I travelled up to Silverstone last week and wondered anew at the transformation of the place since I first went there in 1988. Never the most charismatic of circuits, the old layout did at least have an all-or-nothing aspect to it that enabled you to see cars and drivers on the absolute limit.
I was standing on the inside of the old Stowe corner when Nigel Mansell took pole position by a country mile in 1990, and the memory still gives me goosebumps.
The track itself retains much of that appeal, but the demands placed upon the venue by Grand Prix racing have led to an increase in the scale of the surrounding infrastructure. Its transformation into a modern Formula 1 ‘facility’ has, inevitably, changed the face of Silverstone.
An example of that is the ‘Wing’ building that incorporates the pits, media centre and umpteen other things. It was here that I met a man whose memories of the place went back a lot further than mine.
Much is being made of this year being the 50th anniversary of Jim Clark’s first F1 World Championship, with events taking place up and down the country. And, quite by chance, I found myself taking a spare seat at lunch next to Cedric Selzer (standing in main picture and on far left above), who that season acted as the legendary Scotsman’s mechanic.
