Let’s guide you round the Silverstone National circuit so you can get the most from your track experience at Japfest, Ford Fair or TRAX!
Track guide from Fast Ford magazine. Words: Alex Nevill & Jamie King. Photos: Fast Ford archive.
The track action plays a huge part at events like JapFest, Ford Fair, and Trax, with Silverstone’s National Circuit will be in full swing throughout the day.
No doubt, many of you will be venturing out onto that hallowed tarmac to enjoy your very own car at full throttle in a safe environment alongside fellow enthusiasts. Well, if you are, you need to read this first. We grabbed racing instructor Alex Nevill, to guide us round each part of the track, so you can nail that perfect lap during your time on track.
Just off the A43 in Northants, Silverstone is easily reached from the M1 and M40, and track sessions at our events start at just £40 at Japfest, Ford Fair amd Trax!
Silverstone National Circuit
Fast Car Entertainment events Japfest, Ford Fair, and Trax make use of Silverstone’s famous National Circuit. This 1.64-mile track is the same layout as used by many of the country’s leading motorsport series’, including the British Touring Car Championship, meaning you’ll be able to really put your modified car through its paces.
The National Circuit also features in many of Silverstone’s most legendary and iconic corners (including Copse, Maggotts, Brooklands, Luffield, and Woodcote) that form part of both the new and old F1 layouts – giving you the opportunity to follow in the tyre tracks of truly great drivers both past and present!
Relevant content – Don’t forget to check out our guide to preparing your car for a track day, as well as the ultimate guide to braking on track.
Track Guide to Master The Silverstone National Circuit
Entering the track
Your track time at Japfest, Ford Fair or Trax will start with you lining up in the track assembly area near the medical centre. With so much going on around the show, the traditional pit lane entry is not in use, so follow the signs for ‘Track Time’ and you will be guided to track entrance behind the Medical Centre building.
When it’s time to go you will be led out by a Safety Car, joining the track at Brooklands corner. DO NOT overtake on this first slow lap. Use the steady laps to familiarise yourself with the circuit and to keep an eye on your temperature gauges, making sure everything is as it should be before the full-throttle laps to follow.
The Safety Car will stay out for one or two laps, or until the track staff are happy everyone is good to go, and when it leaves the track at the exit just after the Luffield corner (note, this is where you will exit at the end of the session), then your track time is under way…
1 – Copse Corner
The first corner in our Silverstone National track guide is Copse – the fast right-hander after the start/finish straight that famously made the headlines when Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen collided at the British Grand Prix in 2021.
As you approach the corner, you’ll want to brush the brakes before turning in as you approach the ‘50’ board on the driver’s left. On the inside of the corner, you’ll see two red markers to the right of the kerb; the first of these is your apex.
You’ll want your right tyres on the kerb here, and you should be hard on the throttle by this point, letting the car run out to the left-hand side on the exit until your left tyres are on the kerb. You shouldn’t be going any further than that, as otherwise you’ll be exceeding track limits, which is frowned upon.
Once you’ve exited Copse you’ll want to gently bring the car over to the driver’s right to set yourself up for Maggotts.
2 – Maggotts
The next corner up in our Silverstone track guide is Maggotts, and it’s a bit of an oddity on the National Circuit; it’s the point at which the National layout deviates from the GP circuit, cutting through the middle before joining the Aintree corner that leads onto the Wellington Straight.
Maggotts is an awkward but crucial corner; it doesn’t really matter how well you do it, it’ll always feel slightly underwhelming. You must be wary of that though, as it may lead you to push harder through the corner and over-drive, which will hurt your exit speed and cost you crucial time on the Wellington Straight.
There’s a slight curve to the left before the corner itself, so you’ll want to be on the right-hand side of the circuit as you approach. Gently turn in to the left; not to take the corner, but to position yourself properly for the right-hander that follows.
You can use the sausage kerb on your left as your brake marker. Make sure you’re in a straight line as you hit the brakes, or your lap could be ending in the gravel trap.
It’s a short braking zone, so make sure you’re hard on the brakes to get it slowed down for the corner in time and you’ll probably want to downshift to third gear. Because the road has turned slightly to the left and you’re braking in a straight line, the car will already be quite tight to the corner.
A tip here is to make sure you keep tight to the kerb until you’re off the GP circuit and onto the cut-through section, at which point you can start to release the steering and let the car run out to the left-hand side as you build speed and enter the Wellington Straight.
3 – Wellington Straight
Now it’s time to gun it. As you enter the straight, you’ll most likely be to the left of the track, but as you power down the straight, gently make your way over the right-hand side to better position the car for the next corner at Brooklands. But keep an eye in your mirrors for faster cars as you do so.
4 – Brooklands
After the Wellington Straight you will be heading towards the Brooklands complex.
Here is the best overtaking opportunity on the circuit. It’s a very late apex for this corner, which means looking long towards the apex is very important.
There’s usually a board to the driver’s right indicating that you need to turn left; turn just after that but make sure you’re looking ahead to your apex, otherwise you’ll find yourself too tight to the corner.
The most common mistake for newcomers and inexperienced drivers is to turn in far too early here, which not only compromises your entry to the next corner, but often sees you end up straight across the track and off onto the infield.
You’ll notice some tarmac to your left where the old GP circuit used to join the current layout; the apex is just beyond where the two tracks merge. It can be tempting here to stay wide and cut back in for the apex. It’ll feel faster on the exit, but as it’s a very short straight afterwards it won’t compensate for the longer line you’ve taken through the corner itself.
5 – Luffield
Luffield follows almost immediately after Brooklands. As with Maggotts it always feels a little underwhelming, and the key is not to over-drive it. The car will be on the right-hand side of the circuit after Brooklands and there’s no time to move over to the left, so it’s a very shallow entry to the corner.
Focus on smooth braking and turning, keep tight to the inside kerb, and be smooth with the throttle through the corner and the exit. If you can hear tyre squeal, you’re losing time. Tyre squel at the start of the corner, it’s either because you haven’t braked enough or you’re being too aggressive with the wheel. If it’s tyre squeal from mid-corner onwards, you probably need a little less throttle.
6 – Woodcote
Woodcote is the last corner on the National Circuit, and the last in our Silverstone track guide, but if it’s dry this isn’t much of a corner. You can’t gain time through here, but you can lose it. Make sure your input on the wheel is minimal – the car accelerates best in a straight line, after all, so try to smooth out the racing line as much as possible. Also, think about how tightly you’re holding the steering wheel; a tight grip on the wheel will make it harder to move the wheel and turn the car, which will mean more turning and therefore less speed. It’ll also wear you out more.
7 – Finish Line
And that concludes our Silverstone track guide to the National Circuit. The more laps you complete, the more familiar you will become with the surroundings and the better the feel you will have for your car and the conditions, meaning you can expect to get faster and faster throughout the day.
The key, though, is to build things gradually and improve on your previous lap. That way, you can learn what works and what doesn’t.
Silverstone GP Circuit advice
The start of the 3.66-mile GP circuit is on the newly-named Hamilton Straight opposite the Wing. Almost flat out, the first corner to tackle is the right-hander of Abbey, which leads immediately into the left-hander of Farm before you brake heavily into the right-handed turn three; Village Corner. The even slower left-hander of the Loop comes immediately after, and leads into the opening left-hander of Aintree, before heading down the Wellington Straight.
Turn six, the left-hander of Brooklands, is tight and leads immediately into the right-hand hairpin of Luffield. The right-handed kink of Woodcote leads cars down the old pit straight, before the difficult fast right-hander of Copse. Then, comes the challenging complex of Maggotts, Becketts and Chapel – a fast left-right-left-right-left complex. This then leads down the 770-metre Hangar Straight with the fast right-hander of Stowe at the end.
The fifteenth turn of the track, Stowe, precedes a short straight, named Vale, which leads downhill towards the Club complex. Heavy braking is required for the left-hander of turn 16, and understeer can be an issue for the next right-handers of turns 17 and 18, as you tentatively accelerate round to the start-finish straight. As you’d expect, the surface is excellent, though some standing water can gather in places in very wet conditions.
Silverstone track guide: fast facts
Track length: 3.66 miles (GP), 1.64 miles (National)
Corners: 18 (GP), 6 (National)
Highlight: The exit of Chapel onto the long, wide Hangar Straight, probably the best chance in the UK you’ll find to really stretch your car’s legs.
Price: From £219 (National), £319 (GP)
www.ChrisFrosin.co.uk
Tips to driving Silverstone National circuit
- Don’t overdrive: The National circuit isn’t one that rewards aggressive driving as most of the corners are fairly slow. You want to drive with smoothness and precision so that you don’t scrub off corner speed.
- Focus on your exit speed: The two most important corners on the circuit are Maggots and Luffield, as they lead on to the lengthy front and back straights. Get either of these wrong and your lap time will really suffer.
- Watch your mirrors: More important for racers, but still worth bearing in mind for track days. The nature of the corners here really encourages ‘lunges’ that could end your day. Make sure you’re aware of the cars around you and what they’re doing, and obviously make sure you make good overtaking decisions yourself! It’s also a much wider circuit than most other UK tracks, which means you can lose sight of a car around you fairly easily.
