Originally Posted by
Hibbyradge
I'm not a massive fan of F1, but I do "get it".
I went to Silverstone in 1987 when Nigel Mansell caught Nelson Piquet with only a couple of laps to go, having been over 30 seconds behind.
There were loudspeakers around the track and the commentator kept the crowd informed as to how far behind Mansell was. It was a while ago so my memory may not be 100%accurate, but this is how I recall it;
30 seconds became 28. 28 became 26 and so on until he was about 10 seconds behind. Every couple of laps the commentator screamed that it was another lap record. It was amazing driving.
The next thing though, although the previous gap had been 10 seconds, was the 2 of them flying down the straight in front of us and Mansell was right up Piquet's exhaust. He'd caught up a huge gap!
We were watching on Hanger Straight, just before Stowe corner and the Mansell tricked Piquet into blocking to his left, then overtook on the inside. It was so exciting. The overtaking manoeve happened right in front of us. The noise that went up from the stands was deafening.
The noise of the cars, the smell of the high octane fuel, the speed. The speed is incredible.
And that's just the races. The whole experience is exciting. From the vast car parks accommodating every model of car you can think of, from Fiat Stradas ( in our case) to rare Ferraris, Lamborghinis and the rest.
The F1 village itself is an adult playground. All sorts of stalls, exhibitions, food and drink. I remember these tall, gorgeousMarlborough models in red jump suits wandering around handing out free cigs and lighters.
It was a very enjoyable experience and I wouldn't hesitate to go again, although I'm not sleeping in the car this time!!
Is it expensive? Yes, but not that much more than other world sporting events.
For example, if you want a 3 day weekend ticket for the Open at Carnoustie next July, you'll pay up to £165.
A weekend ticket at Silverstone costs £185.
It's also a myth that the car wins the race and not the driver, but that's for another forum.