Silverstone

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The fast turns of Copse, Maggotts and Becketts are world famous. Stowe corner is the scene of many overtaking manoeuvre, while Brooklands and Luffield add a more technical challenge. Silverstone is held in high regard by all the drivers for its circuit, atmosphere and sadly, weather.

Thousands of fans have had their afternoons ruined by the typical British weather but without a splash of rain, you wouldn’t have the true experience of a weekend at Silverstone, the place where it all began.

The track still retains some of the WWII runways that were used as an RAF base. After the War finished in 1945, the site became abandoned before some locals decided to race around a makeshift track. In 1948 the site was leased by the Royal Automobile Club, who was looking for a place to stage a grands prix. The inaugural British Grands Prix was won by Italian Luigi Villoresi.

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Top Grandstand Locations:

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Copse

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Much has been written about the Maggots and Becketts complex of curves and rightly so, but Copse, the right hander that precedes them, is equally impressive. At 265km/h it is the second fastest corner on the circuit after Maggots, the latter actually being taken flat out. The drivers approach Copse at around 300km/h on Silverstone F1 circuit in 7th, sometimes shifting down to 6th for the blind entry, only very lightly kissing the brakes to avoid upsetting the balance of the car, before almost immediately applying full throttle at the exit. The time taken from the driver lifting off to being fully back on it again is less than one second. The challenge for engine engineers is therefore to allow the engine to effectively function as a switch, going from “fully off” to “fully on” almost instantaneously.

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Vale

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Vale is the last big stop of the lap, with drivers typically attempting to exploit the braking zone as much as possible to find that last extra tenth in Qualifying. In contrast to The Loop, the drivers approach Vale at high speed, typically around 275-280km/h. Braking hard, it is possible to lock the rear wheels and compromise the entry and, in so doing, the exit. The drivers carry forward this penalty into Club, the 180° opening right hander that leads them onto the start finish straight. Get this corner right and the driver can be up a tenth, get it wrong and he can easily lose half a second. Engine engineers can help by providing the correct level of overrun support to stabilise the rear under braking, but they face almost the same conundrum! Too little and the driver locks the rears, too much and the driver struggles to slow the car down, potentially then locking the fronts.

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