Keeping up with the Joneses

Having secured a 10-year deal to host F1, Silverstone opens its latest business venture later this year but, as Robert Ladbrook discovers, Escapade is more than just luxury trackside lodging. It's a statement for the venue's future

- Robert Ladbrook

In the rapidly evolving world of motor sport you’ll be hard-pressed to find anywhere in Europe that has moved as fast as Silverstone. Across the last decade the rate of development at Britain’s grand prix venue has been staggering, transforming that largely flat old airfield we used to know into a thriving hub.

Only recently, Silverstone agreed a fresh contract to continue hosting the British Grand Prix until 2034 at the earliest, giving it and circuit owner the British Racing Drivers’ Club, a solid platform to build on for the future. But they’d been building well before then, and the new contract is just reward for an ever changing, ever improving motor sport facility that perhaps gets overlooked compared to the state-funded tracks and glitzy street venues F1 has increasingly crammed into its schedule.

Since 2013, Silverstone has been riding a development wave. First came the UTC technical college, then the huge overhaul of its Silverstone Park industrial site, which has grown to house close to 90 businesses. The Silverstone Interactive Museum arrived in 2020, and the track’s first permanent hotel, Hilton Garden Inn Silverstone, opened its doors just in time for the 2022 British GP.