Silverstone Experience
New Silverstone museum showcases 70 years of action, memories and technology
Williams headlines as home of British F1 opens its museum
The Silverstone Experience, the British Grand Prix circuit’s first permanent museum, has opened its doors. As well as a rotating collection of single-seater, sports-prototype and touring cars connected to the circuit’s sevendecade history, the Experience features exhibitions revealing the technology of racing cars and circuits, and immersive audio-visual experiences replicating a driver’s-eye view of some memorable moments in the track’s history.
Williams FW14B
This is the car Nigel Mansell drove to a win en route to the 1992 Formula One World Championship. ‘There are actually several “Red 5s” – 1991 and 1992 seasons, three or four of each – but this is the chassis that won here at Silverstone,’ explained Steph Sykes-dugmore, head of collections and research. ‘It wasn’t unusual for an F1 team to have so many cars sharing the same race numbers back then. Budgets weren’t an issue in the early Nineties, and the cars are effectively a collection of parts, so back then the set-up for practice, qualifying and racing varied to the point where they were practically different machines.’
The FW14B was a technological tour de force designed by Paddy Lowe, Patrick Head and Adrian Newey, and featured a semiautomatic gearbox, traction control, a blown diffuser and active suspension, most of which were banned two seasons later as costs spiralled out of control.
ERA E-type GP2
‘It’s part of a private collection and it hasn’t run for years, so it’s a real privilege to have this on display here,’ said Steph of this E-type GP2, built in 1939 but unraced until 1947 because of the intervention of World War Two. Privateer driver Leslie Brooke raced it at the 1947 Grand Prix de la Marne, the British Empire Trophy on the Isle of Man and the French Grand Prix, before ERA bought its own car back to run as a works entry.
It qualified on the front row of the grid for the 1948 RAC Grand Prix at Silverstone in the hands of works driver Leslie Johnson, but retired on the opening lap. Its last outing was also the world’s first Formula One World Championship race, at Silverstone in 1950, with Johnson qualifying 12th and retiring on the second lap with a faulty supercharger. The result was an Alfa Romeo 1-2-3 led by Giuseppe Farina, who went on to become the first Formula One World Champion.
MG YB
‘This has never been on display before,’ said Steph, ‘It’s Dick Jacobs’ car from the 1952 Daily Express International Trophy Production Touring Car race, considered the earliest touring car race.’ Jacobs campaigned the 1250cc MG (above) in 1952, ’53 and “54, winning the under1500cc class each time, while the 1952 race was won overall by Stirling Moss in a Jaguar MKVII. The Production Touring Cars were part of the Silverstone International Trophy race programme, which also included the first race for production sports cars. The British Saloon Car Championship wasn’t established until 1958.
‘There were some weight-saving modifications, but they weren’t allowed to change much within the production car rules back then.’
Viking
‘We’re lucky to be able to display the collection of Alan Baillie, holder of the Guinness World Record for the longest career in motor sport,’ said Steph. Baillie, who raced singleseaters continuously from 1967-2003, built the Viking for the Monoposto Formula Championship of 1972-6. He won the series in 1974, 1975 and 1976 – its last season. Founded in 1958, Monoposto was intended as a low-budget series to appeal to owner-drivers in home-built specials and secondhand single-seaters.
‘It’s a reminder that Silverstone isn’t all about F1,’ said Steph.