Britain: SPARKY Silverstone Preview

By Nick Sparkes
July 6 2005

It was just a couple of months ago that I got the phone call saying I'm one of 100,000 people to have a ticket for this years British Grand Prix. Now just days away I'm busy packing my bags and charging up my camera as I await my first Grand Prix. Expectations are high, and my excitement unbearable.

I’m sure every Grand Prix fan remembers their first Formula One experience, I’m expecting it to be like my first day at school, my first kiss, my first time behind the wheel of the car, an experience which I’ll never forget. Silverstone is stereotypically an experience of wet weather, mud and traffic jams. Or if you’re Bernie Ecclestone; rubbish toilets and rusty Grandstands. But I don’t really care about any of that; I care about seeing 20 Formula One cars racing around a historic track at speeds well over 100 m.p.h.

Of course I will be there supporting the boys in red and white, Toyota. But also home boys Jenson Button and David Coulthard who have cars underneath them to finish in the points, maybe even stand on the podium. The weather is also an exciting element of the weekend, and for me I don’t mind if it rains, snows, or overgrown spiders fall from the sky, a change in weather conditions could even make the show even more exciting! So long as this weekend can stay politic free from a fans point of view, the drivers race until the very last lap and the odd spin occurs in front of my very eyes, I will deem the weekend a success. If Silverstone turns out to be a wonderful facility, which I believe it is, I’ll count it as a bonus.

When all the cars line up on the grid on Sunday afternoon and those five red lights come on and then go out, I will be in a different world, a world of Formula One!