LMES Trackside: Silverstone August 13-15

[PaulSands]

Originally posted by garcon
how many people were there on Saturday? maybe 30,000?

Officially there were 14,000 though I think honestly that was on the generous side.
The b-b-q in the evening was in the paddock bar area, the band were competent and pleasant (performing on the terrace of the bar), there werent big queues and the atmosphere was good

[mcurtis26]

I wish i'd stayed for the final GT race now, i got bored mid way through the historic gt's and decided to head for home whilst the weather was still dry. The historics could have done with more cars and a more evenly matched field, an anglia and a 917 are hardly in the same league. All in all though, it was an excellent meeting. I don;t think anyone could reasonably expect to have the le mans atmosphere on the campsites really.

[Craig]

I didn't expect the LM atmosphere. I would have been happy with just some atmosphere! There was absolutely none whatsoever! I have camped at all sorts of meetings and there is more atmosphere to be had at a clubbie at Cadwell Park than there ever was at Silverstone last weekend. I tell you - in all seriousness - everyone was in bed by ten!!!!

[mcurtis26]

I've never found Silverstone a particular atmospheric track really. I think it may have been a better idea to organise something on the campsite rather than the paddock bar, there wasnt really enough space near the stage to get many people there. I must admit the campsites did seem pretty dead. I was disappointed with the lack of catering facilites as well, virtually nothing between Copse and Luffield on the outside and also a severe lack of merchanidse, even the paddock shop was closed on sunday.

[chezza]

You obviously didnt find us then craig...we were still up at midnight at least!!

I didn't get a chance to have a wander round due to the long times were were on post which was annoying! Wanted to see if i could get some merchandise!

It seems as though the circuit could have organised things a lot better.

[bella]

i'd have said to anyone that despite the rain, sunday was actually better for the racing. on saturday myself and a friend did give the lmes a go, but couldn't keep track and left fairly promptly.

food at silverstone - everyone knows food at racetracks is useless, thats what mcdonalds just down the road is for. i'm still astounded at the number of people who expect something decent. if it was decent, you'd pay more...

the bridge not being open didn't really bother me, it was as easy to walk to the tunnel and less of that up and down stairs nonsense.

got to say that i think the whistles being handed out by those nice girls from drm racing were a bit silly and that they should have run that past the bosses first.

[spanner]

The price of the food and quality i was prepared for, the lack of anywhere to buy it from annoyed me!
Silverstones always been a bit sterile which is why i dont go there much, and i had hoped it would have been different but it wasnt. I had expected behind the main start/finsh grandstands to be stalls selling merchandise, food, car displays etc. Even finding their shop closed by the bridge on saturday was dissapointing.

[dazbaz_99]

I think the Silverstone LMES weekend was definetly worth the money.I was there for only the Saturday and thoroughly enjoyed it. I was expecting a bigger crowd than their was but hey, i had unrestricted viewing of some great racing so no complaints from me! I hope that Silverstone hosts a round again next year, im sure that the meeting can only get better with time.

[PaulSands]

On the merchandising I dont think I saw any official event merchandise...the paddock shop had Audi & Silverstone stuff but that was it and it was only open on Saturday
It was a fairly good effort by Silverstone but there is a lot of room for improvement
Maybe we should all send our thoughts into the circuit, without feedback how can they be expected to make changes?

[TerryC]

I was hoping to get a nice LMES Silverstone T-Shirt featuring the LMES logos on front, sleeves and perhaps at the back with a map of the circuit printed in the background. Not everyone is into the Veloqx Audi stuff though...

[garcon]

Strikes me that with an official attendance of only 14,000 it must be pretty tight as to whether the event's actually financially worthwhile at all, let alone looking at opening more food and merchandise outlets up...

[73_Gstock]

I am surprised that is all that showed up! The weak grids in ALMS this year are attracting roughly 50,000 each race. England is much more race crazy then we are here in the states.

I hope the keep the series going and attendance should grow every year. Get and keep a schedule (unlike ALMS) and the fan base will come.

Passes for the lead should be novel enough that crowds.

[PaulSands]

Maybe Bernie Ecclestone's constant sniping at Silverstone has coloured people's opinions of the place?

[JAG]

Remember this is the first year of the event, and series, and will only grow. When more manufactuers enter they will bring their promotional clout to the series and that alone will add many thousands to the crowd.

The LMES even attrated a bigger crowd than the DTM at Donnington in 2003 (which has 3 manufactuers ploughing money into the series) and many recent BTCC meetings.

IMO, the 2005 Silverstone event will attract at least 20,000, possiblly 25,000 and will only grow.

As a comaprison the Donnington FIA GT event attracted 6,000 in 2001, 12,000 in 2002, 20,000 in 2003 and 30,000+ this year. This with the help of a major sponsor and manufactuer promotion from the FIA GT and ETCC teams.

The series needs time. The first couple of years are about building a strong series for the privateer entrants. Then the manufactuers will arrive and the promotion of the series will get into full flow.

Next years event is apparently scheduled for August 21st.

[bella]

don't bring the fia gt race into it at donington this year, most of the tickets were given away free by a company. there's no growth in spectator interest there, just clever thinking (why make people pay for tickets that weren't going to be sold anyway?).

[rdjones]

Having had a few days to reflect on the crowd, I do not think that 14,000 is too bad at all, remember that is pretty much about the same figure that you get at a TOCA meeting.

[garcon]

I hope they give it the legs and try to grow it - for those who can't make Le Mans, it's a unique opportunity to see the best endurance racing cars. It will certainly be a permanent fixture in my diary...

[JAG]

Originally posted by bella
don't bring the fia gt race into it at donington this year, most of the tickets were given away free by a company. there's no growth in spectator interest there, just clever thinking (why make people pay for tickets that weren't going to be sold anyway?).

And thats exactly what the manufactuer do in the DTM and other heavily backed manufactuer series. Only Le Mans, F1, Indy and NASCAR can generate huge crowds without the freebies.

Manufactuers can pay for 10,000 free tickets with a fraction of their marketing budget. For manufactuers a decent crowd looks nice on their publicity photos etc. nothing more.

It is the TV/media coverage that the manufactuers are really interested in.

Afterall just look how F1 treats the paying spectators!