Getting out of Silverstone

[danccooke]

Firstly

Thanks to everyone on Club I had a great time and thanks to the people who were camped around me and ignored me having a paddy on Thursday. All was good come Friday.

Thanks to the guys who offered to tow me up the hill but once I was moving I managed it without assistance but the offer was still nice, cheers Quad Men.

Now the moany bit and sorry I have to moan.

How the feck am I supposed to go South out of Silverstone, if you come out of the marshals campsite and go across the motorway bridge into silverstone village and are forced right.
You are then forced northbound onto the A43, There were NO diversion signs at all. I opted for taking the A5 and then M1 along with every other person trying to go South. Resulting in some major traffic and very very long journey home. We left before 1800hrs and I didn't get home until gone 0030hrs. Every year it is the same, is there some special route i am missing. Last year there were diversion signs that took you in a complete loop and the year before there were diversion signs that DID get me heading south but only after about a 30 mile diversion.

Quick synopsis of the weekend.

Thursday = peeved off to hell, I could have stropped off, home except the effect of the strop is lost when you have to ask for someone to tow you to the top of the hill first.

Friday to Sunday 1600hrs = Fan-bloody-Tastic

Sunday evening = Frustrating/Annoying/"Insert Superlative here"

Monday morning = bleedin' tired

Cheers Everyone

Dan "Grumpy Git" Cooke

[Cornerworker]

Dan

Totally agree. The tour of Northants is not what I want after 3 days on post.

I could almost be tempted to do another GP but for the traffic arrangements which are c**p.

Great time on post, thanks to everyone on Becketts In, we managed to repel everything towards Becketts Out and Chapel.

G

[Steve Tarrant]

Hi Dan

Key thing was not to leave too soon!!!!!!

Knowing they have the one way system, I waited until after 6PM to leave, so could turn left at the campsite exit, back to the circuit entrance, around the roundabout and then slipped left onto the A43 towards Brackley. Okay, on the other side of Brackley there was a 1 hour tailback onto the M40, but once there it was plain sailing and was back home in Poole by 9.30PM.

To a very large scotch!!!!!! And a warm soft bed!!!!!!

[Piglet]

Sorry to hear you had a bad trip home Dan. What you're missing is sitting it out and leaving a bit later.

We went back to the campsite, ate then packed up. We left just on 7pm as it had started to rain.

We came round the perimeter road - so into the media carpark then right before you get to the ticket checking gate. You follow that round and it brings you out at the roundabout adjacent to the main gate. Left at the bottom onto the Dadford road, right at Stowe School and then through Bicester and onto the roundabout just before Oxford above the M40.

We didn't stop and there was virtually no other traffic that way and we were back in Bristol in our usual two hours.

Apparently the details about the road closures were in our instructions, I have to confess to not having read them but heard it being discussed. They were also saying on Silverstone Radio that the A43 was stuffed at the time when we were leaving hence the scenic route!

[danccooke]

The instructions are there however I couldn't make sense of them, a map drawn with a Ruler is not helpful. I don't know Silverstone too well so therefore I am stuffed with travelling around the perimeter or interior roads. if you ask a Spectator Marshal/Security they just point you at the traffic jam.

I thought that I had waited long enough obviously not, it is hard to sit still in a campsite once you are all packed and ready to go surrounded by mud and knowing that in 12 hours you have to be at work and have a 2 1/2 - 3 hour drive ahead of you. Having said that i could have probably gone to the concert and still made it back quicker than the route I was forced to take

[Piglet]

Well, mark down the perimeter road for next time now you know it's there

Most of us are in the same boat in that we've got to be at work on Monday morning after a drive home, but as with many trips leaving early doesn't get you home any quicker. You'd have got a much better run by leaving at 7 even without using the perimeter road.

In my experience it's always the way with big events of any type, better to find a bar or a restaurant for an hour, let the rest of the population leave then toddle out behind them.

[mini1400]

I left before 6, turned right out into Silverstone village and then right at the turning for Wittlebury. Then at the end go right again and you are heading parallel to Hanger straight.

Got home buy 8pm (mid Essex)

[danccooke]

Bugger!!

[the bassman]

On behalf of my self and the rest of the band, I'd just like to say that we had absolutely no trouble at all when leaving at stupid O'clock on sunday morning. Hope all the people that made it up to the Marquee on saturday night enjoyed themselves and that we didn't disturb too many people when we left. Maybe those nice people that organise the GP will give us sunday passes one year.................Oooooh, was that a pig flying past? I would like to thank the guys and girls that offered us beer, had we been staying we would have gladly accepted and can I give a verbal hand shake to whoever told the guy in the bunny suit that it was fancy dress.. Hope to see you next year.

[Red Baron]

Hi Dan,

I can only echo everyones elses suggestion about leaving that little bit later. We only went back to the camp site, dropped the tent and packed up the van but I guess we left around 6-ish (not that late really, I suppose). The road from the camp site was clear, we turned right into the village and then right across Whittlebury onto the A5. If you were London bound the A5 was an option but we were heading for Wiltshire so we went via Buckingham to Bicester and across the M40. It took us the usual 1.5 hours to get home.

Sorry you had such a torrid time.

Rosie

(PS: We found this a lot easier than getting out of Brands Hatch for any meeting. Thank god they don't have the GP there (lights blue touch paper and retires ........)!!!)

[Ianwales]

Bit of a nightmare getting home, we went to the GP Party so didn't leave until 6 so as has been said getting out wasn't too bad then, we cut across to avoid the traffic heading for the M40 only to find approaching Newbury the Westbound M4 was blocked solid, so ended up using the A4 through Hungerford and Chippenham, got bach to S Wales at 00:30. Still had a great weekend and looking forward to the next one!

[danccooke]

I suppose you get used to the roads around the circuits you frequent the most. Brands and Thruxton I know all the little twiddly roads and ways of getting about.

Still the torrid drive home can't be attributed to Silverstone themselves so it isn't going to put me off going next year. As i said in a previous post this year just seems to be getting better and better.

Cheers for the recommendations folks, I have copied and saved the posts to my GP folder on my desktop. God i am getting gimpy on the preparation front.

[Red Baron]

Swap ya some Silverstone short cuts for some Brands ones ?

Are you at Donington for BTCC this weekend? If so, we'll catch up with you there.

Rosie

[Mark Mitchell]

*mark mitchell is so envious of you all - glad you had a good time*
Hope they let me in next year!

[Grandslammer]

Think I struck lucky on Sunday,was ready to leave by 16.30 but left it for half an hour
Was directed through the media car park and out onto the main entrance via the coach park (hardly any queuing)
Then onto the by-pass (using the inbound route) passed the 'Green Man' and sailed by a load of traffic,slight hold up at Brackley,then turned off at Aynho and had a trouble free journey home by 20.00 hrs

[danccooke]

Just buying a house so as much as I want to do Donny, I've got to do the F3/GT at Brands instead, half the fuel cost.

[NICK ALLISON]

Leaving the marshals camp site around 5.30 got me to the bottom of the road in 5 minutes and away.Either the other campsites were not moving or went early or someones traffice planning was bang on.

[danccooke]

One the up side we did have a good laugh playing eye(I)-spy over the PVR radios with my mates in the car behind me. I think it was only once it got dark and they knew where they were that they left me for dust, I was towing they were not, that it got really tedious.

[Clive]

No problems whatsoever, left at 8pm ish

[Robin_D]

Dan I have to say it was a pleasure because it really was! Was a great crew down at club for the weekend, and you even got an F1 car to break

[danccooke]

I never touched that, I think you need to speak to some of the natives for that.
Indeed a fantastic weekend, other than the actual travelling but PPoor planning seems to have been the cause of that.
Paul with the BBQ and sausage baps in the morning, what a diamond geezer.
Just generally a really good crew who you could have a good chuckle with.

[Red Baron]

Originally Posted by danccooke

Just buying a house so as much as I want to do Donny, I've got to do the F3/GT at Brands instead, half the fuel cost.

We're in that boat too so I know where you are coming from.

Will no doubt catch up with you somewhere before we visit Brands later in the year. Enjoy the F3's.

Rosie

[daviesfever]

Had a great weekend at woodcote approach outside,and would like to thank all on post for making me feel very welcome at my first but certainly not my last Grand Prix at Silverstone.We left at about 5pm and after being stuck in traffic around the circuit area for 40 minutes got to the chinese back in South Wales by 8.30pm God i love my sat nav.

[CombeMarshal]

I left about 5, was directed through the media car park and out onto the dual carriageway on the wrong side, home to Gloucestershire within 2 hours!
the right side was chaos though!

[AndyT]

Left 7ish only queue i encountered was a about 1/4 mile on the A43 near to the M1 in the northbound (left hand) lane, the south and eastbound lanes were only held up by people trying to make a late lane change to go northbound on the M1 (haven't they heard about turning right at a roundabout too go left instead of blocking the right hand lane).