[WEC Race] 2016 FIA WEC Round 1: 6 Hours of Silverstone - Race Thread

[J Jay]

April rolls round again, and right on cue another season of the FIA World Endurance Championship is finally at our doorstep. The regular routine has been shaken up slightly but it should be to the viewer's benefit, with a shorter break post-Le Mans to accommodate an extra race at Mexico City. The prologue provided tantalising glimpses of what we might be in for, but with two new cars at the front and many more behind there will almost certainly be an extra element of unpredictability to add to the excitement of the opening race.

In LMP1-H Audi and Toyota bring brand new machinery to take the fight to Porsche, but the folks at Stuttgart definitely haven't rested on their laurels. LMP1-P sees an enthused ByKolles making progress through the off-season and hoping to take the fight to Rebellion on the track. A whole host of changes grace LMP2 - including two cars from Manor - that promise to keep the class entertaining throughout the year. Ford mark their return with two factory-backed cars in GTE-Pro to try and topple the established AF Corse and AMR entries, while the GTE-Am class sees the usual names ready to do battle for yet another season.

Race Page

Entry List

Schedule

Spotter Guide

Live Timing

Timing & Scoring Results

Live Audio

Streaming* - WEC App (paid), Members Page (paid)

Track Map - Wikipedia, Silverstone Circuit

Weather - Met Office, Weather2

*Free streams will be posted as they are made available

[GT6]

Really looking forward to this and will be there from friday if anyone see's me

[Starfish Primer]

I´ll go Saturday and Sunday. Another year, the sportscar fans will be Guinea Pigs of a freezing conditions survival experiment.

[Pandemonium]

I'm so excited for this race. So excited ^^

[carbon_titanium]

Originally Posted by Starfish Primer

I´ll go Saturday and Sunday. Another year, the sportscar fans will be Guinea Pigs of a freezing conditions survival experiment.

6 hours of silverstone presented by Bear Grylls

I like the way it sounds

[J Jay]

Originally Posted by carbon_titanium

6 hours of silverstone presented by Bear Grylls

I like the way it sounds

"When the contestants stepped off the helicopter, little did they know that the extreme survival challenge was actually going to take place on the sequestered infield of Silverstone circuit, surrounded by deadly muddy bogs and life-threatening ponds."

[Mike E]

The predicted north westerly of 16km/h gusting to 32km/h on Sunday means a buttock-clenching tail wind into Copse, a wandering cross wind on Hangar Straight and a hard-braking head wind on Wellington Straight.

And with a temperature range of 3-10 degrees C, it won't be a warm day for any hardy spectators making the trip.

[GT6]

Originally Posted by Mike E

The predicted north westerly of 16km/h gusting to 32km/h on Sunday means a buttock-clenching tail wind into Copse, a wandering cross wind on Hangar Straight and a hard-braking head wind on Wellington Straight.

And with a temperature range of 3-10 degrees C, it won't be a warm day for any hardy spectators making the trip.

Stop trying to spoil the growing excitement, i am still expecting it to be warm and dry.

[Badlands99]

Went to Friday practice in 2014 - first time I had been to any race circuit for probably 20+ years.

Didn't get wet (as I didn't go back on Sunday) .......... but I had forgotten just how cold and windy the old bomber base can get. Took days to thaw out but at least I did get bitten by the sports car bug again after many, many years away.

Went again on Friday and Sunday in 2015, suitably wrapped up, and witnessed some of the best racing I can remember during the middle section of the race. Bought back memories of the halcyon days of Merc, Jag and Porsche in Group C! I was hooked again!

Just a shame that they have now ruined the circuit so much ............ The hours spent watching Group C etc at the Woodcote Chicane (Andrea De Cesaris on the grass, passing a Porsche into the chicane a few laps from the end of a race in the '80's still makes the hairs stand on end) even to the later incarnation with the great Bridge Corner and the days of dozens of McLaren F1's etc etc etc.

Hope that this year might spring a surprise or two.

[TF110]

Genuine question, is there no trees to block wind? I get that it used to be an airbase, but is it not possible to plant some greenery? Government mandates do things like that at heritage sites here in the U.S.

[Martin Bull]

It's traditional.....remember going to the 6 Hours with my Dad in 1977 and it was sleeting during the first half-hour....and that was May 15th !

[GT6]

Originally Posted by TF110

Genuine question, is there no trees to block wind? I get that it used to be an airbase, but is it not possible to plant some greenery? Government mandates do things like that at heritage sites here in the U.S.

No not much shelter there anywhere, gets very cold and even in the stands, they have planted a few trees but it will take a long time until they can provide anything like a wind break, so best to wrap up if the weather forcaste on Friday says if will be windy, the area in the wing at the back provides a nice area to warm up with food and live tv pictures if you begin to feel to frozen.

[J Jay]

Originally Posted by TF110

Genuine question, is there no trees to block wind? I get that it used to be an airbase, but is it not possible to plant some greenery? Government mandates do things like that at heritage sites here in the U.S.

It's a neat idea that could pay dividends in a couple of decades, but you've got to deal with the will they/won't they back-and-forth from the BRDC and Ecclestone. Trees just don't come high up the priority list on a piece of land that a significant number of members are growing weary of.

Besides, you'd need an awful lot of trees to provide adequate cover for a Silverstone, particularly as it's as flat as a pancake.

[TF110]

If you've ever heard of the dustbowl in U.S. it was caused by the uprooting of trees. Winds allowed to blow freely with nothing to stop them. Maybe if new owners pick up the circuit, they'll try to add to the scenery

[chernaudi]

Weather report I just read says that it'll be cold all weekend with a mix of clouds and sun with a chance of rain Friday-Sunday, though the rain chances are supposed to lessen by the day.

While where I'm at, it's supposed to be sunny and warm for once this month.

[Artur]

Take weather predictions, for Silverstone, with a pinch of salt(actually, with a big portion of it). Yesterday, metoffice was predicting rain for a big part of Friday, 40% during the Saturday QLF time and 10% for the race time. Weather2 had a rainy Friday but dry Saturday and Sunday. Today, I checked earlier, and right now, and the predictions are different again. It's changing all the time and by quite big margins

[roderick]

Why are you guys trying to guess the weather in England? even English cant predict the weather correctly!
It will be cold and cloudy and little spitting.
Oh and windy as usual.

[Spyderman]

Originally Posted by roderick

Why are you guys trying to guess the weather in England? even English cant predict the weather correctly!
It will be cold and cloudy and little spitting.
Oh and windy as usual.

I'm not English, but I'll go out on limb and make a prediction: It will rain....a lot!

[rich07]

Looking forward to this on Sunday night Aussie time. I'm gonna watch it live on the official site and hopefully be ok for work Mondag morning as it finishes at 3am .

Really interested to see how GTLM goes especially with the new Ferrari and the Ford. Intrigued to see how their debut in Europe differs to Daytona

[joeb]

Originally Posted by rich07

Really interested to see how GTLM goes especially with the new Ferrari and the Ford. Intrigued to see how their debut in Europe differs to Daytona

I bet they will turn right a few more times....

[godlameroso]

They did ok in Sebring, the car has pace, it's still a new car so the teams are still finding their stride.

[nasdriv87]

looks like French guy will have another option for WEC

the Equipe 21 channel was confirmed as a new broadcaster except for Le Mans 24h...

there is a live streaming to them over the web, I hope they did not put a geo-block streaming...

[deggis]

Originally Posted by nasdriv87

looks like French guy will have another option for WEC

the Equipe 21 channel was confirmed as a new broadcaster except for Le Mans 24h...

there is a live streaming to them over the web, I hope they did not put a geo-block streaming...

Of course it is blocked:

http://www.lequipe21.fr/direct/

(comes from: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/k4NQgz15Xuw3tKaCf1y)

[Spyderman]

Is it just me, but shouldn't we have had photos of the setting up by now? Maybe I'm just not looking for them in the right places.

[tux]

Originally Posted by Spyderman

Is it just me, but shouldn't we have had photos of the setting up by now? Maybe I'm just not looking for them in the right places.

There are some here http://sportscar365.com/

Snow showers are forecast for Saturday