Glamping!
We have been attending an F1 race every year in Montreal since 2022 (well, Jenn has been every time since then and has taken one of either myself, Josh, or Ryley with her). We all had a blast while there, and as Jenn has first rights of refusal for the same tickets again the following year, her default is just to get them when they come on sale and we decide later who gets to go with her!
So, we all have our favorite drivers – Jenn’s is Lando Norris (McLaren), Ryley’s is Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), mine is Lewis Hamilton (now Ferrari, was Mercedes), and Josh’s is a toss up between Lando and Oscar Piastri (both McLaren drivers). Back in September, Jenn heard about this new grandstand spectator section at Silverstone (the race in the UK, home of the British Grand Prix) being dubbed the “Landostand”, which was being introduced for the first time this year. Now – as an official Lando fan club member – Jenn receives newsletters and was therefore on ‘the list’ of prople who were granted early access to purchase Landostand tickets before they went on general sale… so she got four tickets so we could all go! Jenn was able to sell her Montreal F1 tickets to a colleague – might be a little over-indulgent to go to two F1 races within a month of each other! And she wouldn’t have to choose her favorite family member this year! 😉 We were all looking forward to our little family F1 trip.
Pit Lane Walk n’ Gawk
The Silverstone track is kind of out in the countryside northwest of London in Northamptonshire, about an hour and a half away from the London Heathrow airport. So, hotels are not super plentiful out there and we didn’t want to make the journey from London (or another nearby village) every day… thankfully the folks at Silverstone anticipated this and have made camping areas a big part of the venue, and even better, they have pre-set up campsites – Glamping! – available for those like us who aren’t coming with their own camping gear! Needless to say we were in, and it was awesome.
Officially called ‘Glamping at the Ridings’, our camping (sorry, Glamping) area was literally 2 minutes’ walk from the venue gate nearest to our ‘Landostand’ grandstand. There were rows and rows of family-sized yurts and tents (we were yurt #80 out of about 400), and the area was operated sort of like a mini outdoor hotel; there were a few large tents for bathrooms / showers, a reception tent, a big mess-hall style food tent with indoor and outdoor picnic benches and of course a bar tent with a stage and other outdoor seating. We did breakfast and most dinners over our three-night stay at the food tent, the food was pretty good and really it was never super busy. Our yurt was big enough for the four of us – we had a double bed and the kids each a single. Overall, our setup was awesome – again, we were minutes away from our grandstand, there were all sorts of food and merch vendors right there around the Landostand but it was also easy for us to just slip back to the yurt for a quick snack or a nap between events on track, of which there were many!
Can You Hear It?
Getting to our campsite was a bit of an adventure, however. From Heathrow, we took an Uber to a town called Milton Keynes, about an hour northwest of London. Our official Silverstone bus would collect us from the bus station to take us the remaining half hour or so to the venue. We had a bit of time before our bus, so we went for a quick shop to get a plug-in cooler and some drinks & snacks for the campsite. Of course, we were lugging around our luggage (we luckily thought ahead to pack lightly in duffel bags and a small suitcase), which was fine – adding a fully-laden cooler made things a little more tricky. Our hearts sank a bit when the bus dropped us at the predestined drop off point and we realized there were apparently no shuttles to get us to our camping spot, about 2 km or so away. We asked around but ultimately our best option was to just hoof it, so we did. Josh and I took turns carrying the cooler and a few duffel bags until we finally arrived at the Ridings, our home for the next few nights. We were cursing the cooler while we were walking, but once we were there the cooler was a fantastic add. (Hindsight being 20/20, we would recommend just taking the Uber right to the campsite and skipping the bus.) All’s well that ends well.
Rain? What Rain?
Within the venue and on track, there was no shortage of events and entertainment throughout the weekend! A typical F1 weekend is Thursday through Sunday: Teams are setting up and starting to test things out, plus drivers are doing media on Thursday, Friday is official practice sessions (F1 does two), Saturday is one practice then the qualifying session to set positions for the main race, which is on Sunday. A full slate of all the “F” series – F4, F3, and F2 – races were doing practice sessions, qualifying and racing throughout the weekend, same as the F1 cars. Being the 75th anniversary of F1 at Silverstone, there were historic F1 car demonstrations on track between the “F” events, which were super cool. We’d make sure to be in the grandstand for all the F1 stuff and we’d usually catch some of the other series and historic cars as well. Amazing the difference in speed etc. Jenn also arranged for us to do a ‘pit walk’ on the Thursday – so we literally walked down pit lane and got a good close look at some of the F1 garages and saw some pit stop practicing plus a few drivers – Ryley actually got close enough to get Carlos Sainz‘ autograph on a hat (he used to be a Ferrari driver so Ryley’s a big fan)! Friday was a big day for Jenn, too, as she was invited through a work connection to hang out as a VIP in the McLaren paddock for the day while the kids and I entertained ourselves over in the Landostand. She loved it, her smile is huge in all the selfies she took!
As far as off track entertainment, the main stage was a good 20 minute walk away from our grandstand, Jenn and Ryley were keen to pop over there on several occasions when they were holding driver or team interviews on stage. The fan zone (interactive activities like simulators and games) and the F1 museum were in that area too which were more to Josh and I’s liking (though we did catch a few interviews on stage too). The entertainment would continue on late into the evening as well, there was a concert on the main stage every night (one night was Fatboy Slim)! Sadly, we were all usually ready for bed by the time the concerts would start! Ryley and I did get our groove on and caught a set (at a stage closer to our campsite 😉 ) by a fairly big DJ named Dakota one evening, she was really good!
Go Lewis!
Your Winner, Lando Norris
The weather was pretty much what we expected for summer in the UK – hot and sunny on Thursday and Friday, the cloudy and spotty rain Saturday with rain on Sunday, giving way to sunshine in the latter half of the race. As the seasoned F1 spectators that we are, we were prepared with rain ponchos and jackets as it poured before the race on Sunday, which were on and off a few times on race day!
The rain helped make the race more exciting, too, as it messes with team tire strategies and there are more errors and brave moments on track. There was a fair amount of action at Stowe corner, right in front of where we were sitting – we saw several overtakes, and Ryley’s favorite driver Leclerc went off track there too, to her disappointment… Ultimately Jenn’s favorite driver Lando Norris won the race, his teammate Piastri came in 2nd, and 3rd surprisingly went to Hulkenberg for his first podium ever (he’s been racing for years, so good for him!). Hamilton was close in 4th.
So overall an amazing weekend Glamping at Silverstone, think we should do it again next year! 😉
We didn’t all go home to Bermuda, afterwards, however – after returning to London for an ovenight stay, Josh and I flew back home to Bermuda the next day while Ryley flew over to Sweden to visit with her friend who just moved there from Bermuda a few weeks prior! Jenn had to stay in London for work for the remainder of the week, so the opportunity was there for Ryley to fly over to Sweden (by herself!) for a few days and them come back to meet back up with Jenn before flying back to Bermuda together. It worked out well – after meeting back up, Jenn and Ryley spent a day hanging out in London, a nice little add-on for her!
