Silverstone & Camping

[SmithA]

Hi all,
we were at the damp weekends events although we opted for the wimps excursion and stayed in a hotel
at about 9pm on the saturday evening she that must be obeyed went off to answer the call of nature and came back telling us that all the stalls and toilets etc were closing down.

how was it on the camp site did you have any "facilities"?
we are thinking of camping next year so wondered what you though of it

[Fran]

There was one huge permanent toilet block, kept clean and paper supplied all weekend!  There were also portacabin showers, and although i didnt use them i had a report that they were excellent and with a plentiful supply of hot water (not something i have ever experienced at Le Mans!).

Not sure about freshwater standpipes, but i didnt see one!

Lots of rubbish bins, frequently emptied.

Non drinkable water drums here n there, presumably for bbq emergency use!

Bring a heavy duty hammer - top soil is only about 2 inches deep then you hit rock!

Good views of track from the campsite so no need to walk too far.

Fran

[Steve Pyro]

Excellent toilets and showers, good camping, good company - do it.

[SmithA]

looking at your other posts, i think it is the way to do it.

we could not even get a drink back at the hotel as they had a wedding going on.

best we start planning now !

How much did they charge for camping? was it per tent? did they limit how much space you could take up?

Andy

[Fran]

£5 Friday night, £10 Saturday night - price was per person I was told by the ticket office, but not sure if they really checked very much - others who had two or more people in their car may be able to answer that one.  (Prices would no doubt vary according to the event and how much Silverstone can sting you for no doubt!). 

Pitches werent marked out, so as much space as you can get hold of and keep hold of.  Site was pretty much jam packed tho.

F

[Bob U]

Camping was £5 Friday night and £10 Saturday per person. With a combination of bullshit and lies I managed to hold onto enough space for a campervan, the Commer, Paddys caravan, 5 tents, and space for a communial area in the centre. You would need to arrive fairly early on Friday to do this as it did fill up quite fast in the evening.
 The Paddock bar was open until 11:00 on Saturday which helped us to get warm and dry and even more pissed. One of the barmaids was very cute but she did turn down the oppertunity of seeing our campsite, still, thats her loss.
Come and join us next year you wil have a great time.

[SmithA]

blimey sounds like you staked a claim to a big old lot of ground  i see that you must have put lessons learned from Le Mans in to good practice.

we were on site this year from about 8.30 so i am sure we could wake everyone up a bit earlier. what time can you get in there from?

Andy

[Kpy]

we could not even get a drink back at the hotel as they had a wedding going on.

"wedding going on" indeed!
Please let us know the identity of the hotel. I REALLY don't want to stay there by accident!!
You can PM me if you don't want the place mentioned here.

[SmithA]

  we will not be staying there again !!

it was the Mariott Courtyard hotel near Flore

[Bob U]

Didn't that used to be "The Crossroads" or am I thinking of the place at Weedon? I went there a few times when I lived in Northampton and I swear they sold the worlds best T-bone steak.

[SmithA]

it is on the M1 side of Flore about 1.5 miles from the motorway.

not so sure it is the same place as they only had a limited menu on friday night and the only steak they had was sirloin which had to be consumed in very small pieces. the only good thing about the meal was they only charged us for 2 courses instead of 3 and missed off a bottle of wine.

they also tried to charge us for some drinks on saturday night, when we asked to see the ticket you needed to have signed to charge it to the room they did not have one. after we told them that we were not guests at the wedding and could not get a drink on saturday evening they mumbled something about it must have been put on to our bill by mistake.

the more i think about it i really should have stayed at the track.

[Neal]

You know it makes sense Mr Smith its the best weekends camping I have had since err JUNE

[SmithA]

we did try camping in june once (2001) but found we liked the comforts of a place in the city centre more, dry, warm and an endless supply of cold beer   

we have thought about trying it again but it would take us 2 years to plan and get everything that we would want to have. i am sure we will try it again.

i think we have decided to camp at next years 1000k though and spend the hotel and taxi money on a s**t load of beer !!! oh and i suppose she will want some food as well. strange really that the wife has never taken to heart the liquid diet.

[Snoring Rhino]

Sounds like we missed a good one - put in diary for next year.

[Piglet]

The camping was good, the toilets were indeed very clean and tidy and the showers had very hot water.

Some of the site was some long way from the toilets though.

My only complaint was that there was no marshals camping area meaning that the public and marshals were mixed in together which doesn't make for a good time for anyone.  The marshals were working really long hours and weren't impressed at the punters partying at all hours.