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@sozavele That’s good to hear, though I wonder how much Platinum tickets will cost? I think Club Silverstone tickets gave you a guaranteed seat all weekend this year? They were sold out by the time we made up our minds to go.
I think the reason it’s an issue is that compared to a lot of other races I’ve been to the crowds are still very big on Fridays and Saturdays. This year the crowd stats were 80,000 on Friday, 94,000 on Saturday and 120,000 on Sunday.
If you’re going to be that full then chances are people are really going to have to hunt out a decent seat if they don’t arrive at the crack of dawn, so why not sell a lot more tickets that guarantee a seat on Saturday and Sunday? The answer is that most people want to roam, but as the event is now so popular it really is a system that rewards the early bird.
Personally I’m a big fan of the Monaco system. Buy a different seat for each day, or a seat for the whole weekend, or just Saturday and Sunday. It’s very flexible. When we went in 2011 you could just rock up on the Thursday and choose your grandstand (most were empty) and we booked two separate spots for the Saturday and Sunday. You can choose your actual seats online as well.
Anyway I know this sounds like a bit of an epic whinge. It really is a great circuit, and the event for the most part was well run this year. I just don’t understand why you are forced to buy roaming tickets for the Saturday when every other race I’ve been to doesn’t make this choice for you…especially given the popularity of the Friday and Saturday sessions compared to other circuits and the consequent difficulty getting a seat.
The spectacle and atmosphere were brilliant. Got to see some great racing from Woodcote and Club.
But my fears about having to fight to get a grandstand seat somewhere okay if we didn’t turn up at 9am turned out to be well founded. We had to hike half-way around the track to find some free seats, and then they were obscured. Even on Friday. I won’t be back, or at least I won’t be buying a three day ticket, until they provide allocated seating on the Saturday at least. When you outlay 800 pounds for two class 2 seats, you kind of hope you can actually get a seat!
Sunday was awesome though.
I’m wondering how bad the traffic is going to be too. We went to Nurburgring a few years back and got stuck in a three hour jam. Hoping it won’t be quite that bad!
Friday now wet, apparently. Weekend still looks fine.
Cheers Alex. I hope you’re right. I’ve no issue with the roaming thing if the decent grandstands are not full up early on Saturday. Sounds like numbers are down a bit this year which may help…
Early weather reports look good, particularly for Sunday.
Having outlayed near on £800 for two class 2 grandstand tickets (Club) I’m pretty disappointed to hear we will have to fight for seats on Friday (less so) and Saturday. I don’t understand why Silverstone does this? Other GPs I’ve been to let you roam on Fridays which is fair enough as there’s rarely fierce demand on that day. But having to sit somewhere rubbish on the Saturday as we won’t be able to get there very early really grates when we’ve paid so much. Love to see them implement allocated seating on Saturday.
Can anyone advise which grandstand we’d be best to try for on the Saturday if we arrive around 10 or 11am? Not fussed on tramping around the whole circuit looking for a seat. ;)
