Silverstone Circuit - Where did the passion go? - 2.8.2010
Silverstone hasn't been a good drivers circuit for
years. There are a few good corners like Bridge, Copse, Maggots,
Becketts, Chapel but there are also some terrible sections of track.
Lets take the track corner by corner and see what's right with the
circuit and what's wrong with the circuit.
A high speed corner which can give the driver real
satisfaction, it's crucial to be precise at Copse to ensure you have the
speed on the following straight down to Maggots. The issue with Copse is
that it is slightly off camber, which is never a good feature for a
corner. If Copse has a flat surface or if it was on camber it would be
perfect.
Silverstone Circuit - Maggots, Becketts, Chapel
Nothing to say here, the Maggots, Becketts, Chapel
series of corners are one of the great corner sequences on any track
anywhere in the World, high speed, high cornering forces, accuracy and
line are crucial.
Cant find what your looking for?
Try the StrikeEngine
search engine - Powered by Google Only includes the sites listed on StrikeEngine
StrikeEngine SEARCH ENGINE - Car Sites ONLY "Try it,
we are sure you will find what you are looking for and more!"
Custom Search
Silverstone Circuit - Where did the passion go?
Silverstone Circuit - Stowe, Vale
Completely disgusting sequence of corners which gives
absolutely no pleasure to the driver whatsoever. Stowe has a number of
lines but the fact that there is not a clearly defined apex make it
unsatisfying. The fact that the corner starts before you would like to
start turn to make the apex further aggravates the situation. To cap it
all Stowe is slightly off camber and the off camber increases on exit
makes the Stowe corner very unappealing. The solution is simple, the
corner should be more well defined. A clear apex and the elimination of
the off camber - the old Stowe corner was one of the most awesome
corners anywhere.
Vale is completely Mickey Mouse and has been put in
solely with the goal of increasing the lap time for F1 cars with no
thought being put into what would make it a good drivers corner. The
fact that Vale is also slightly off camber doesn't help
Silverstone Circuit - Abbey
Not a spectacular corner but normal. Still not a
shadow of the original Abbey corner which was one of the fastest corners
anywhere
It probably obvious, but this section is another
Mickey Mouse section of Silverstone, again the intention of building
this section of circuit is obvious, to extend the lap times of the F1
cars. It is also obvious that drivers were not consulted in it's design.
Silverstone Circuit - Brooklands
Before we get to Brooklands let consider what
Silverstone Circuit has destroyed in the name of extending the lap time
with the addition if the Arena section. Silverstone Circuit has decided
to take Bridge corner out of the Grand Prix layout. So we have lost one
of the World's great corners in Bridge and replaced it with, as
mentioned above, a complete farce of corners whose only purpose is to
extend the lap time of the circuit. If anything displays the philosophy
of the track designers employed by Silverstone, it is this, the
destruction of Bridge.
Onto to Brooklands, never a great corner, again the
origins of Brooklands comes from the desire to increase the lap time.
Very slightly off camber, a bit Mickey Mouse but could be worse.
Luffield is okay, Luffield is a slow corner where
precision is critical for good speed onto the main straight.
Silverstone Circuit - Woodcote
An extremely fast corner if you are in the right
machinery, easily flat though. A remnant of the old circuit and it
shows.
Silverstone Circuit - Summary
Maybe it is not fair to compare the modern circuit
with the Silverstone of old because the old layout was one of the
fastest circuits in history and still holds the World record for the
highest average speed set on a qualifying lap.
The fact that the modern circuit is built in an
different era is no excuse for it not to be a satisfying drivers track.
If the planners consulted with drivers during the design process, there
is no reason why Silverstone could not be one of the great tracks.
For an example of how a truly great circuit can be
adapted to the modern era and still give the driver a rewarding
challenge, take a look at Imola. Some might say the new Imola circuit is
even more enjoyable that the old. One thing is for sure, the designers
employed by Imola could teach the Silverstone planners a lot about
designing a rewarding race track.
Below is a satellite image from Google, although it
does not show the new section of the circuit, the old course of
Silverstone circuit is still visible
