to settle at Club Corner and watch the first practice.
If you've never witnessed an F1 car going past you at full pelt, you really can't appreciate just how flinkin' loud they are! Imagine Steven Tyler squeeling into a megaphone that is in turn pumped through a couple of amps turned all the way up to 11 (Spinal Tap stylee) that you are wearing as headphones. Yup, it's that loud. But man are they fast! Ben and I both pretend to be photographers so we spent most of the time snapping away, wishing we had monopods (panning shots are a nightmare without one).
Practice was over and we wondered further round to Stowe and sat to watch the Maserati racers coming down the Hangar Straight, through Stowe and down Vale have their practice. Having just watched the F1 cars these looked a bit slow but I am sure that there were anything but! Among the vast array of names that I failed to recognise a few stood out - Vikki Butler-Henderson was racing (and apparently had won it the year before) as was Jodie Kidd (who was partnering Johnny Herbert).
From Stowe we mooched on round the circuit, stopping at (hard into) Copse to get some lunch (a scrum-da-lum but overpriced pork roll) and a seat to watch the second F1 practice session. Watching the drivers practice their starts from the pit lane really blew me away - it's amazing how quickly they get up to speed. As the ginger-bearded man next to me put it, "And there it was, gone".
In an effort to get some warmth back into our limbs, we wandered on down the Pit Straight to watch some of the GP2 (F1's smaller brother) practice and then out into the trade area. People really take this F1 thing seriously. If you thought replica football kit was expensive, try taking a look at the F1 stuff. How about a shirt for £50? Or a wind-cheater for £110? Still, the lovely ladies at the Toyota F1 stand were giving away free posters (much more my kind of price range). While we were looking around the McLaren Mercedes stand their third driver, Pedro De La Rosa, made an appearance for a short interview, which was nice. After that, we mooched a bit more and then called it a day, just as the Porsche Super Cup cars were zooming around the track.
Saturday 9th July
5:30am. Beep Beep Beep. Smack. Harumph. It's far too early. I roll out of bed and crawl into the shower. Feeling vaguely human I go downstairs to make Weon's Special Brew Coffee. It's like normal coffee mixed with nitrous. We go and pick up Ben who seems remarkably chirpy. We then get to Olly's and he answers the door in his dressing gown, rubbing sleep from his eyes. In a fantastic feat of quick-changery he is ready and in the car 5 minutes later.
Once we arrive at the track we break out the WSBC, croissants and brioche and after a few minutes all feel a bit more human. The tickets we have allow us access to any grandstand for Friday and Saturday so we make our way to the Pit Straight and pick some seats with a great view of Luffield corner. We set up camp and before long Anne has gone on a doughnut run! As the sun comes out, so the thick layers come off. Ben reveals his bright yellow Buzzin' Hornets Jordan Racing shirt and within approximately 2.34 seconds he has attracted every flying insect in the area. While Ben was a little distressed at his sudden entomological magnetism the rest of us found it hilarious (sorry Ben).
We watched the F1 practice sessions and the Porsche Supercup qualifying (including a car sponsored by burgers) before the Blue Eagles display team came out to impress. Who are the Blue Eagles? Think Red Arrows. But in helicopters. That aren't blue. Or very fast. Yup, they were a bit lame. They do have the fantastic trick of flipping backwards but after about 20 times it get's kind of repetitive. With that out of the way, the F1 Qualifying started. It was all fairly predictable with Alonso, Montoya and Trulli putting in good times but hang on, what's this? Jenson Button in second? Blimey! Let's hope he can carry that performance on into the race.
And so we wander out of the stand and down to Copse where we pause to watch the start of the first GP2 race. By this point the sun is really going for it and Olly and I are wilting so we seek out the shade. We all wander on round towards the delightfuly named Maggotts which is a little chicane that you would expect the cars to slow down for but apparently the road is covered in glue as the cars seem to stick when they shouldn't! We carry on round to Vale where we find a bit of shade and watch the Maserati Race. They really do sound awesome. Apparently, so Olly tells me, the entire series is run by Maserati and you effectively buy your place in it, renting the car from the Italian car manufacturer!
Wanting to avoid the rush, we leave before the race ends and cruise home, Olly and I playing darts on my phone to both pass the time and annoy Anne and Ben with our calling out of random numbers!
Sunday 10th July - Race Day
As with yesterday the alarm goes off at 5:30am. Ouch. I fail to get up for another 18 minutes (or 2 snoozes) and therefore leave myself little time before Will arrives to whisk us off to the race. Ben can't come today but he is taking his beloved to see REM so therefore we are not obliged to feel sorry for him in any way!
Having expected loads of traffic we are pleasantly surprised that our run into Silverstone is very smooth. We did seem to time it just right as not long after, whilst walking round the track, we saw people were queueing for about 400 metres! As we walked through the trade mall I stocked up on ear plugs. Will was on a mission to buy a radio so we stopped at every stand trying to find one (despite the constant advice that he should go to the big Silverstone shop). Eventually Will got a radio at the big Silverstone shop and Olly bought a rather fetching David Coulthard/Red Bull Racing cap and we carried on round to our seats at Stowe. Olly and I did the now obligatory doughnut run which was needed more today due to my forgetfulness on the WSBC and croissant front (sorry guys).
Man it was sunny. Really sunny. Not good for Olly and I (the pale twins) or Will but Anne just laps it up being the sun worshipper she is! We watch the Porsche Supercup race which had some pretty exciting action. After that was a naked reporter doing a lap on foot as a result of a bet he had placed with the McLaren team boss! We then have the drivers parade lap where all the F1 drivers are driven round the track on the back of a truck in an effort to build rapport with the crowd.
After that come the Red Arrows. I've always thought the Red Arrows were a bit lame and more the realm of plane geeks. However, this was totally awesome. It's something that you can only really appreciate when you see them in the flesh - TV and photos do them no justice at all. It was made more enjoyable by the fact the guy doing to commentary was getting very excited and ordering people to have their "Cameras at the ready". The Blue Eagles looked even more lame after this!
This season F1 has been much more interesting due to Ferrari being, in all honesty, crap. This means that Renault started strongly but now McLaren are looking good so there could be a proper battle for both the drivers and constructors championship. Which is nice. As was expected the two teams in form dominated the race with Jensen Button coming in 5th behind them. Highlight of the race was the 3-abreast overtaking maneuver that happened right in front of where we were sitting! It was also quite impressive that Kimi "No Personality or Charisma to speak of" Raikkonen drove from 12th on the grid to finish 3rd.
Thinking we were being wise, we decided not to leave straight after the Grand Prix in order to avoid the traffic. Instead we stayed and watched the BRDC Historic Sports Car Challenge which is basically a lot of very old racing cars being driven the way they should be, rather than being in a museum. I was hilarious watching Johnny Herbert (again) drifting his Jaguar D Type around Stowe! The race also had a Kurtis 500S taking part and it sounded awesome. Will and I decided that it is the car that the Devil would drive because it simply sounds scary!
With the last race of the day over we headed back to the car, stopping for Olly to buy some sweets (which thinking about it he didn't share with us on the way home - what a tart). We had been incredibly lucky with the traffic every day so far but this was crunch time. It took about 20 minutes just to get out of the car park. We crawled along the A43 for about 6 years with Olly and I playing the "Or Chips" game. Will's PPS (Plummer Positioning System) kicked in and we took an unpromising looking road at the next roundabout and he had us cruising home in no time! We stopped at the Rising Sun for a quick shandy and Olly realised that he had done their website in a previous life!
And so we went home. A great weekend over. We were all knackered but happy. Thanks to Will for driving on Sunday and to Ben and Olly for their doughnut contributions!