Silverstone Circuit

Silverstone Circuit at a glance

Location

Silverstone, Northamptonshire

Type

road course

Length

5.891 km (3.66 mi)

Turns

18

Direction

clockwise

Surface

asphalt

Elevation change

36 ft

Opened

1948

Owner

British Racing Drivers' Club (BRDC)

Capacity

175,000

Address

Silverstone, Towcester

Phone

+44 1327 320280

Website

silverstone.co.uk

Track map and layout

Silverstone occupies a former Second World War RAF bomber airfield, and its layout still carries that heritage in names like Hangar Straight, Wellington Straight and Farm Curve. The modern Grand Prix Arena Circuit runs clockwise over 5.891 km and 18 corners, opening with the fast right-hander at Copse before the lap's defining sequence: Maggotts, Becketts and Chapel, a left-right-left-right-left combination taken at huge speed that is regularly rated among the best corner complexes in world motorsport. From there the track heads down Hangar Straight into Stowe, sweeps through Vale and Club, then loops back through the infield Arena section (added in 2010) via Village, the Loop and Aintree before rejoining the old lap at Wellington Straight, Brooklands, Luffield and Woodcote. Silverstone also runs shorter National (2.639 km) and International (2.979 km) configurations for domestic racing and testing.

Named corners and sections

• Copse. A fast, sweeping right-hander that opens the lap proper after the pit straight; flat-out for modern F1 cars and one of the circuit's biggest commitment corners.
• Maggotts, Becketts and Chapel. A rapid left-right-left-right-left sequence widely regarded as one of the finest corner complexes in motorsport; Maggotts takes its name from an adjacent field, Becketts and Chapel from the medieval chapel of St Thomas à Becket that once stood nearby.
• Stowe. A fast right-hander at the end of Hangar Straight, named after nearby Stowe School, and a common overtaking point under braking.
• Abbey. The high-speed right-hander that starts the modern lap directly after the start-finish straight, named after the ruins of Luffield Abbey.
• Luffield. A long, tightening double-apex right-hander in the old infield section, one of the slowest points on the Grand Prix lap.
• Woodcote. The final corner onto the pit straight, once one of the fastest corners in the world before chicanes and reprofiling slowed it for safety.

Configurations

Events and race weekends

Silverstone's calendar is built around the Formula 1 British Grand Prix in July, which has been held at the circuit every year since 1987 and intermittently since 1948. The British motorcycle Grand Prix brings MotoGP in August, supported by British Superbike Superstock races. The Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship and British GT Championship both hold rounds on the Grand Prix circuit, and the European Le Mans Series runs its 4 Hours of Silverstone in September. The BRDC Classic (formerly the Silverstone Classic), one of the world's largest historic race meetings, fills the circuit each July with vintage racing, live music and car club displays.

Getting there and parking

Silverstone sits in south Northamptonshire close to the Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire borders, about 90 minutes from central London and an hour south of Birmingham via the A43. There is no railway station at the circuit; on major event weekends, paid shuttle buses run to the gates from Milton Keynes Central, Northampton, Banbury, Oxford and Coventry stations. Road access via the A43 and A413 gets heavily congested on Grand Prix weekends, so organisers recommend arriving well before the gates open.

• Birmingham Airport (BHX) · about 60 min drive
• London Luton Airport (LTN) · about 49 min drive

Parking

General car parking is included with most event tickets in fields around the circuit; premium and accessible parking is limited and typically must be booked in advance for the British Grand Prix.

For the British Grand Prix, book event shuttle buses from Milton Keynes, Northampton or Banbury stations ahead of time and expect slow-moving traffic on the A43 approach roads on both arrival and departure.

Hotels and camping near Silverstone Circuit

Silverstone's own campsites are one of the British Grand Prix's biggest draws, letting fans walk to the gates in minutes rather than sit in road traffic; pitches for the F1 weekend sell out many months ahead. Visitors who want a hotel bed typically base themselves in Towcester, Milton Keynes, Northampton or Banbury, all within about 30-40 minutes' drive, with rooms across the region filling up and rising sharply in price for the Grand Prix and MotoGP weekends.

Where to look

Towcester is the nearest town; Milton Keynes, Northampton and Banbury offer a much larger range of hotels within roughly half an hour's drive, and trackside options include the Hilton Garden Inn and Escapade Silverstone residences.

Track days, driving experiences and lap records

Silverstone runs its own car and bike track days and driving experiences in-house, alongside a large number of third-party organisers who book the National, International and Grand Prix circuits throughout the year. Options range from arrive-and-drive experience laps in supercars or single-seaters to full open-pit-lane track days for road and race cars, with the Grand Prix circuit generally reserved for the biggest events.

Who runs days here

• Silverstone (in-house track days and experiences)both
• RMA Track Dayscar
• Opentrack Eventscar
• BookaTrackcar

Typical cost: Open-pitlane car track days from roughly £200-£300 per day; passenger and experience laps from around £239

Lap records

Spectator guide

Silverstone's size means views vary hugely by grandstand; the Wellington, Woodcote, Copse and Stowe grandstands are consistently rated among the best for watching wheel-to-wheel racing, while general admission mounds around the Arena section and Luffield give a cheaper but still panoramic view of several corners at once. Big screens and PA commentary around the venue help fans on general admission banking follow the wider race.

Seating

Grandstands are named after circuit landmarks (Copse, Maggotts, Becketts, Stowe, Vale, Woodcote, Abbey, Wellington and others), each overlooking a different sequence of corners.

Best places to watch

The Stowe and Copse grandstands offer close-up views of high-speed braking and overtaking; general admission banking near the Arena infield lets fans see multiple corners without a fixed seat.

Weather

• July (British GP): typically mild to warm, highs around 20-23°C, with a real chance of rain in any given year
• August (MotoGP): similar to July, warm and changeable, highs around 20-22°C

History of Silverstone Circuit

From bomber airfield to birthplace of the F1 World Championship

Silverstone was built on and around RAF Silverstone, a Second World War Royal Air Force bomber station that closed in 1946. Enthusiasts staged an impromptu race on the airfield's perimeter roads in 1947 and the Royal Automobile Club formalised the venue for 1948, laying out a circuit using the runways and connecting perimeter track. Silverstone hosted the very first round of the Formula 1 World Championship in May 1950, watched by King George VI, and has been a fixture of the sport ever since, becoming the permanent home of the British Grand Prix from 1987 after years of alternating with Brands Hatch.

Reshaping the lap

The original airfield layout was fast and largely flat, and safety concerns through the 1980s and 1990s drove a series of reprofiling projects. The most significant came between the 1990 and 1991 seasons, when Maggotts, Becketts and Chapel were reshaped into the demanding fast left-right-left-right-left sequence still raced today, and further changes slowed corners such as Woodcote with the addition of chicanes. In 2010 the circuit was extended with a new infield 'Arena' section, adding the Loop and Aintree corners and pushing the lap out to its current 5.891 km, a layout that has hosted every British Grand Prix since 2011.

A modern multi-purpose venue

Owned and run by the British Racing Drivers' Club, Silverstone today combines top-level motorsport with a large events and hospitality business. It hosts the British motorcycle Grand Prix, rounds of the British Touring Car Championship and British GT Championship, historic racing at the BRDC Classic, and large-scale non-motorsport events including CarFest. Trackside campsites and glamping fill for the Grand Prix weekend, and the on-site Silverstone Experience museum tells the story of British motorsport from the airfield's wartime origins to the present day.

Frequently asked questions

Other tracks nearby

• Bedford Autodrome · 41 km · road course
• Rockingham Motor Speedway · 55 km · historic circuit (dormant)
• Mallory Park · 63 km · road course
• Birmingham Superprix · 75 km · historic circuit (defunct)
• Donington Park · 88 km · road course
• Brooklands · 88 km · historic circuit (defunct)