FIA GT

[viperman]

yesterday i was at silverstone to see the FIA GT 3 hour race that went on into the night, i was so amazed, them cars are wicked (viper GTS-R's) also i dont know if any of you heard about the clash between the BV-R lister and the viper at shores (end of hanger straight) but it was all BV-R's fault, the viper out braked the storm by a fair way and he ran wide and both we put into a rather gentle spin, but it was an AMZAIN race, cant wait till donnington FIA GT

[ahonen]

Yes, it was a great race, but there were no spectators at all, which is a shame. Almost all the crowd were team personel though, like me.

[JonRB]

No spectators at all? As in "very poor turnout" or "spectators were not allowed"?

[TUSCAN 29]

They should have kept the TVR Tuscans in the program then they would have had loads of spectators!!!!!

[GrahamG]

Err, BVR's fault!! Don't think so mate, around the outside at Stowe by Gollin was an ambitious move at best!!

[ahonen]

Spectators could attend if they wanted to, but it appears no one wanted to. I've raced in Winter Warmer races at Snetterton withy more spectators; that is not an exageration. Silverstone is a big track, but I'd say there were less than a thousand in attendance. The race had plenty of lead changes (7 leaders) and drama, yet come the GP the place will be packed to the rafters with people having paid 10 times as much to watch everyone follow each other round. Oh, and 50 thousand British will go over to Le Mans in June. I really don't understand the British motor racing public sometimes.

[ianjones]

I was at the GT weekend for both days and what a great value weekend it was . £20 for 2 days of excellent racing, I don't know why more spectators didn't turn up - they missed a treat.(Probably at the Touring Cars - which are far inferior to the GTs.) It didn't bother us as it meant easier viewing with no-one in your way. Its not very often that circuit racing goes on beyond 6pm so this was an added bonus. Its a shame that the Listers didn't win (Major Lister fan!!) but it wasn't for the lack of trying. I was a little annoyed that the British package was placed in the middle of the circuit away from the main event but I suppose they were the guests.
By the way, are any of you the owners of the immaculately turned out TVRs that were parked behind the main grandstand - I am green with envy!!

[TUSCAN 29]

If there was only a thousand spectators or so then somebody at Octagon should be thinking what went wrong? Prehaps the British motorsport fan didn't bother because, (A) he could watch it live, or close to it, on Eurosport or,(B) there just wasn't enough British intrest in the program. We normally have to wait 3 or 4 weeks after a race to see it on TV, so if you want to see it as it happens you go to the circuit.I didn't bother going out of protest against thier so called "Double booking", which meant that Tuscans and Caterhams were cancelled in favour of the FIA support races,prehaps they now regret the decision! Having said that FIA GT and the British GT are well worth watching, six alfa's, ten BM's and a Volvo,really didn't light my fire.

[GrahamG]

There was a bigger crowd on Sunday (and actually I think there were a fair few there on Saturday too - the grandstands at Silverstone are so massive it always looks empty!)

I agree about a lack of promotion for the meeting but then again it was up against the FA Cup Final (Saturday) and ASCAR at Rockingham and BTCC at Oulton Park.

[Guy Humpage]

Silverstone were obviously worried about the poor turn out as they sent fliers to people on their mailing list, advertising the event. It can't have helped that the Le Mans Practice day was the same weekend.

[viperman]

errr, the BTCC was at thruxton, and british super bikes were at oulton park

[ap_smith]

I went to the Sunday at Silverstone which was again quite poorly attended, although as said earlier, Silverstone is a very big place and you can quite easily lose 10,000 or so spectators there.

I have to say that the GT race wasn't as exciting as Brands, but then I don't really like Silverstone as a circuit. The Saleen really is awesome, coming from the back to win... it went past the Lister and the TVR like they were stood still and then switched on cruise control as far as I could tell.

I spoke to Rob Barff afterwards who commented that if you spend 360,000 quid on a car [the saleen], what do you expect, but surely the speed 12 can't be far behind Saleen in terms of money spent?

>> Edited by ap_smith on Tuesday 7th May 16:20

[GrahamG]

And I obviously had a very tough weekend!!

[richb]

quote:
I have to say that the GT race wasn't as exciting as Brands, but then I don't really like Silverstone as a circuit.

Silverstone really is a crap place to view racing, can't see more than a bend and a straight from anywhere

quote: The Saleen really is awesome, coming from the back to win... it went past the Lister and the TVR like they were stood still

It did cruise up the field having started from the pits but as it reached 2nd place the TVR was about a constant 18 seconds ahead for a few laps before (from what I could make out from the commentry) the TVR spun or was bumped off! It would have been a great finish to the race if the TVR had have stayed on the track I reckon. Rich...

[jj_work]

I also went to the GT racing on Sunday. Only live about 20 miles away, and had some foc tickets. So I had to go really... I don't believe I saw more than 3 over taking moves the whole day, apart from back markers..... Boring or what. The Lambo's were a sight to see with Tiff just talking the micky... The single seaters were probably the best of the day, with what seemed like real racing, and everyone else, just seemed to play follow my leader..

Maybe it was because of where I sat, just by the start finish line, then on the luffeild section. But didn't see a thing... I've seen more exciting club racing with Golf GTI's..

And they wouldn't let me park the chimp in the middle of the circuit, only to find about a dozen TVR's when I got in there in a TVR only car park.....
jj

[viperman]

the start finish straight was a boring place to watch, i watched from there for bout 5 mins then i got bored!

[GrahamG]

It isn't the best place by a long chalk - next time try Bridge or even Club - much better, far more potential for close racing action / overtaking etc.

[rthierry]

Went on Sunday just on time for the GT/GTO race - really enjoyed it. That Harman Kardon TuscanR is just outrageously loud Was then able to wander freely around the paddocks, to take a close look at cars (they were even letting people sit into Michael Caine's Speed12) and chat with the drivers.
My wife who is not exactly a motorsport fan really enjoyed it! Plus it was good to catch-up with some Phers on the TVR car park.
All this for £20, now that's what I call good value. I am not even I would go to Silverstone for the GP if I was offered a ticket - unless the helicopter transfer is included that is

[viperman]

hanger straight, going into stowe is a good place, the speed is amazin, soo fast, i think the big GT's like the GTS-R's do bout 180MPH down there

[Beast]

I actually sent an e-mail to Rob Bain (Mr Octagon at Silverstone) asking why they didn't adopt the mantra of their quote on the Octagon main-site (some blithering ar$e about "Sports Marketing") - but as we've freely discussed on DailySportscar, there just seems to be a general indifference about coming to spectate around the UK.....bit like non-premier footy.

You can get gazillions of idiots to an F1 race with no room, sight or race yet nobody turns out for GT's. Having said that facilities are shoddy. the only place you could eat (outside the BRDC suite - thanks Mr Pullan for the glimpse of the 'far side') was the paddock diner which had chips/sausage/egg/beans or any combination thereof...and I'm supposed to enthse my 12/10/5 year olds ????

I'm at a loss (still) to discover the answer, other than that I'll take them to Daytona next year.

Roll on Le Mans.

>> Edited by Beast on Thursday 9th May 20:07