The Silverstone Classic 

Friday 26 August 2022

If you have never been to the Silverstone Classic as a spectator photographer you should consider it for next year. Held over three days at Silverstone the home of British motorsport, it is a large event that caters for the individual motorsport fan or one that also wants to take the family out for a day.

Besides the on-track action there are loads of off-track activities that will keep the little ones and not so little ones happy, like the fun fair, live music, food demos from celebrity chefs and a retail village. 

I’m not overly interested in all of that stuff but it does seem popular and adds to the party atmosphere. I have been going to the Classic for quite a few years, displaying my car on a club stand. This is a big part of the Classic, and with over a hundred clubs attending you can have a good look round just about every car that has been built, and if it’s not on a club stand it could well be racing. 

The track action is truly eclectic with a massive mix of cars from 1930 Bentleys squealing their skinny tyres to massive endurance race cars taking on the circuit. Some of the cars are rare and unique which equates to very expensive repair bill if they were to be damaged!

Don’t assume that the races are “demo” laps with the drivers holding back. There is some full on racing and accidents do happen, but that’s the life of a race car. This, for the spectator photographer, means that you will get some good action shots of cars that you are not going to see at your local track, well not all on the same day.

The Classic always has a few highlights they like to push out on social media to entice the race fans in, and this year was no different. Formula One is always popular and those fans were treated to something really special with a static display of Lewis Hamilton F1 cars, seven in total as well as Alpine, Aston Martin F1 Racing, McLaren, Mercedes-AMG, Red Bull Racing and Williams racers. 

Out on track following the same theme, they also had the biggest collection to date of retro F1 cars from the 1990s which was the era of the V8, V10 and V12. This was actually a demo lap, and some of the cars were being driven quite sedately, but when they were opened up the noise was incredible. 

Quite a few of these former F1 racers I have seen before on the Masters Historic Race series under the Masters Racing Legends banner. These cars do race and you can catch them at various tracks around the UK if you can’t make the Classic. They were putting on a good show as they do in their race series, but a few pushed it a little too far although no damage was done fortunately.

The other racing I made a point of being trackside for was the Historic touring cars, Ford Sierra Cosworths, Capris, BMW CSL and the Godzilla of group A the R32 GT-R. Being a bit of a Datsun fan I was thoroughly enjoying the qualifying.

Unfortunately I could only be at Silverstone for the Friday and didn’t get to see the GT-Rs of #55 Andy Middlehurst and #37 Simon Garrad take the one two ahead of the great looking #7 Ford Capri RS 3100 driven by Gary Pearson and Alex Brundle who came in third.

The endurance race cars were another series on my must see list, as this is a not a class of race car that you see at my local track and they are something rather special. 

The endurance cars come in all shapes and sizes, from open topped to fully enclosed. The class caters for cars built between 1995 - 2016  including Prototype as well as the GT race cars that have graced the best circuits in the world.

If, like me, you enjoy many different types of motorsports then the Classic is a great event to go to, not just for the racing but for the access to the cars. Both of the pits are open to the public so you are welcome to stroll around the garages.

Getting up close to the naked race cars and being able to see all of the engineering that goes into a top flight race car, be it from the 1930 or the 1990s, is a rare privilege.

If you know Silverstone, the two pits are at opposite ends of the track and would take some time to walk between them. It would not be an unpleasant walk as the internal road follows the track and goes past the fun fair at Village which would keep the little ones happy.

However, if you are on a tight time line there is a fleet of classic buses running between the two and also around the perimeter road. If you only have time for one visit to the pits go to the International Pits - this is where all the “big cars” are.

There is not just action on track. There is also a bit of “off road action” with classic rally cars. The course goes under the first bridge at the main entrance and is basically just a loop, so not overly interesting but at least you are close to the tyre squealing action.

The last and probably biggest part of the Classic is the one with the least action, the car clubs. There are usually over a hundred clubs attending, from single makes to mixed car clubs of like minded enthusiasts. These are spread out all over the central grassed and tarmac parts of Silverstone and while wandering around you might just spot a few celebrities.

There is no guide to where the clubs are located, so if you are looking for something specific it’s a case of just walking around until you find what you are looking for. Not the most onerous thing I have ever done!

We spent about 10 hours at the Classic and still didn’t see everything. We didn’t go to the early morning hot air balloon launch or the evening live music entertainment either. This is why this event runs for three days.

Our one day visit was not enough, but it was better than not going at all. Hopefully next year’s event won’t clash with other events I want to experience, but if it is it will run over the August bank holiday again I fear,  as the provisional dates are the 25 - 27th August 2023.