[WEC] FIA WEC calendar

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by flatlandsman

Our biggest venue in the UK will be to late tot he party and routinely outbid by the Middle East or the USA I would guess.

In fairness to them they hosted it in two era, the last sort of golden era of LMP1 and also the dead years of Toyota and nothing else.

They did not want it anymore, and would have little interest in bidding for it, they only care about one event all year anyway, and I would imagine they are quite happy to drop MotoGP when their contract runs out too, as crowds have fallen off a cliff at that event too.

That Silverstone only care about one event is incorrect.

The GP is their most high profile event. It is also their most risky event. They have to get it right. It has the most focus not because of Silverstone’s uncaring attitude to everything else, but because it is just inherently higher profile.
It’s a right pain for them, the baggage that comes along with it is high, and for those involved it is a real pain. Their life would be way easier to not bother, but that venue size needs it. Otherwise none of the other stuff would happen.

Some harsh realities may come in, especially when trying to make the venue fit the entire spectrum of Motorsport from F1, to national championships, to club racing, to track days. They have to deal with that. They have skin in the game unlike people at home (especially those at home that don’t go to the races!). Although people at home do still have keyboards.

WEC, as you say, hasn’t always been in the top state it is right now to always make it work at such a venue in the UK. It came with some of that world championship baggage, but without the bums on seats. So should Silverstone fight for it when they have a full calendar of other events?

It’s great to see the crowds at Imola in this latest era, but it wasn’t always so as you say.

If MotoGP has become unviable because of the attendance dropping then they’ll have to, but it won’t be because they don’t care.

The people who run Silverstone, the club behind it, and the vast majority of those that work there love all motorsport. I know they love and enthuse about it all even the club stuff. To suggest they don’t care is too simplistic at best.

[Matador]

Would Donnington make sense?

[Adam43]

I’ve seen a high profile sportscar race at Donington back when it was Group C. I think my parents still have the cool box with the event sticker we put on it.

If Imola isn’t appropriate for these cars neither is Donington.

It’d be cool, but I can’t see it happening.

[v8supes]

Its over for Silverstone in the short term. Im guessing theres a decent chance we wont see the Hypercars compete in this country

.
@FIAWEC
CEO Frederic Lequien says he wants the series to race at
@SilverstoneUK
again, but now "is not the right time" to add the new round. Lequien sees this as a "period of stabilisation", taking into account team budgets. #BBMF24

https://x.com/f1broadcasting/status/1783499680485155253

[flatlandsman]

Adam I am afraid I beg to differ about Silverstone, I feel their eggs are only in one basket and right now, they make SOOO much money from it, compared to what they used to they really do not give a toss about anything else, they make an effort for sure, contractually they probably have to, but dwindling gates and a very serious rise in people really starting to loath the place and go elsewhere BECAUSE of this attitude will eventually start to hurt them.

They love clubbies, why? Because they have to do the grand total of sod all to host them, they get no crowd, so have very little to do other than charge a club, provide some basics and that's about it, it is stuff liek BSB, GTWC. those kinds of things that they used to run and now do not at all or as much, they take an awful lot more doing as they can get bigger crowds, which means roe expenditure for less income, they dont expect an income from clubbies, hence they do them, but even in that way there are far,m far less than there were even 5 years ago, I know as I live right next to the damn place. and the calendar now is tiny compared to what it was.

F1 is just a giant money pit for them, fair enough they went though the mill to get here. And hundreds of thousands of sheep are happy to pay vastly inflated prices to watch it, why not mile them. If you can milk sheep.

I would love to see modern WEC there, but it is not going to happen until probably the cirrent bubble bursts, as it will, they always do sadly!!

[Adam43]

We are aligned on that one event is much more impactful and takes more resource than the others. For obvious reasons.

But that is different from not caring. Which is what I’m getting at. So I guess we are just have different use of the word caring here. Unless you are saying they genuinely don’t care (like) Motorsport. Which I guess you are not.

When I’ve been there both for clubbies and also horrible corporate crap those related to the circuit clearly inherently care for the sport. All of it. BTW they run the latter because they are a business. Doing so means it remains open to do what they care about.

Even if they do care a great deal they can’t put on an event that ain’t going to work for them. WEC came with too much (increasing) cost and baggage for reward to be viable.

They have to deal with the harsh realities of running the venue. We don’t, but I’m not so quick to dismiss them.

Also for what it is worth I really like racing there. Best place in UK to play high speed. So maybe that colors my judgement.

[v8supes]

Same, the only reason id go there now is if GTWC Endurance and/or WEC/ELMS came back, i wouldn't attend for anything else.

I was close to going this weekend because the grid is great and the support races offer fantastic action but instead im going to Brands the week after for GTWC Europe even though the support races are not as good and it will cost me more in fuel/travel time.

[Adam43]

Shame

It’s steady as she goes it seems.

[Hedley Verity]

Originally Posted by Adam43

We are aligned on that one event is much more impactful and takes more resource than the others. For obvious reasons.

But that is different from not caring. Which is what I’m getting at. So I guess we are just have different use of the word caring here. Unless you are saying they genuinely don’t care (like) Motorsport. Which I guess you are not.

When I’ve been there both for clubbies and also horrible corporate crap those related to the circuit clearly inherently care for the sport. All of it. BTW they run the latter because they are a business. Doing so means it remains open to do what they care about.

Even if they do care a great deal they can’t put on an event that ain’t going to work for them. WEC came with too much (increasing) cost and baggage for reward to be viable.

They have to deal with the harsh realities of running the venue. We don’t, but I’m not so quick to dismiss them.

Also for what it is worth I really like racing there. Best place in UK to play high speed. So maybe that colors my judgement.

As a spectator rather than a competitor I feel that at best I am an irrelevance to the people running Silverstone.
Silverstone certainly gets some unfair criticism, there’s nothing they can do about the geography, and a crowd which looks fantastic at say, Spa, where the backdrop is green forest, looks terrible at Silverstone against a backdrop of empty grandstands.
I fully understand they won’t open many grandstands for an event like British GT, but a sign of the total lack of thought about the people paying to come in is which stands are opened. Every minor event I’ve been to has the wrong Woodcote stand open, the vast majority end up at one end trying to get a decent view of the Wellington straight and round Luffield. The stand to the right offers much better views but is always closed.
No-one at Silverstone has ever considered this, clearly, it’s obvious to anyone sitting there, they can’t have ever asked the punters which stands they want open, they’ve never looked over and wondered why everyone is crammed in at one end of the stand, those paying to spectate, and how to give them what they want are nowhere in the thought process.
That’s just one example , what they’ve done at Maggots is another.
For me Sunday would be a £100 day out with a 6 hour round trip, to get a substandard view of the races, so I’m staying at home and watching on the telly, I’ll be at Oulton the week after, and then onto Spa, various circuits throughout the season, but not Silverstone once.

[Sodemo]

I am curious how that works in terms of going to the likes of Bahrain or Qatar in a budget sense?

[Adam43]

Oh definitely, Spa is much more fun to go to and spectate at. Less windy and bleak too.

[Hedley Verity]

Originally Posted by Adam43

Oh definitely, Spa is much more fun to go to and spectate at. Less windy and bleak too.

Well we’ll see about windy and bleak, the weather at Spa has been pretty grim recently! Could be waking up to a few inches of snow on WEC race morning again.

[Adam43]

Oh yeah. I’ve had fun weather there. Spectating, in a tent, and on track.

I would describe it as more dramatic than bleak.

[flatlandsman]

I would assess that Pringle has probably told him exactly why they do not want or need WEC there right now, and he is not prepared to disclose that.

[flatlandsman]

I have to admit my experience with staff and marshals at Silverstone has never been anything other than brusque. They are not rude or unhelpful, but they are also not happy and pleasant, I know doing menial stuff for crap money is not great, but others places manage it without the miserable look and almost "I hate being here" attitude.

Its the endless barriers, the years now of closed off areas, the endless building site.

None of this is awful but I simply would prefer to be elsewhere and I am not alone.

As for this year, I would actually prefer a race in Germany to Silverstone, Nurb or Hockenheim wold be fine.

[veeten]

Either the FIA will have to peruse other possible options, or give a certain amount of time before re-establishing talks for a possible race date.

Besides that, there is possible venues on mainland Europe to consider. Germany for one, and the temporary one is Spain. Catalyuna, Jerez, or even Aragon. There's a second north American choice to add, Mexico. Name it in rembrance of their most famous and accomplished brothers; Pedro and Ricardo Rodriguez.

[Adam43]

I would prefer to watch a WEC race elsewhere too. Although you might be chasing building sites there! Although I think that is all sorted now at Nurburgring.

Just saying that the people involved are good people and always been great. But your experience is otherwise and they weren’t nice to you.

[TF110]

Mexico's track is quite dull imo. I'd rather see them race in a storied track. My hope would be the (close to) original Red Bull Ring.

[broadrun96]

Originally Posted by Sodemo

I am curious how that works in terms of going to the likes of Bahrain or Qatar in a budget sense?

If the income in for services promised for racing at their venue is more than Silverstone can offer it's a net gain. And in this case it appears they both put far more in to the pot to get everything there than others have. You can't store all your money as gold bars

[v8supes]

Originally Posted by broadrun96

If the income in for services promised for racing at their venue is more than Silverstone can offer it's a net gain. And in this case it appears they both put far more in to the pot to get everything there than others have. You can't store all your money as gold bars

Oh yeah? Give me all of the money and ill give it a good go

[flatlandsman]

I also simply think they are not that interested as in the past the crowds have been small and I think there is a general feeling now there, that they will happily put on low key stuff as it costs them very little, track days, testing etc, this costs them very little. The sheer fact as a fan you cannot go anywhere there to watching testing is evidence of this, extra cost for them. Even though it would be a pittance. Am sure you can watch testing at just about everything other venue in the UK, it is this sort of thing that makes fans the way they are.

But race meetings do, especially ones that historically have not bought in crowds, I feel there is a lot of not reading the room going on there, I would love to see a 12 or 24h round of bike endurance there too, but again would not attract a crowd.

I think WEC would at the moment, but nothing like was at Imola, and that is seemingly what Silverstone want to host anything these days, a massive crowd,

I feel they are now driven by profit more than they ever were if that makes sense.

[flatlandsman]

As WEC becomes a bigger sport, it will attract bigger names in the growing areas of the Middle East that want to sport wash as has F1 and MotoGP.

Silverstone is a big venue and the only one in the UK that can host this, but crowds were always poor, it will cost them to host it, and the return is not guaranteed, I have heard there was not a great relationship between the ACO and Silverstone after the last contract ended, so this is perhaps no shock as to why


I think Silverstone are not reading the room about WEC, I think the interest is there now, but the contracts and calendar are probably already fairly secure for the nest few years.

[Larsen]

Just a shame that Donington Park didn't get F1 all those years ago otherwise there might have been 2 international standard circuits in the UK

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by flatlandsman

… that they will happily put on low key stuff …

… and that is seemingly what Silverstone want to host anything these days, a massive crowd …

I am sorry, I am not following any of this. Testing is something (I thought you can watch general testing if you want), but race meetings do or don’t have big into the crowds.

Here is this years calendar that will have the full range of attendance: https://www.silverstone.co.uk/events. This weekend onwards, there have always been a couple of events. 25 race meetings, with quite a variety. Which should we drop for WEC?

I am no way saying Silverstone are perfect, but there are the events that cover quite a spectrum. Including things like the Birkett. Finding some small things we think they should differently, but ignore the 25 meetings they do do then I guess they will always be the big bad Silverstone.

I don’t see anything that means they don’t care or aren’t motorsport fans? They don’t host a WEC race or a 12h bike race? That they have to make choices to keep the place open?

That they can make 750, British GT, a unique event like Birkett, and CSCC work, but WEC isn’t there I think tells us more about WEC.

I feel they are now driven by profit more than they ever were if that makes sense.

I am sure Silverstone probably do prefer events that make them money! If they don’t we don’t have Silverstone. If the lens we are viewing them through is a charity then yes they will look like money grabbing businessmen.

They can’t compete with Bahrain and Qatar for WEC, and neither should they. That is not a model Silverstone should go to.

They are also a different style to the likes of Cadwell, Oulton and Anglesey. Going to Silverstone is a different thing to going to these other venues. This is a good thing, variety. Although all of these tracks make the same kind of choices to keep open, just on a different scale.

Would I love it to have a WEC race there. Hell yeah. If we worked for Silverstone and assuming they even have the opportunity to push for a WEC race I reckon both you and I would reluctantly not. Because we aren’t stupid.

[veeten]

Then again, either Donnington or Brands Hatch, using their full international circuits, can make a interesting alternative. With the right promotions, including tie-ins with other series, it can be a great weekend for everyone.

Don't necessarily need Silverstone for that...