LMES Trackside: Silverstone August 13-15

[mcurtis26]

Saturday after the LMES race for sure

[woodyracing]

ah, Ive already booked Friday camping :\

[PaulSands]

both..me there both nights

[jase]

Should be there thurs/fri/sat. But don;t know what time i;m getting there thursday, depends on work etc.

[chezza]

Camping woody...you only live 5 mins away!

I will be there thurs/fri/sat...looking forward to going!!!

[woodyracing]

yes, I'm taking my dad camping (weather permitting), he's not camped at a racetrack before.

so we having a big 10 10ths meeting or what ?

[Try Hard]

ok then guys,
Only a few days to go, any more thoughts with regard to a meeting?
I'm going to be there all weekend (from thursady evening onwards I expect), and am camping Friday and Saturday night. So I'm not constrained to any times or anything, I'm happy to meet whenever.

Looking forward to this, as long as the weather becomes hot and sunny again (then again we do have a friday the 13th.... )

Ed

[TerryC]

Bought myself a cheap 2 persons tent from Tesco on Saturday for £9.99, yeap that's right. They do other stuff too for cheap. I'll be camping on Saturday night. Do you guys have any pointers for trackside camping newbie? Like what to bring...etc Thanks.

[LC2guy]

I know this won't suit everyone, but for all that are attending on Thursday evening, how about a beer after the LMES free session, i think it finishes 6.15- 6.30. Wherever you're gonna watch from, how about meeting in the Paddock Bar afterwards. Might not be many of us, but a beer and a chat is better than we have so far. Let me know, either here or PM. Bar AFAIK is open, otherwise meet outside and walk to the village Pub.

[ss_collins]

I'll be there

[rdjones]

Er I wouldn't be there sadly stuck in traffic on the way home from work I would think. But I will be there from around 1.00pm ish on Friday, I had hoped to be there eariler but something has come up. Anyone got any more thoughts for a met on Saturday?

[chezza]

A meet on saturday would be good. I don't know where though.

[Try Hard]

Originally posted by LC2guy
I know this won't suit everyone, but for all that are attending on Thursday evening, how about a beer after the LMES free session, i think it finishes 6.15- 6.30. Wherever you're gonna watch from, how about meeting in the Paddock Bar afterwards. Might not be many of us, but a beer and a chat is better than we have so far. Let me know, either here or PM. Bar AFAIK is open, otherwise meet outside and walk to the village Pub.

I might be able to make it, I'll be working from home during thursday as the car is being serviced. hopefully won't take to long, and I can get dwon for the free practise, bringing my wok with me...cough cough.
I'll probably be wearing my NASAMAX t-shirt, although I may have to perfrom sacrilage if it rains, and wea my brilliant Jordan race jacket...

Ed

[SL]

A last minute change of plan means that I will probably be able to make the meeting.

Initial plan will be to drive up Saturday and camp that night although it is possible that I will drive up Friday and camp 2 nights.

Look out for a red E Type 2+2, still with Le Mans dust on it !!!

Simon

[LC2guy]

OK, so i will be in the bar if its open, or outside if its shut, but i am off work now till monday, and don't have access at home, so to avoid being mistaken, i will be wearing a Blackburn Rovers Shirt , as i am pretty confident there won't be anyone else within a 100 miles wearing one !!!!! Hope to meet some ten-tenthers for a beer , and if other meets are arranged between now and the weekend, maybe someone can tell me thursday evening. Cheers.

[rdjones]

Anyone got any ideas about a meeting point we are running out of time now.....

[PaulSands]

I have a sunset orange (looks more copper to me) S reg Honda CRV with an HSCC sticker in the back window so if your passing and I'm there say hello
Otherwise look for the big bloke with a Donington cap on carrying a camera

[chezza]

Originally posted by rdjones
Anyone got any ideas about a meeting point we are running out of time now.....

We certainly are...I leave this evening!!

How about paddock bar or something, the only problem is I can't gurantee that it will be open!

The only thing I can think of is for me to relay what is there bar/meeting point wise, back to my boyf so he can post it on here so we can make a decision?!

[JAG]

Some on the Dailysportscar forum intend to meet at the Paddock Bar at 1pm on Saturday.

[garcon]

Let's make that a date - around 1pm at the Paddock Bar, maybe a bit earlier then we have chance to get to the grandstands for the LMES start.

I can't promise I'll be there meself, like, I just wanted someone to make a decision!!

[Craig]

Well, well... I have to say I wish I'd stayed at home and watched it on the telly! I had been really looking forward to this meeting but came away feeling very disappointed. I guess the lesson is simple - it was not Le Mans and anything that is not Le Mans will simply not do!

It was a nice touch that we could camp on the infield but the atmosphere was, like the circuit, sterile. Everyone seemed to go to bed around 2200 and there was no atmosphere. The 'entertainment zone' closed at 1900 (not that it was any good when it was open!) and we left aroun 1400 today because we were bored! Oh dear... if this is Silverstone's idea of a 'motorsport festival' (their words) then I think I'll give it a miss in the future.

Disappointed of Woking.

[rdjones]

I heard this morning from SL that you where about Craig. You should have stay until the end of the day as you missed a cracking F3 race and a pretty good GT race too.

I for the weekend I quite enjoyed it, I thought the LMES race was pretty good. There are couple things I would like to flag up lack of places to eat on Friday I arrived at around lunch time and it took ages for me to get some food. One other thing why was the bridge into paddock closed.

[chezza]

Ped bridge is closed due to maintenance. I think that they should have had it finished as there was a lot of people there. Although as far as I know it was a closed paddock anyway.

I had a good weekend but mainly due to the group of marshals that we camped with...thanks guys for a great birthday celebration!

Don't think I'd do it again as craig has said, it wasn't le mans. The race its self was rediculous...lapping after only 4 laps! It seemed to take forever and I won't marshal it again if they come back next year.

[iucrmh]

Originally posted by chezza
Ped bridge is closed due to maintenance. I think that they should have had it finished as there was a lot of people there. Although as far as I know it was a closed paddock anyway.

Don't know about Sunday, but the paddock was certainly open on Saturday. I thought the race was pretty good myself, constant overtaking, even for position! It wasn't Le Mans, but for a circuit that is 3/8ths the length, nobody thought it would be, mind you the toilets were heaps better. The food however, was absolute rubbish and scarce.

[garcon]

Looks like I made the right decision - just did Saturday, turned up an hour or so before the LMES race started, and left just before it finished, catching the end on Silverstone Radio...

It was inevitable the atmosphere would be nothing like Le Mans - how many people were there on Saturday? maybe 30,000? How many were actually staying? A few thousand at best? I was tempted to stay a little later for a drink and the BBQ on the Saturday, but I have an allergy to queues so we decided to get away early instead.

If they really want to make it a "festival" though, they should do a bit more on the infield - take a few hints from the temporary village you'll find at F1 races and Le Mans, have concourse events etc like we used to get at Coys... then there's plenty to see during the day on top of the racing itself. A beer tent, a BBQ smaller than the one in my mate's garden, and some no-mark band (who are the Poptarts? ) does not make a festival. What's the obsession these days with turning motorsport events into "festivals" by having a stage and some **** music, instead of the stuff I mention above?

As far as the facilities go, there could have been more food & drink outlets, but I have few complaints otherwise. The paddock was open, which is always nice - they probably couldn't have done that with a much larger crowd.

I quite enjoyed the race, especially the fact that we could take our time and walk the whole circuit to watch from all the best viewing points without missing anything too crucial. First time I've done that at Silverstone I think. If, like me, you didn't get to Le Mans this year and just wanted to see the LMP's in action in a large and varied grid, it was well worthwhile. Certainly worth £15 on the gate.