F1 British Grand Prix at Silverstone, June 2006

Finally managed to get the great F1 bug out of my system.. well, not quite, but managed to get hold of a couple of last minute tickets on eBay and made it to Saturday & Sunday of the British F1 weekend. What a spectacle! I have to say, after hearing / reading all the horror stories about traffic & parking, I was expecting a nightmare... took about an hour each way on Saturday once you get on the M4, and a bit more on Sunday, but no drama!
And what a weekend... blazing hot sun, a hundred thousand F1 fans and a whole bunch of events supporting the F1 itself: GP2, Porsche Supercup, airhsows by the Red Arrows & some funky chopper flying (which I missed, but heard was great!).
But there's one thing - that is the first thing that hits you when you get even *close* to the circuit... and the same thing that lingers as the main memory... what an insane noise these cars make!!! You don't even get an idea of how howlingly screamingly freakishly loud they are on TV... and you miss the crazy lift-off exhaust notes & sputtering, and certainly don't get an idea of the speed on television. On the other hand, anyone watching at home probably knew a lot more about what was going on in the race than I did! Next time, get there early (5.30am advised for Silverstone, yes I know the race doesn't start until noon), bring a camping chair, a cooler filled with CHILLED drinks, get a good seat close to one of the big screens and make sure to bring a radio. And a garden umbrella if possible. Oh, and LOTS of sunblock. :-), and if you can manage, get tickets with centre access & contractor parking - preferably the international media car park.

Some pictures are here, I will get around to doing the rest at some point and posting the lot online.