You Get What You Pay For….Supposedly.

Wow, I mean WOW. Wasn't that a great Grand Prix to be at? The atmosphere, the air horns, three World Championship races, the between race entertainment, all that overtaking, being able to see a huge section of track and the man on the gate only parted you from £30.

Am I hallucinating? No, I've not overdosed on the antihistamines again, I'm recalling my weekend at the British Bike Grand Prix at Donington Park this year. Was I at Silverstone at the weekend? Hell no, £30 pounds doesn't get you a foot through the door to see the cleaners on Monday as far as I can tell.

Hang on, don't you Planet F1 peeps fly in by helicopter and sip champagne as you hob knob with the rich and famous, you cry? Well, no actually. If I want to go my money goes with me. Obviously if the Planet F1 Ed shows his face at Silverstone he is privy to all sorts of luxuries but that's due to him being mistaken for a Guy Ritchie film actor. Check the front page picture out - those dark glasses spell Mockney Gangster Chic to me.

Don't get me wrong I'm not campaigning for Silverstone 2001 to let us in for 30 smackers each. I would if I thought there was a chance but pigs will fly, hell will freeze over and Ron Dennis will crack a smile before that happens.

The British Motorcycle Grand Prix is not known as being one of the great sporting events of the year - and this is a disservice to the sports fan. There's no British rider, therefore there must be no British interest. Wrong. Valentino Rossi may as well change his name to Victor Roberts, eat bangers and mash, and sport a pair of Union Jack pants. We love him, we do. Ulster's Jeremy McWilliams was fresh off a win, and the crowd, made up of many a Midlander, was keen to cheer on local lads Chris Walker and Leon Haslam even if they were chasing the tail end points. Well it may be Motorcycling's blue riband event (World Superbikers cover your ears) but it's not comparable with Formula One the critics say. Well it may not be on equal footing with Formula One but is that necessarily a bad thing? The 40,000 strong crowd was over double last years turn out, all seemingly happy to hand over their £30. Saturday didn't part you with too much if you wanted to see them dash for pole. Many had been there for Friday's qualifying, well why not it was FREE (for those who have been immersed in F1 for too long free means you do not have to hand over any money). Some spectators even turned out on Thursday when by handing a tenner over to charity they got to look round the paddock, meet the riders, watch stunt shows….

It wasn't motorsports Utopia. Some tickets weren't sent out in time, the camping was in disarray and as all too often, I'm afraid the booking office staff had left their happy faces at home. The majority of toilets flushed all day, some of the tannoys worked, some whistled, some were purely ornamental. There's no video screen to break down and the jam as the cars fled the car parks was miserable. Still for £30 I'm not moaning and if they can promise better next year I may even part with another tenner.

Then there's Silverstone. Well I'm sorry for starting yet another of my sentences this way but….I remember when you could go to Silverstone as a family and still have change from £200 despite sitting in the Grandstands and popping to the centre of the circuit where you could see the drivers and paddock melee.

I began to realise Silverstone prices weren't as much creeping as jumping up when the arrival of the next years ticket prices were mistaken for a mortgage repayment. Hang on, I thought, if I feel this way what about those families with four paying adults - ouch! It seemed just getting through Silverstone's front door was a costly affair let alone wanting such luxuries as a grandstand seat or centre transfer. The image of the motorsports fan as some hardened weather-proof adventurer is all well and good for the young and die-hards but most people come to Silverstone with families and the prospect of a long, hard drive home at kicking out time. I could never have considered going to Silverstone without a Grandstand seat to give at least some protection from sun (it happens sometimes), rain and fatigue before a journey home of a couple of hundred miles.

I scrimped and saved for a few years to do the weekend. On top of tickets - accommodation, petrol and food made the bill look more like the debt of a small third world country. It then got to the point where I'd just go for Friday and Saturday. Then just Friday. Then just go and stick your tickets where the sun don't shine Mr. Silverstone, I'm off abroad. I eventually found with some hard saving it was as cheap to go to a European race and have a holiday to boot.

Was I bothered about missing my home race? Well not unduly, I was still getting a fix, and often in better climes but there was always that little pang as the grid formed at Silverstone. I missed the atmosphere, I missed the people, the basics of the cars going round and round I could get elsewhere. I didn't miss finding my favourite viewing bank had been flattened for yet another hospitality unit or that a centre transfer entitled you to look at the back of some lorries.

Silverstone has undergone a massive reconstruction since the mid-1990s. I remember going back for the first time after the BIG revamp. I was saddened. Yes, lovely that the pits were streamlined and all had toilets but did they have to make it look like a cheap sci-fi set. Was there a sale on at B&Q for aluminum of whatever they used? It was goodbye to that centrefield haunt by the toilets next to the paddock - remember that anyone? Them were the days.

Ah well, I thought all this money must mean the spectators will be getting heaps more. Heaps more temporary grandstands and track side enclosures - that's be an extra £x please.

I was sat at the British Bike Grand Prix a couple of weekends ago and I could see where my money went. The cost of crowd control, spectator facilities, car parking etc and I was amazed they'd squeezed so little out of me. I could more than see where extra money should go. If people think Silverstone is shabby, come to Donington. On saying that, if you think Silverstone has lost a bit of soul, come to Donington.

Would it be too much to ask for a breakdown of ticket costs? Come on Mr., sorry, Sir Octagon blokey, pay someone to sit with a calculator and tell me where people's pennies go. For high tickets prices I never want to see a portaloo again because I want proper toilets complete with toilet paper and flushes that work, I want grandstands that don't wobble, car parks actually next to the circuit with proper access roads. I don't like having to stand like a sardine in a trackside enclosure to watch qualifying whilst the grandstands remain empty of the hospitality guests who'll turn up tomorrow (if the weather's nice). Charge me too much and I expect you to follow me home and do the washing and ironing.

Some of the top brass have answered these queries before. Their answers include the imaginative - 'Our ticket prices are in line with other top sporting events'….ah they? And this effects me how? I don't care if centre court tickets at Wimbledon mean parting with a pound of flesh I'm asking about Grand Prix tickets. 'You'd pay just as much to see an opera'…would I? I don't care what Opera buffs pay. Without sounding like your mother if the Opera people jumped off a cliff would you?

What I find more worrying is the ever decreasing gap between the general admission and grandstand tickets. Over the last decade general admission has doubled. I think people who camp out over night to get one of those few good trackside positions left are possibly slightly unhinged but worthy of praise. Bring on the Silverstone loyalty card is what I scream - and it should be free to join, sent out with your tickets. Lets save points like we do at the petrol station and lets swap the points for what these people, the proper fans deserve, let them into the hospitality grandstands for a reasonable price; about time those seats were sat on.

I have been lucky enough to visit many a Grand Prix circuit worldwide over the years. They have all had their pros and cons. If Estoril ever comes back to the F1 calendar, and I hope it does, I highly recommend you take your wellies, not that the weather gets bad, but they could never stretch to a lightbulb in the toilets. Certainly Silverstone isn't the exception on the calendar. However, there is a strong feeling amongst the British racing fraternity, participant and spectator alike, that Silverstone should be seen to lead the world. I'm not adverse to that. I would like to walk the ground of Silverstone again and be proud. I would like to go to foreign races, get talking to the people next door and whole-heartedly recommend Silverstone as an experience not to be missed.

This was Octagon Motorsport's first year of running the British Grand Prix. They have struck a deal with the BRDC to run the Grand Prix at Silverstone for the next 15 years and big things are planned and promised. New traffic systems, improved car parking, better facilities. I don't spend much time thinking on the promises made. I will be there in 2003 with my clipboard and see for myself thank you.

As it was I sat in the company of ITV for this years Grand Prix. As Murray's last British Grand Prix as commentator it was an emotional affair but the coverage ensured they gave me enough to distract me from this poignant event. Whilst the paying spectator was sat out in the Silverstone sun I was guided around a host of celebrity interview - whoopee. Beverly Turner interviewing Hear'Say. Beverly Turner interviewing Robson Greene. Beverly Turner interviewing Ross Kemp. Oh yes, all the big names were wheeled out. You know it's Silverstone as you can count on two things (a) the Red Arrows and (b) Chris De Burgh being dusted off for his yearly outing. Damon Hill was there but obviously disappointed to find he was on the wrong ITV show. Someone told him it was 'Stars In Your Eyes' and he was so looking forward to saying 'Tonight Matthew, I'm going to be George Harrison'.

Royalty, minor royalty, think-they-are royalty, politicians, sporting stars, actors, singers, think-they-are singers turned out. James Cracknell put in an appearance. You know, James Cracknell. Think harder, you know, he was one of the other two sat between Steve Redgrave and Matthew Pinsent for the Sydney Olympics coxless four. Remember? Okay, you've pushed me into 'tabloidism' - Hunky James Cracknell (29) was at Silverstone, the lucky beau of babelicious telly presenter Beverly Turner (est 34-23-32). Shudder, see what I've been reduced to.

Of course the best highlight of watching the grid walkabout was seeing Bernie Ecclestone take the photo of a young man and Michael Schumacher. Blimey, to have Bernie as your snapper and Schumi on your side just before the lights go out that youngster must have important, and I bet rich parents, I thought. On opening the paper the next day I realised I was right, it was the eldest son of Sir Frank Lowe. You know, Sir Frank Lowe who owns Octagon Motorsports who own the rights to the British Grand Prix.

© Rebecca Hobbs

(c)RH PR 2007