FIA WEC: 6 hours of Silverstone - 19/20 April 2014

[SPYDOR]

It is the opening round of the 2014 FIA World Endurance Championship at Silverstone this weekend.
(Nothing like a last minute post!)

Official website
http://www.silverstone.co.uk/events/201 ... mpionship/



Great chance to see some fantastic racing between the two Le Mans GT Endurance classes and both Le Mans Prototype classes as well. 4 races in 1 if you will.

Ticket prices
Saturday qualifying - £25
Sunday race day - £40
Weekend ticket - £50

Weather forecast
Saturday qualifying - Chilly start, dry and bright with long sunny spells
Sunday race - Cloudy and windy with a fair bit of rain


Here's a little taste of last years event:

Opening 10 minutes from FIA WEC 2013 at Silverstone
[youtube]acta2OjOrAg[/youtube]


I love GT and LMP cars but haven't been along to a race event like this before, so can't wait! Not yet decided whether I can make qualifying as well but will be at the race event for sure. Let me know if anyone else is going and fancies meeting up.

[SPYDOR]

Went along to the qualifying today and didn't realise there were going to be supporting races! Boy was I in for a treat!

First off though, I had literally just arrived when I spotted a silver 5th gen VTi-R edition, which must have been imported from Australia or New Zealand! That was one of the marshall's cars who had parked next to the International Grandstand.

Along with qualifying for the FIA World Endurance Championship, there was a couple of Formula 3 races and qualifying then a 4-hour race for the first round of the European Le Mans Series as well. That was VERY impressive, sporting a grid of about 40 cars!! The Aston Martin V8 Vantage's sound like Spitfire's on the track and my ears as still ringing from the screaming Ferrari 458s!

Was very impressed with the skill of the drivers, only 1 real incident in 4 hours of hard racing, including a Porsche that span out behind the safety car!

Looking forward to the main FIA WEC race tomorrow and will be wrapping up in every warm piece of clothing I can lay my hands on as it gets bloody cold at Silverstone.

[SPYDOR]

I meant to add a follow up to this for anybody that thinks about going to one of these events in the future. Do it!

The main race was just epic, with lots of drama due to changing weather conditions over the course of the race. Poor Audi smashed both of their LMP1 cars, one of the Ferrari 458s had an engine fire and another car arrived into the pit lane with a wheel missing and sparks showing from the brake disc!!

The noise at the event is intoxicating, my favourite being the Rebellion Racing Lola B12/60 which screams to about 10,500rpm but isn't as abrasive as the Ferrari's exhaust note. There was also a BMW Z4 GT3 which sports an angry sounding V8 under the hood!

Silverstone is a cracking circuit as well. They opened several of the main grandstands and you were able to just roam around wherever you like. Best viewing spots for me were the grandstand at the International Pit's straight, as you could see all the pitlane action, the start grid, grid girls and the big screen to keep on top of the action. Grandstand at Woodcote is awesome as well, being able to see 1/3 of the circuit, with 2 long straights and some tight corners, add to that another TV screen and timings board making it a fantastic viewpoint! Maggotts/Becketts corners are excellent as well, being able to see cars passing a few feet from you and how fast they change direction as well, as LMP1 cars are not far off Formula 1 speeds.

Just make sure you wrap up extremely warm as it gets REALLY cold in those grandstands! Got to see if I can make it along to the 24-hours of Le Mans now...