[WEC Race] WEC 2017 Round 1: Silverstone

[Simmi]

Any resident World Series experts out there?

Are we about to get a 12-car grid for this support race? Looks to be slowly dying a death post-Renault involvement.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_W...Formula_V8_3.5

[Hawkwood]

Originally Posted by Simmi

Any resident World Series experts out there?

Are we about to get a 12-car grid for this support race? Looks to be slowly dying a death post-Renault involvement.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_W...Formula_V8_3.5

Wasn't that pretty much the whole point?
The FIA wanted to streamline the feeder series (you know, because less choice is always good for the consumer...).

[eps]

Originally Posted by Sodemo

It will still be blowing a storm force gale, just like always at Silverstone.

Actually the 24 hour race just gone was very warm!! Suntan lotion was even needed.

[bella]

Originally Posted by Simmi

Any resident World Series experts out there?

Are we about to get a 12-car grid for this support race? Looks to be slowly dying a death post-Renault involvement.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_W...Formula_V8_3.5

correct. and yeah, correct. feel sorry for the organisers because they've run a great little series for a long while, but the new calendar came a year too late and nobody is interested or has the budget to cover the travel now.

f3 still has quite a small grid (not as bad as 3.5), but there's a lot of proper quality drivers in it.

[Aysedasi]

Interesting to see the Silverstone WEC advertisement during C4's coverage of the 'feeder series' today......

[Truckosaurus]

Has a location and time been chosen for a 10/10th Meetup?

(Although from memory I always seem to miss it.)

There seems to be plenty of time between the Pit Walk and the start of the race this year (for those of us with no interest in single seaters).

[MaskedRacer]

I hope GTE Pro gets some TV time for this race since Toyota is the favorite to win overall

[TF110]

Originally Posted by MaskedRacer

I hope GTE Pro gets some TV time for this race since Toyota is the favorite to win overall

I think that's likely. But I really think that they will focus on the new LMP2 cars even though it's an all-Oreca affair.

[Badlands99]

The weather is looking a bit changeable for Friday and Saturday (as usual) - no snow forecast this time though!
Sunday looking to be the best with sun all day.

[chernaudi]

When I just checked, both Friday and Sunday have a chance of rain in the afternoon on both days.

[Mountain Man]

First timer this weekend, both at Silverstone and WEC. Going all 3 days and looking forward to it, after the 24 hours at Spa last year I'll be interested to see how it compares.

One question I have, has anyone stayed at the Premier Inn nearby? I'm not driving, so will be bus then walk from Silverstone. Not knowing the area, is it ok to walk from the village along the A43, or is it easier to walk through the woods where there appears to be a path?

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by Truckosaurus

Has a location and time been chosen for a 10/10th Meetup?

(Although from memory I always seem to miss it.)

There seems to be plenty of time between the Pit Walk and the start of the race this year (for those of us with no interest in single seaters).

I don't think so. I have a feeling it will be a case of bumping into each other! Quite a few of us are likely to be in the stand at Club looking down the straight at the start.....

[justracing]

Love to go but sorry to say it but the general admission costs are prohibitive - £25 for Saturday!! £45 for race day, no wonder there's nobody there! I am a big race fan having been to Le Mans many times and I would love to see the current breed of sports prototypes in the flesh but for this punter it"s a bit strong

[TF110]

No Kubica in the Kolles car, for the entire season it seems.

[Aysedasi]

Yep, he's seen sense at last.

[Bentley03]

Originally Posted by justracing

Love to go but sorry to say it but the general admission costs are prohibitive - £25 for Saturday!! £45 for race day, no wonder there's nobody there! I am a big race fan having been to Le Mans many times and I would love to see the current breed of sports prototypes in the flesh but for this punter it"s a bit strong

I get that completely. In isolation those admission prices do seem high. The value, in my opinion, is in the advance purchased weekend ticket at £50. Three full days trackside, five and a half hours of ELMS/WEC practice, qualifying for both, a four hour ELMS race and a six hour WEC race, plus the single seater action. Split the £50 between all of that, consider the cost of a ticket to a Premiership football match, a rugby international or a concert ticket, and maybe it's not so expensive after all. Have you seen what they charge for the Silverstone Classic!? That said, Le Mans general entry ticket prices do represent even better value, and the ancillary costs associated with attending all three days at Silverstone do mount up.

Regarding attendance, the event does draw a respectable, if unspectacular, crowd each year, especially on the Sunday.

[Bentley03]

I confess, I was disappointed to learn that Toyota and Porsche are taking different aero packages to Silverstone. Sounds like it's Toyota's race to lose.

Hugely looking forward to witnessing the new LMP2's though, with the added bonus of seeing Rebellion compete against 'real' competition for the first time in years. Can't wait!

[gustavobamba]

I really hope this project continue this nice path... let´s hope they create the real deal in private P1.

http://www.dailysportscar.com/2017/0...programme.html

[eps]

Originally Posted by justracing

Love to go but sorry to say it but the general admission costs are prohibitive - £25 for Saturday!! £45 for race day, no wonder there's nobody there! I am a big race fan having been to Le Mans many times and I would love to see the current breed of sports prototypes in the flesh but for this punter it"s a bit strong

You need to purchase tickets for this in June!! I kid you not. £40 for a 3 day ticket, including access to the pitlane walkabout on Sunday.

Although we're lucky as we live 25 minutes due south of the circuit.

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by eps

You need to purchase tickets for this in June!! I kid you not. £40 for a 3 day ticket, including access to the pitlane walkabout on Sunday.

Exactly. I bought my weekend ticket a few days after getting back from Le Mans last year. Brilliant value. I paid the same for that as I did for my lad's ticket just for the Sunday a few weeks ago.

[LMFan1]

Originally Posted by Bentley03

I confess, I was disappointed to learn that Toyota and Porsche are taking different aero packages to Silverstone. Sounds like it's Toyota's race to lose.

Hugely looking forward to witnessing the new LMP2's though, with the added bonus of seeing Rebellion compete against 'real' competition for the first time in years. Can't wait!

I completely agree, I guess putting on an LMP1 show for the fans at Silverstone is not high on the list of priorities for those involved in the decision.

[justracing]

Originally Posted by Bentley03

I get that completely. In isolation those admission prices do seem high. The value, in my opinion, is in the advance purchased weekend ticket at £50. Three full days trackside, five and a half hours of ELMS/WEC practice, qualifying for both, a four hour ELMS race and a six hour WEC race, plus the single seater action. Split the £50 between all of that, consider the cost of a ticket to a Premiership football match, a rugby international or a concert ticket, and maybe it's not so expensive after all. Have you seen what they charge for the Silverstone Classic!? That said, Le Mans general entry ticket prices do represent even better value, and the ancillary costs associated with attending all three days at Silverstone do mount up.

Regarding attendance, the event does draw a respectable, if unspectacular, crowd each year, especially on the Sunday.

Some people can't always commit to attending the whole event as in my case but I would have relished the idea of watching the qualifying live for a reasonable cost and given the not inconsiderable cost of travel which for me involves a 3 hour journey to and fro, I'm afraid £25 is a bit too much. Granted the Saturday ticket covers racing as well for the support series but nevertheless my own feeling is that the admission price precludes a lot of potential spectators. As to the attendance, in my observation of previous events which I've been lucky enough to view at home courtesy of Motors/Eurosport, other than the usual huddle of people around the pit area the spectator terraces/banking appear pretty thin. My argument therefore is why not lower the price particularly for qualifying and attract a bigger paying audience?

[fergus_r]

The support races aren't really worth anything anyway- the FV8 series quite possibly won't reach double figures and F3 is at 20 cars, hardly anything to get excited about, at Silverstone of all places.

I'm mainly going for ELMS. I like seeing the P1s but wouldn't stick around on Sunday, for what will probably be an extremely dull affair on TV, let alone trackside. The ELMS race is usually very good and it's another super entry, so it's Friday and Saturday for me.

[isynge]

Originally Posted by Bentley03

I get that completely. In isolation those admission prices do seem high. The value, in my opinion, is in the advance purchased weekend ticket at £50. Three full days trackside, five and a half hours of ELMS/WEC practice, qualifying for both, a four hour ELMS race and a six hour WEC race, plus the single seater action. Split the £50 between all of that, consider the cost of a ticket to a Premiership football match, a rugby international or a concert ticket, and maybe it's not so expensive after all. Have you seen what they charge for the Silverstone Classic!? That said, Le Mans general entry ticket prices do represent even better value, and the ancillary costs associated with attending all three days at Silverstone do mount up.

Regarding attendance, the event does draw a respectable, if unspectacular, crowd each year, especially on the Sunday.

It's an interesting one. I'll confess to mild sticker shock when I bought my ticket for this year, but pretty rapidly contextualised it alongside the same sort of considerations James mentioned - if I've no problem paying £10 for an exhibition that takes me an hour to go round I shouldn't grumble at £50 for 10 hours of racing plus all the trimmings.

In crowd attendance it always feels a lot busier when you're at the track - on TV the wide open spaces of Silverstone can make it look deserted even when there are a good few people there. Perhaps a good bellwether of what the turnout will be like this year can be seen in Silverstone's own hotel finder - which seems to show that available rooms are in somewhat short supply for this weekend.

We shall see either way in a couple of days.

[Simmi]

Originally Posted by justracing

Some people can't always commit to attending the whole event as in my case but I would have relished the idea of watching the qualifying live for a reasonable cost and given the not inconsiderable cost of travel which for me involves a 3 hour journey to and fro, I'm afraid £25 is a bit too much. Granted the Saturday ticket covers racing as well for the support series but nevertheless my own feeling is that the admission price precludes a lot of potential spectators. As to the attendance, in my observation of previous events which I've been lucky enough to view at home courtesy of Motors/Eurosport, other than the usual huddle of people around the pit area the spectator terraces/banking appear pretty thin. My argument therefore is why not lower the price particularly for qualifying and attract a bigger paying audience?

The WEC qualifying is so short that even if they lower the price you aren't getting much bang for your buck. The value on the Saturday is the four-hour ELMS race which is routinely one of the best of the year.

I agree it's not cheap - and when you put in accommodation/fuel/food etc it's going to cost £120+ over the weekend. But I guess you can pay £60 for a couple of hours at a concert. I'm happy to spend my money on this.