Going to the British Grand Prix? Read these tips from fans who’ve been…

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Get the most out of your British Grand Prix trip with these tips

We’ve had hundreds of responses from F1 fans who’ve been to the British Grand Prix at Silverstone and have loads of advice and experience to share.

Whether you need to know when to get there, what to take, or where to watch from, we’ve got loads of ideas and tips to help you out:

Getting in

Remember also that General Admission tickets are all standing, generally on a grass bank. You have to get to the circuit very early to get a good place to watch the race. If you go for these take some camping chairs with you! In 2007 we had General Admission tickets and watched from Club which was brilliant!
Christian Briddon

On race day last year we were staying in Northampton and got up at 05:30, left the hotel at 06:00 and got to Silverstone for about 07:15. If you leave it any later you will get stuck in HUGE amounts of traffic.

If you get up REALLY early you won’t regret it.
Christian

More on how to get to the track on time

Park and ride

Lots of fans will be using the park and ride bus service to get to the track:

if you are going to Hinton in the Hedges park and ride, don’t go by junction eleven because that’s where all the traffic is, so take junction 10 instead. I did that last time (after getting lost) and saved me around twenty minutes.
Nottherealthef1fanatic

The park and ride sites are open from 2am on the Sunday. The first buses will depart for the circuit at 5:30am. Depends on what ticket type you have, General Admission ticket holders I understand, start to queue quite early for the best places to watch from.
Taz

More on the Park and Ride in the forum

What to take

Make sure you’ve got what you need to enjoy the action:

You can take in chairs, but the smaller the better (not just because of concerns about obstruction, but because it will be easier to carry). If you can find one of those rucksacks that has an integrated seat, that would be ideal. If you don’t bring a seat, you will be standing. While there are places where it is theoretically possible to sit, it would be on a grass bank and thus only appropriate if it’s sunny, you bring a towel or something like that and you get there extremely early.

I know from experience that Club’s a good place to go if you have a general admission ticket because you can see a lot of the circuit. That said, if I’ve heard correctly, there are no truly bad places to watch the race from as long as you get there early – it depends on what you want to see.

There are a number of giant screens around the circuit and if your budget doesn’t stretch to a Kangaroo, try to get in viewing range of one.
Alianora La Canta

I’m planning on going to Argos tomorrow to buy my full length poncho in case it rains, at �4.90 its worth having in my book.
Andrew

More tips on what to take to the British Grand Prix

Where to watch

Friday is a great day for exploring the track and watching from a range of vantage points. Here’s some tips on where to stand:

The exit to Copse is good – real impression of speed. The entry to Becketts is also a special place, mental change of direction. And the exit to Club is good, as you see the cars for a long time.
Scott Joslin

More tips on where to watch at Silverstone

General tips

Extra useful advice:

Merchandise is dear in the circuit but just over the foot bridge fronm the main entrance is a little tented sort of shopping village and it’s a lot cheaper for the same gear, you’ve just got to be bothered to walk.
Paul Havell

You can leave the circuit as many times as you want during the day, you just get a stamp on your hand at the gate when you leave the first time. We usually nip back in between the track action to use the showers and stuff because you dont have to queue like you do first thing in the morning or in the afternoon when everyone gets back.
Claire MSJ

What else to do at the British Grand Prix

Getting out

And finally…

Getting out of the circuit on the Sunday has always been quite slow, even after hanging around at the track for a bit after, and then going back, dismantling the tents and casually packing up, we still managed to take roughly an hour and a half/two hours to do a journey which would usually take an hour.
Claire MSJ

More on the British Grand Prix

There’s loads more tips from fans on the Silverstone – spectators’ experiences page.

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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9 comments on “Going to the British Grand Prix? Read these tips from fans who’ve been…”

  1. Always used to sit at Club, but they’ve put a grandstand there now so you cant do that any longer. Which is a shame as it was the best place to go with general tickets and the atmosphere there was great.

  2. If you have the opportunity, have a look or should I say a hear at Maggots too ;) Fantastic experience.

    Remember to have your head phones for your phone or a seperate radio so that you can hear whats going on whilst the action isnt playing out in front of you.

  3. On Gen admission I always rated the bit of ground before the Abbey stands (going anticlockwise). I suspect some of it may have been gobbled up by caterers this year though. You get a cracking perspective as they shimmy through the chicane. There’s also a wee grass bank on the other side of the Abbey stands that you can get up to for some height, gives you exit from club & entrance to Abbey.
    Inside at Copse is always pretty free though it’s not the best view.
    Finally, if you’re early enough there’s a stretch of grass at the end of Hanger that looks down on Stowe but it packs out.

  4. Hope everyone who is going to Silverstone this year enjoys it. I’m off to Spa :)

  5. I am in Northampton visiting my girlfriend. We are going to go into the town because apparently they have a big screen for the race, ferrari F1 simulators and some displays :D

  6. My advice – Don’t go the price is a rip off. Go to 10 other motor racing events instead – or have a 4 week amily holiday for the same price as a weekend with two aduls and two kids. I went in 1996 tried to see the drivers got treated like a concentration camp inmate squashed up against a fence, swore I’d never go agin. I went every year in the 1970s and loved it…… then Bernie got control.

  7. What is the next way to get there by public transport from Central London (Angel/Kings Cross)? If anyone is driving and wanted so fuel/parking money, that’d be great! (Let me know there’s better post to put this on.)

    Can’t wait, just hoping that the politics don’t ruin the racing this weekend.

  8. David Smith
    19th June 2009, 21:32

    My advice and have done it for years. Is stay at home and watch it in your armchair – no over zealous security men, dont get treated like cattle, dont have to put up with traffic, i could go on and on…Go to spa / nurburgring or hockenheim for alot less money and you’ll have a better time.

  9. Superb write-up, bookmarked, will probably be again later. Due to the fact this was a fantastic report, retain up the great deliver the results.

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