Home Away From Home: Silverstone!

Yesterday I turned up at my new (extended) home. Only ten miles down the road from me is the world famous home of British Motorsport, the Silverstone Grand Prix racing circuit. Having never been I had no idea what to expect, but kept an open mind as I drove up knowing the sky was literally the limit.

For those of you who don't know much about the Silverstone Circuit it has a storied history. Its initial purpose in fact was not be a racing course at all. During the second World War Silverstone was actually an RAF airfield base. After the end of the war, the airbase trasitioned into a racing course when the three run-ways were connected with hairpin corners. Since then Silverstone has become one of the most fabled racing courses in the world and hosting the British roudn of the Formula 1 World Championship every year since 1987.

As I drove up, before I had even arrived at the circuit I was greeted by a commercial business park. Surrounding the circuit must have been a dozen different building with various businesses with what appeared to be motorsport marketing, public relations, racing organizers (including the Historic Sports Car Club I went to last week as well as the A1GP) and many, many racing outfits.

Yesterday was not a quiet day at Silverstone as racing teams from around Europe were descending on the circuit for the first round of the FIA GT Championship. Once I had passed the commercial buildings I was greated by a guard station on the pathway to the infield of the circuit. I can only imagine the greeting I would have received during Silverstone's previous life as a military airbase. After introducing myself to the guard he accepted my story that I was on my way to meet one of the teams and directed me through to the paddock.

Once passing the guard gate I immediately drove over a bridge which passed directly over the circuits many straights. As I decended to the inside of the course I began to realize the magnitutde of the circuit and headed towards the signs which said 'paddock.' After parking and pulling on a warm jacket I began to 'troll' around the paddock to inquire if any of the teams could use an extra hand during the weekend. I figured some of these crews could use an extra hand to change tyres, record data, or help wipe down the cars. In this process I had a chance to meet a few interesting people including Stewart Rodden the team principal for the Scuderia Eccose Ferrari team. The teams were busy unloading their magnificent machines which looked to be the inspiration for the Gran Tourismo video game. I could certainly see myself behind the wheel of a some of these!

After a few hours of speaking with people my luck didn't seem to be going very well. Many of the people I approached didn't even speak english! As you can imagine trying to explain to them I could help out around the pits was a tough task let alone pantomimeing pushing a broom to puzzled looks.

Although that didn't really go according to plan, I did have a bit of good, actually great news. Halfway through the day I received a phone call from the British Motorsport association to let me know the final details had gone through on my racing license. In a few days I will be the proud owner of an International racing license, so it is a step towards getting behind the wheel! This is also good news because it is tied in with my work visa so hopefully soon I can start working at the Palmer Sport racing school.

In the end I didn't have luck finding anyone who needed an extra hand, which quite honestly is amazing to me. I don't think i've ever been at the races when an extra warm body wouldn't be welcomed. I suppose these are all ultra professional outfits and have their team as they see fit.

Hope you are doing very well. Although I didn't find 'work' with any of the teams I am going to turn up at Silverstone this weekend, see who I run into, and hopefully enjoy some fantastic GT racing.

Best regards

Michael