And most of those were crammed into the stands at Abbey, Hamilton Straight, Club and Vale which put a huge stress on the facilities. Andy
It was extremely noticeable on tv. Empty stand after empty stand. Not a good look with our new overlords I’d imagine.
There were a few very vocal opinions in the queues for the toilet, beer, coffee and burgers that 2026 could well be the last appearance of MotoGP in the UK. I was harbouring hopes the JP would do what is necessary to get Donington up to FIM class A accreditation but after this weekend’s attendance figures and doubts expressed about the local infrastructure around the circuit handling big crowds, that’s looking very doubtful in my mind. Andy
Had email today saying for Silverstone racing club members Motogp 2026 tickets are half price, I can't go as it's in August again, bit annoying. At half price definitely worth going. I was in Luffield stand, great view for 3 days, but don't really like Silverstone as a spectator, it was nice not queuing, but to be honest I would have loved to have queued a bit to get in or out, or for food, just seems part of it. I know the infrastructure is far better than Donington, but it was so good when Motogp was at Donington , used to go every year, was there when Valentino won in the wet, Biaggi fell off in front of us. I know times change and things move on but it's nothing like it used to be.
They aren’t getting great feedback on their current advert for 2026 on FB. Rightly so by the sounds of it although absolutely pointless moaning to them about it. They will do the grand sum of fuck all, which is exactly why it will forever be emptystone rather than silverstone when it comes to the bikes. Shite Jeff.
I don’t do FB but can imagine some of the comments. I recently received a mail shot from Silverstone offering their own “parc ferme” hospitality, £1200 for Saturday and Sunday, accommodation and travel not included. Andy
Per person. Flights to Barcelona, 4 nights accommodation in the Hotel 1898 and 3 day tickets for Montmelo for two would cost me less. Andy
That’s vile and only goes to show how bloated and grotesque they’ve become. Not a track for your average Joe Public to access and enjoy anymore. Hope they fail miserably.
The BDRC has one year left on its agreement with Dorna at Silverstone and I cannot see them entering in to new negotiations to run an event they have continually bleated about the high costs and poor attendance figures. The running of the event this year was, IMO, a very poor advert for UK plc, I spoke with several travellers from Europe and further afield (Australia) during the weekend, for some, this was their first trip to Silverstone but for most the consensus was, this will be their last. Andy
You could probably draw a few comparisons with the bigger football clubs nowadays and how they don’t really want season ticket holders anymore, largely because they’re not the ones who spend £150 on shitty merch in the club shop and £20 on a hotdog inside the ground every time they attend a game. Much rather have the “tourist” fan who’s usually spent well over the odds on a ticket already.
Last time I went to a Premier League game there were loads of tourists covered in merch. Non-existent atmosphere wise. I jumped up when my team came close to scoring and they all winced and looked out led at me like I was a lunatic. As you said, shite Jeff.
Exactly. Booting out season ticket holders of 40 odd years to accommodate corporate seats aren’t they. Who will subsequently miss the first 10 minutes of each half cos they’re queuing for pizza and popcorn and as jimmy said sit there like a statue or on their phones for the remainder of it: See also Wemberlee.
they won't. The money they pull in from formula one alone basically means they can stick two fingers up at everything else. Last couple of years don't forget that they had the F1 movie with brad pitt filming there. With the noise abatement infringements and everything else they were charging the film 70k per day to film, and they were there for ages. Now the BDRC and JP, could not give two shits about two wheels. Nobody knows we exist. I mean even a one liner on the sports highlights on BBC or ITV would be nice, but on the whole there's bugger all to promote motorcycling in the UK. It's one of the main reasons back in the day the teams had no interest in UK talent for 500GP, not since barry sheene has the UK had a hard on for motorcycling and its race heroes on a mainstream TV level. Back then no big tobacco sponsor was willing to get behind and back a uk rider at that 500gp level however talented they were. that's why harris and padgetts ran as privateers but the proper money was never there - and that was sponsor driven rather than team. I mean, even the whining lancastrian got pissed off when he got stopped by a copper on his bike and was asked "who do you think you are? barry sheene". And that was the so called golden era of motorcycling. Says it all. Until as a national psyche the uk get behind motorised two wheels in the way they got behind pedal two wheels and show that there's proper money to be made from UK motorcycling fans and riders, nothing at the upper level of the sport will change. To Silverstone, JP et al, motorcycling is pocket money and compared to what they're used to no more than hosting a club race event. If a british round of MotoGP didn't exist, nobody would lose sleep over it on the world stage. It doesn't help that silverstone has reinvented itself as some kind of elite technology park, so is slowly trying to push all its traditional motorsport businesses to the kerb, BG motorsport was one such casualty, and there will be many more as time goes by i'm sure, as the big shiny glass and corporate grey and white units go up.
Worth noting that American Football, Baseball and Basketball make the beebs front sport page. You get a little bit of bikes under ‘motorsport’ but not much beyond a few lines.
