Goodwood FOS vs Silverstone Classic 2025

[philnotts]

Goodwood FOS vs Silverstone Classic, which one would you attend and why? Also what day is best, IE Friday's less busy etc?!

Thank you,

Phil

[SteBrown91]

I would say the FOS purely because I have tickets

[MikeGTi]

Silverstone for me.. FoS is a victim of its own success, last year felt absolutely rammed even on the Thursday.

[adam2922]

Silverstone on the Friday for me.
Least busy and a little less stress in the paddock on qualifying day so great access.

[TR4man]

If you have never done it, the do the FOS as it is an amazing experience but very pricey and with too many people. Then once you’ve ticked it off your list, then it’s Silverstone every time.

You could also consider the Donington Festival on the first bank holiday in May.

[Blib]

Just sticking my beak in to mention that it's now called The Silverstone Festival, rather than Classic.

Carry on.

[bergclimber34]

Both are ludicrously expensive for what they are, essentially a bunch of very rich men trying to drive cars they can't drive or [paying good amateurs to do it for them. But if that is your thing fair enough, you will some lovely cars, just depends if you want to see them driven properly as in many cases you wont.

if you enjoy that then Goodwood is by far the best event, it is a lovely place, a great atmosphere. Nice environment and plenty to see and do, one day is not enough. But it is very busy, congested and quite rammed and you are probably already too late to book up a few things like places to stay

Silverstone is not a lovely place, and the track in recent years often looks like a building site, the Classic is basically now a car clubs get-together, that is how you can make it cheaper, weather often not great, less people, far less, but also a less than fabulous place. The ticket [price is greatly inflated because they push bands into the ticket price in the evening, so can be great if you like that sort of thing.

Both are sort of fake Glastonbury type events, Goodwood is a bit hoy palloy, Silverstone less so.

[CKY]

bergclimber34 said:

Both are ludicrously expensive for what they are, essentially a bunch of very rich men trying to drive cars they can't drive or [paying good amateurs to do it for them. But if that is your thing fair enough, you will some lovely cars, just depends if you want to see them driven properly as in many cases you wont.

I feel your summation is somewhat unfair, generally-speaking the 'top' half of each grid will have amateurs who know how to drive well - no doubt you're a former multiple British Hillclimbing Champion to make such judgements? Funny that, puts me in mind of a friend of mine who won the British Hillclimbing Championship, then got bored of it and decided to go 'amateur' motor racing in historics; after his first 2 race meetings he came moaning to me that he struggled to concentrate for the length of a race and was asking me for guidance!

Silverstone Classic/'Festival' for me every time OP - racing cars are meant to be raced against eachother, not paraded up someone's driveway and then stopped at several points to do a burnout/donut or whatever; that sort of behaviour is the preserve of a McDonalds/Homebase car park in my experience. Depends what floats your boat at the end of the day, you'll see some gorgeous cars at whichever event you choose

[philnotts]

Thank you for the replies.

As i have attended FOS before, i think i may try Silverstone, as i have never been before and the Group C cars will be on Saturday late afternoon!

Thank you,

Phil

[Turn7]

Silverstone also has all the car owners club stands to walk around …

Which is good, as viewing there is generally not great ….

I’ve done both , and they do get a bit samey after a while .

[geordiecraig101]

For me, its Silverstone every year. As soon as tickets go live, I've got the bought and Airbnb booked. A few things that are not mentioned but make the event so much easier are the busses that run all weekend that run around the outside of the circuit stopping at the grandstands that are open also the busses that run from the infield near the entrance stopping at the food/shopping areas and then onto the wing were the newer races are run from.

The openness of the pits is sum-thing that has to been seen to be believed, I know in the "good old days" this would be normal, but in the modern health and safety obsessed age its brilliant.

[bergclimber34]

You used to get very open pits at Goodwood but it was so busy last time I went you felt it was a chore just getting around. there were rumours of Silverstone getting faffy about this but thankfully that died away.

I just feel they are both quite pricey and would not really need to be were it not for bands etc, something a lot of people have zero interest in. If the entire grid were on it, fair enough. But that is a personal preference I loath seeing very lovely cars driven very badly and you do get a lot of this at these events.

But this is what they do and it just means I do not go anymore, I used to, until it became less of a car racing meeting and more of a car club blazers get together and a sort of half arsed festival.

I totally get why they do this, but crowds have been fairly thin in recent years *(compared to what they were) so maybe things change, one hopes.

[SV_WDC]

Unfortunately they have both changed over the years, and not for the better.

They also both require excellent weather. Silverstone is a bit more accessible in that regard, you can get into the pit buildings and grandstands if there's inclement weather.

[autofocus]

@philnotts

I have attended both over the last few years and find them very different events.

Silverstone Festival actually has some racing whereas FOS is just a hillclimb. Having said that, in recent years the racecard at Silverstone has been quite similar each year. FOS certainly has higher profile more exotic cars with all the latest and greatest, whereas Silverstone has much more of a regular feel to it with a few manufacturers but in the main the displays are made up of owners clubs.

I would say if you have done FOS then give Silverstone a try, I think you will enjoy it but find that its tricky to compare it to the FOS.

If it helps my galleries from the 2024 Silverstone Festival are here: -

https://www.dunlopix.co.uk/Silverstone-Festival-20...

https://www.dunlopix.co.uk/Silverstone-Festival-20...

https://www.dunlopix.co.uk/Silverstone-Festival-20...

https://www.dunlopix.co.uk/Silverstone-Festival-20...

Regards

Tim

[andyj007]

silverstones a bit of a crap track to host a classic event ,, the track is huge and has no character just huge run offs , fencing ,,
it has no soul at all..
its difficult to get into the racing as the track is so big.. its good for all the clasic car shows and a walk through the paddocks ..

but i woud much prefer the paddock of fos to be honest ..

that aside if you want to watch racing,, p[ay 90 joing goodwood and get tickeys for the members meeting. 100 times better than either of the two.. racing is incredable
or save somemoney and got to brands hatch historic racing .. smaller but much netter to watch the race than silverstone..

or
the le man classic makes all above look like a garden tea party ..

love the revival for all the theatrical nonsense .. and the racing is incredable