djgritt
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Registered: 1st Nov 07
Location: Dorset Drives: Focus ST / Hyundai i20N
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I was lucky enough to attend the 2013 Formula 1 British Grand Prix this weekend just passed.
One word. Amazing.
I got the tickets as a Christmas present from the missus. We then waited for it to come around, and headed up on Friday evening. We were supposedly in the ‘Lively’ camping area, which turned out to be not so Lively… quite a trek from the entertainment etc, but in a way this was better.
Met up with a workmate who was also there and hung around with them during F1 Practice Session 3 – we were watching from the International Pit Straight, just up from Turn 1 and the Pit Exit ramping. The noise was as expected, as loud as the DTM cars I see, but with the higher pitch making them sound more extreme. The way the Cars pick up pace & slow down again was just amazing. Very impressed.
Once Practice finished we started walking around the circuit to wait for the Qualifying sessions to start. We caught up with some of the trackside displays and entertainment. Animal had an ‘Action Sports’ display, so BMX, Trials Bikes & Parkour really. Watched that which was pretty good.
We eventually made our way around the circuit past the National Pit Straight and on to Maggots & Becketts and the Hangar Straight. On the way there we managed to spot some of the Porsche Supercup qualifying, as well as finding some both questionable & tasty motors parked up along the way.
Next came more Trackside displays & entertainment, including a brief look around the Porsche Experience Centre. The evening then saw us sat in the Entertainment Arena with some live music on offer – firstly some middle aged Canadian woman who was crap, secondly some guys who were on the X-factor at some point, still fairly crap but not as bad as the first act, and finally, Billy Ocean. He was brilliant. Not my sort of thing, but was impressed. We were stood right at the front of the crowd at the fencing. There were thousands there, all pumped and loving it. Great atmosphere!
We took the decision to upgrade our tickets and get into the Grandstand at Farm. This turned out to be a good move, with views of Turns 1, 2, 3 & 4 from our spot, as well as views of 2x Maxi Screens that allowed us to see everything else happening. The other benefit was being above the safety fences so any photos wouldn’t be obstructed as much.
We missed pretty much all of the GP3 race, but were seated before the GP2 race started. This was pretty good, we had one spectacular spin right in front of us. This was then followed by the Porsche Supercup Race before the F1 stuff started to happen. The next thing to happen was the F1 Drivers Parade Lap, followed by a 20min display by the Red Arrows.
Eventually, came the F1 Formation & Race. Most people who will look at this thread are likely to have watched it an know what happened. Summary; 4x Tyre Blowouts. 2x Safety Car Sessions. Vettel suffered retirement from 1st Position with mechanical failure (to massive cheers from the Spectating crowds!). Rosberg 1st, Webber 2nd, Alonso 3rd.
Safety Car sessions helped bring the overtaking and on track battles ongoing, which helped keep things interesting!
Hamilton drove well – going from Pole to Last and fighting back up to 4th.
Di Resta did well to from from 21st to within the top 10 at the end.
Hamilton & Di Resta both had a good couple of laps tussling with eachother, well done to them both.
Finally, we saw some more tasty cars in the car park on our way back out of the circuit to the Campsite, as well as witnessing the authorised Track invasion. We tried to get on, but it was so busy that the stewards stopped any more people from getting on. Shame, but not the end of the world.
All in all. One of the best weekends I have had. Definitely something I want to do again, and even Jo wants to too. She loved it, and she had never been to anything like it before. However, we have both decided that due to the cost of going to Silverstone, we would look at going to one of the European events instead…
Some of my photos can be found in this Slideshow - they display massively on here so didn't want to direct link them all...
http://smg.photobucket.com/user/djgritt/slideshow/2013%20British%20GP?sort=2
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spencer88
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Registered: 6th Oct 08
Location: cornwall
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SportsDay
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Sean-B
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Registered: 1st May 07
Location: Wolverhampton Drives: 200SX S14a
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Sounds like an awesome day. I've seen an F1 practise day at silverstone but never the race. You'd love the Le Mans 24Hr!!!
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Fonz
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Registered: 12th May 06
Location: Newbury, Berks
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quote:
Originally posted by djgritt
However, we have both decided that due to the cost of going to Silverstone, we would look at going to one of the European events instead…
it is for this reason alone a mate of mine has gone to Monza and Budepest GPs instead of Silverstone. he has gone with a car full of mates, camped and believed it cost close to to the same experience at Silverstone would when the travel is shared between them all.
they have made a point of being "tourists" while out there and enjoyed the various sites as well so seems to be a win win
it does sound like your experience was worth it though!
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Jambo
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Registered: 8th Sep 01
Location: Maidenhead, Drives: VXR Arctic
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Poor show on the crowd cheering Vettels retirement IMO.
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Eck
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Registered: 17th Apr 06
Location: Lundin Links, Fife
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quote:
Originally posted by Jambo
Poor show on the crowd cheering Vettels retirement IMO.
Did you expect class in Britain? Surely not mate 
I'd love to go for the noise alone tbh.
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Kyle T
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Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
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quote:
Originally posted by Fonz
quote:
Originally posted by djgritt
However, we have both decided that due to the cost of going to Silverstone, we would look at going to one of the European events instead…
it is for this reason alone a mate of mine has gone to Monza and Budepest GPs instead of Silverstone. he has gone with a car full of mates, camped and believed it cost close to to the same experience at Silverstone would when the travel is shared between them all.
they have made a point of being "tourists" while out there and enjoyed the various sites as well so seems to be a win win
it does sound like your experience was worth it though!
I've done Monza and doing Spa this year for similar reasons. Don't get me wrong, Monza wasn't a cheap weekend but I'll take a night out in Milan over a campsite anyday
Guilt is driving me to silverstone next year though as I've yet to see a home race 
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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Kyle T
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Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
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Oh, and as for crowds cheering etc - you should have heard the Tifosi when Button broke down on the pitstraight in Italy last year... they were nothing compared to those Vettel got when pulling up at the end
Saying all that, at least a dozen Italians walked up to us on the track invasion and on the way home to congratulate us on a Hamilton victory. Doesn't get much classier than that, if it was football I'm pretty sure we'd all be dead.
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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Jambo
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Registered: 8th Sep 01
Location: Maidenhead, Drives: VXR Arctic
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quote:
Originally posted by Eck
quote:
Originally posted by Jambo
Poor show on the crowd cheering Vettels retirement IMO.
Did you expect class in Britain? Surely not mate
I'd love to go for the noise alone tbh.
Fair point but never the less makes me ashamed :
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noshua
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Registered: 19th Nov 08
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Sounds like a decent weekend, shame about the music acts as other venues usually have some decent, well, popular, singers.
Did you just have general admission tickets? How much was it to upgrade on the day?
[Edited on 03-07-2013 by noshua]
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djgritt
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Registered: 1st Nov 07
Location: Dorset Drives: Focus ST / Hyundai i20N
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quote:
Originally posted by noshua
Sounds like a decent weekend, shame about the music acts as other venues usually have some decent, well, popular, singers.
Did you just have general admission tickets? How much was it to upgrade on the day?
[Edited on 03-07-2013 by noshua]
Billy Ocean was amazing! Got the Crowd properly going 
Paid £170 to upgrade to 2 Grandstand seats on Sunday. We chose the cheaper seats too...
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big eck
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Registered: 20th Apr 03
Location: Tullibody. Drives - Audi B8 S4 & Fiesta Zetec-S
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My mates brother in law was one of the bands that played
Times red.
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djgritt
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Registered: 1st Nov 07
Location: Dorset Drives: Focus ST / Hyundai i20N
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quote:
Originally posted by big eck
My mates brother in law was one of the bands that played
Times red.
Thats the ones. Yeah, they weren't great.
Better than the person they followed though, she was shite.
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andys sxi
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Registered: 19th Jan 06
Location: Chester Drives:Scirocco tdi bluemotion
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I went on Sunday just for the day, first time I've been to it and enjoyed it very much,got the the track about half 6, it was surprising how fast the time actually went there was always something going on, I went just general admission and could upgrade if we wanted it but didn't bother.
We went onto the track afterwards and it was metal on there I picked up a bit of rubber off the tyres, somebody walked infront of me with a breaking point sign
April 08 feature car
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Jamie1991
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Registered: 7th Jun 11
Location: Walsall, West Mids
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I was quite jealous of those at silverstone this year, always great atmosphere plus had decent weather and entertaining race too this year.. Although I am going to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix this year, so should make up when the time comes
[Edited on 03-07-2013 by Jamie1991]
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andys sxi
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Registered: 19th Jan 06
Location: Chester Drives:Scirocco tdi bluemotion
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hope you dont mind me posting a few of my pictures in here
it was a really good day its the first time ive used my camera at something like this
[Edited on 06-07-2013 by andys sxi]
April 08 feature car
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Steve
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Registered: 30th Mar 02
Location: Worcestershire Drives: Defender
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those cars lines are shocking
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