Looking back, the recent Silverstone Festivals have, in my opinion, been successful mainly because they focussed on family entertainment, rather than pure historic racing. This, of course displeased many “puirists” who expected racing rather than gourmet food and music.

What the festivals did was attract people who would not normally attend a race meeting. I recall sitting in the paddock diner talking to a young couple (at my age they are all young) who were looking forward to seeing Busted on the stage that evening. They were there at breakfast time so I advised them to pop out to Luffield and watch some of the racing. I don’t know whether they did but I hope so.

But, going back in time to the original Silverstone Classics, or Coys Festivals, we got the opportunity to see cars racing that were normally kept in museums. This was at the very beginning of the historic motorsport “revolution”. When we rarely saw cars such as Ferrari 250GT SWB or Aston Martin Zagato being exercised so the event was pure nirvana for old school petrolheads.

Another point was the presence of the FIA Europen Historic Touring Cars Championship. This championship attracted some notable entries and at that time, the car to have was a BMW 1800 Tisa, oh how times have changed. This era is now covered by the HRDC Pre 66 Touring Cars.

Back then the circuit was somewhat different to its current configuration. We had Bridge corner leading to Priory and round to Luffield and Woodcote. There was space outside the circuit for clubs to gather and within the large paddock area behind the pits, we had the concesssion stands including Demon Tweeks, GPR, etc. plus an autojumble. What we didn’t have were wood carvers, top end shoe purveyors and cooking displays.

We got the opportunity to mix with the likes of Gerry Marshall and Tony Lanfranchi in the Scarf and Goggles, provided we could withstand the assualt on our constitutions.

Some entrants were lucky enough to snag a pit garage, but most were operating out of the paddock; in those days very few had motorhomes let alone awnings. So, public access was universal.

And Then The Festivals

The recent festivals made use of both ends of the circuit, with Masters series’ running out of the Main Pits and MRL/HSCC running out of the “National Pits/Paddock”. Some car club displays were located within the inside of Stowe running down to the rear of the pits. I think it’s fair to say that for specators, the new pits provided excellent opportunities to mingle with the teams in the pits, however in the last few years, this opportunity has been discontinued.

2026 – A Return To The Classic

Which brings me to this coming event. The inside of the circuit appears to be off limits to spectators from Chapel around to Village. This area usually forms part of the entrant’s motorhome and trailer storage, so it should not spoil the experience. It seems the outside of the circuit is accessable.

For spectators the Copse A, Luffield, Wellington, Silverstone six and Jim Clark Grandstands are open on a first come first served basis. Other than those the Luffield Terrace and Copse out embankment provide possibly the best track viewing opportunities when compared to what is available at Club, or indeed Stowe.

The area between the old Bridge Corner and Priory is now the location for the Kart track which removes an opportunity for car club parking. The Kart Track will no doubt be open for business and I believe it has a good pizza restaurant too. That said, there was club parking alongside the Wellington Straight last year and according to the map there is nothing identified for this area.

Entries:

Motor Racing Legends is bringing some three hundred entries in the form of; Pre-War Sports Cars; Royal Automobile Club Woodcote Trophy and Stirling Moss Trophy; Pre-’66 GT Sprint;
2-Litre Sportscars; GP Icons; Historic Touring Car Challenge;
Endurance Icons; GT3 Legends.

The GP Icons and Endurance Icons will debut their new series’ here.

The HRDC will provide a grid of Pre 66 Touring Cars. Additionally, the Historic Formula Junior Racing Association will provide two grids. The HSCC are bringing their Roadsports (2 races); and, two races for the Derek Bell Trophy an excellent opportunity to see the big banger F5000s in action.

There are no Masters series entered, they chose to visit Monza, and the HGPCA, a regular Festival grid, is not attending; the full race schedule is here:

So, the BRDC Classic appears to have returned to its roots. All series will run out of the National Pits. Car clubs are invited to attend; but where they will be located is anybody’s guess at this stage, although I expect to see the spaces behind the Woodcote and Luffield stands being utilised.

Sadly, due to circumstances, I am unable to attend but I would be pleased to read any reviews in the comments from those who do attend.

Feel free to share, like or comment.

New subscribers are always welcome.