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Event Information:
The
British Grand Prix is a race in the
calendar of the FIA Formula One
World Championship. It is currently
held at the Silverstone Circuit near
the village of Silverstone in
Northamptonshire. The British and
Italian Grands Prix are the oldest
continuously staged Formula One
World Championship Grands Prix.
Grand Prix motor racing was first
established in Britain by Henry
Segrave at Brooklands in 1926 after
his winning of the 1923 French Grand
Prix and the San Sebastián Grand
Prix the following year, which
raised interest in the sport. The
first ever British Grand Prix was
won by the French team of Louis
Wagner and Robert Sénéchal driving a
Delage 155B. The second British
Grand Prix was held at Brooklands in
1927. It was designated the European
Grand Prix five times between 1950
and 1977, when this title was an
honorary designation given each year
to one grand prix race in Europe.
Silverstone has hosted the race
regularly since the start of the F1
championship in 1950 (in which it
was the first race of the first ever
official World Championship) and
every year since 1987; it alternated
with Brands Hatch between 1964 and
1986, and with Aintree (better known
as a horse-racing course) between
1955 and 1962. Silverstone Circuit
is an English motor racing circuit
next to the Northamptonshire
villages of Silverstone and
Whittlebury. The circuit straddles
the Northamptonshire and
Buckinghamshire border, with the
current main circuit entry on the
Buckinghamshire side. The
Northamptonshire towns of Towcester
(5 miles) and Brackley (7 miles) and
Buckinghamshire town of Buckingham
(6 miles) are close by, and the
nearest large towns are Northampton
and Milton Keynes.
It is
best known as the home of the
British Grand Prix, which it first
hosted in 1948 and which has been
held on the circuit every year since
1987. The circuit is also home to
the BRDC International Trophy,
formerly one of the premier
non-Championship F1 races in the
calendar, today awarded to the
winner of a race for historic F1
cars at the annual Silverstone
Classic meeting. The circuit is
owned by the British Racing Drivers'
Club. Silverstone is the current
home of the British Grand Prix,
which it first hosted in 1948. The
1950 British Grand Prix at
Silverstone was the first race in
the newly-created Formula One World
Championship. The race rotated
between Silverstone, Aintree and
Brands Hatch from 1955 to 1986, but
relocated permanently to Silverstone
in 1987.
Historically Silverstone has
suffered traffic congestion on race
days. This problem has been largely
eliminated with the completion of
the A43 Silverstone bypass, a
dual-carriageway road just to the
north of the circuit. When the race
was moved to an April date in 2000,
rainy conditions turned the fields
used for car parking into mud baths,
causing chaos for spectators trying
to park. On F1 race day a large
number of spectators travel to the
circuit by helicopter: enough to
make Silverstone Heliport the
busiest airport in the UK for this
day.
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