Pre-MotoGP Silverstone Special With Stuart Pringle

Welcome to Motoclub, the internet radio show all about motorcycle road racing. This is episode number 737. I'm your host Richard Jowett, recording this on 20th of July. Now this show follows Hot on the Hills of 736, which was part one of the World Superbike Special from Donington Park. But as I mentioned in that show, I was keen to slot this one in very quickly in between part one and part two, because a couple of days ago I was able to go up and spend a day at Silverstone Race Circuit, sit down and have a chat with Stuart Pringle, who's the managing director of Silverstone Circuit, as we head towards the British round of the MotoGP Championship in around about two weeks from now.

It was great to be able to sit down and chat with Stuart a little bit about his history, a little bit about what his job as MD of the circuit entails, and of course talking in some depth about Silverstone, the circuit with regards to MotoGP, the coverage, what they have planned this year, some comparisons with Formula One, which is obviously riding high particularly at Silverstone based on the race there a couple of weeks ago. So all in all, hopefully a good chat, which people will enjoy. It's about 40 minutes long. Before I press play on the interview, it's probably just worth going over a few key highlights of what Silverstone have planned this year, because it is going to be another step forward in terms of what they're offering to the paid public. Obviously as massive fans of the sport, us at MotoPod and all the listeners want to make sure the event is a success.

It's important that Britain has a round of the MotoGP Championship. And whilst I'm probably preaching mostly to the converted in terms of this podcast audience, any additional bums on seats that can be attracted to the event would obviously help to make it more of a success. It was a bit thin last year. That's something that Stuart and I talk about in the interview and something that he acknowledges. Obviously this year we have Jake Dixon in Moto2 coming off the back of his first winner, Assen.

So hopefully that will do something for the gate numbers as well. But let me just run through a few things as a little bit of a marketing exercise on behalf of Silverstone, which I hope you'll forgive me for, but I think it's important that people know what they can expect and what things are going to cost. One big headline for this year is that the entire MotoGP, Moto2 and Moto3 paddocks are moving down to the main international wing complex. So the international paddock. Some will remember that the circus used to reside there when it first opened up and then went back to the national pit straight for a number of years.

But Silverstone have taken the decision to make that facility available to the entire MotoGP fraternity. So that'll be an interesting change to observe. This year a general admission ticket will include a roving grandstand and that will allow access, I believe across all three days, to the Hamilton Strait, Abbey, Beckett's, Woodcote A, Stossie and Village A. So quite a large number of grandstands that will be available for people to go and sit in. And many of those, if not all, are covered grandstands, which can be important at Silverstone depending on what the weather's doing, of course.

In terms of ticket prices, well, it's £35 entry and these are adult prices, of course. £55 for a Friday-only ticket, £55 for a Saturday-only ticket and £95 for the Sunday-only ticket. But like me, most people will go for the three-day pass and that is £110. Children under 11 will go free, children under 16 will be half price. Obviously the event runs Friday through to Sunday, but there is the traditional Thursday Day of Champions as well, so it is possible to make a four-day trip of it for those that can.

Something that's a big change this year is the new main stage area and as Stuart mentions, Silverstone are pushing the boat out again with regards to the music that's on offer. So on Friday night you have Chase and Status who will be performing a set. Then on Saturday you've got the Kaiser Chiefs headlining, there is some support music as well and then on Sunday night you have Razorlight. So yeah, I think as Stuart mentions in the chat, £110 for the weekend pass to see those three bands is probably worth the admission price alone, let alone the fact that you're getting Friday action, sprint race on Saturday and then the full three races on the Sunday. So hopefully that's a compelling offering and again Silverstone doing everything they can to make the pricing and the other activities besides the racing, which is why most people will go, as compelling as possible.

That has to be said also that Silverstone is a very different place to the bad old days where those that remember haven't had a queue for hours to get out or drive off through little tracks through forest passes. So I think that's everything that I needed to say just as a little marketing exercise on behalf of Silverstone. Thanks again to Stuart and to the PR team at Silverstone for the invite up to the press day. It was very interesting and again hopefully good progress for MotoPod and the listeners that we're starting to get a little bit more recognised in the official channels. May that continue with the support of you the listeners.

A couple of closing thoughts before we get into the interview. Well £110 for the three day ticket is still a reasonable amount of money. I mean there's no two ways about that but I think if you stack it up against other international sporting events it certainly is very very good value for money when you factor in all the other stuff that's going on. Parking and parking fees are normally something of a bugbear. I think it's around about £40 to £50 for the weekend although we'd need to check on that because I don't have that piece of information in front of me.

Of course motorcycles get in and park free across the weekend and for those that have to travel any significant distance there's always accommodation to be factored in as well but again that would apply to any sporting event that you go to that isn't necessarily directly on your doorstep. So I think you have to judge the value of the event on the ticket entry price and what's going on. A couple of things that I didn't mention off the list that are taking place over the weekend well you've got Moto E which will be of interest to many people. There's also British Talent Cup support races going on and of course the usual array of other entertainment areas which will be familiar to those that have been for several years. So that's things like the Monster Energy Thrill Show, a fairly significant manufacturers zone, children's area absorbs, funfair etc etc.

Again this is a bit of a marketing exercise that we're doing on behalf of Silverstone but other than them having been kind enough to have invited us up to have a chat about the forthcoming event there's nothing in it for MotoPod other than the recognition that the MotoPod exists and has a wide following so that's something that we really appreciate and something that we want to build on as I said. So I think that's enough from me by way of introduction it just remains me to say thanks to Stuart and the PR team at Silverstone for the invite. Hopefully it's something we'll be able to do again as we continue to establish MotoPod in the podcasting world. So over to the chat with Stuart. Hope you enjoy it.

Hi everybody it's Rich here and I'm delighted to say that I'm sat with Stuart Pringle, Managing Director of Silverstone Circuit. So Stuart welcome onto the show. First time I think you'll have been on the show. Yep thank you very much indeed for the invitation Rich. Now we don't have a huge amount of time to get into a deep dive on the bio but could you speak a little bit about your background in terms of where the love of motorsport originated and sort of the career journey that brought you to the point of being Managing Director of this fantastic race facility.

Well it's much more interesting when you ask people that have done racing and interesting things. I like you, I'm a fan of the sport, who managed to turn a hobby into a day job. My father is responsible for sowing this seed of interest, two wheels and four. And I fell into motorsport when I left the army, I did a short service commission, I was a tank commander for five years which is great fun. Being based in Germany in the mid to late 1990s gave fantastic opportunity to go and see lots of motor racing on the continent, most of which I did on my, I had a 1200 bandit in those days and I would thrash it up and down the autobahns to go and see racing all over the parish and that was great fun and I've done various roles over 23 years in motorsport but actually 18 of those years, 17 and a half of those years I have spent here at Silverstone and various roles, I've been latterly, last 7 or 8 years, 7 and a half years I've been the managing director.

So it's a great honour, I'm very lucky. Yes and what a fabulous facility this is now. Well you've already answered one of my most important questions which is are you a biker? Which obviously you are, do you have a bike on the road at the minute? Yes I've become a bit middle aged and I'm now a small scale hoarder of motor guzzies.

So I've got a couple of guzzies which I love actually, really really enjoy. I rode my 1972 V7 Sport down to Mandello to the factory last September with some mates for the delayed centenary which was a hell of a road trip, really fun riding a 50 year old bike, quite a long way so that was mega. You didn't break down on the way I'll tell you that. I've done every day, we have breakdowns in the group every day but we fixed them all ourselves and carried enough spares and tools and things so of course a 1970s Italian bike what do you expect? I'll have to ask.

I've done what I did about a 3,500km trip on a V4 S Multistrada in May from MotoGP in France to Formula 1 in Imola only to find it cancelled when I got there. Yes of course. Back via the south of France so that was a nice road trip. Got a couple of other bikes tucked away but saved that for another time. Brilliant and what was the experience of being at Le Mans this year then because obviously it was famously more than a sell out by the sands of it so what was your overall take away from attending that one this year?

Well I was really keen to see first hand how the promoter there Claude, I mean she has built up the event over a number of years. I've been meaning to go for a while, I know Le Mans well from car racing but actually seeing it in MotoGP configuration with our audience was fascinating, understanding what they've done. There's always things to learn off other promoters, pricing, policy, what's included and what isn't, what's put on, what is not. I think we do something better than him, he does something better than us but he's got double the audience and we need to work on how we grow to that level of support also. Obviously we're here to talk about MotoGP which is what just a little over two weeks away now.

Thanks for reminding me. Yes I'm sure that you're deep in the mire in terms of what is involved, I know you can't answer that very quickly but obviously you've got a huge team here. Yes, I'm very lucky here at Silverstone, we've got a lot of skilled people and we've got a lot of experience and it's between me, my ops director, my circuit manager, we've got 83 years of working at Silverstone between the three of us so we have an understanding about how to operate this site. Interestingly it evolves every year, no two years are ever the same, we've got a really experienced events team but there's a lot that goes into trying to make sure that not only does it operationally work, you can get in and out quickly, we all know that traffic can be a challenge getting in and out of motorsport venues wherever they are in the world. Eight days ago we absolutely nailed it on British Grand Prix Sunday, 160,000 people on site but in the process we spent an awful lot of money to achieve that and that sort of seven figure commitment to traffic management is not something that's MotoGP, it's an event as the wherewithal to sustain so we have to do things differently and that's where keeping people on site longer, encouraging them to come for the weekend, putting better entertainment in the form of chase and status on Friday night, cars and chiefs on Saturday night, raise the light on Sunday night for reasons to stay on and make it that weekend.

Festival feel events are really important, that also is a very important part of our life these days is thinking about our sustainability footprint and if you stop them from going in and out every day and come in on Monday and leave at the end of the weekend then that's just two journeys not six journeys so there's a lot of logic in that as well. And not having people all trying to leave at the same time as well. Absolutely, we've for many years used music as a traffic control measure at Silverstone and it is pretty effective in that respect. I remember the bad old days of my first time here I think was for Formula One in 1989, just before they changed the track I think, well in 1991 that happened didn't it, the first big change of the track but yes I remember the bad old days of going out through rubble tracks through forests. Yeah yeah I look you know it's been a challenging history I think it's getting better and certainly the investment in the site has been significant particularly in the last decade we've really sort of put our money where our mouth is and we're trying to evolve it into a leisure and business destination that can operate 52 weeks a year not just for a long one or two Sundays in the summer.

That seasonal business is not sustainable for the long run. Yeah and I was here for the BSB round earlier this year and that was obviously it's on a smaller track in the National would you call it? Big crowd on that weekend, I mean good weather always helps as well. Yeah I mean good weather is the motorcycle promoter's best friend, it's a challenge to operate anything in the UK's unpredictable climate but we do that we accept the challenge that fundamentally motorcyclists however what compelling the advanced ticket offer is many people will choose to open the curtains in the morning and take a view on the weather. I guess with the advent of a decent weather app on your phone you can probably take a slightly more informed view five days in advance and we do see that sort of uptick if the weather's good we see it earlier in the week compared with just a few short years ago but promoting outdoor events in the United Kingdom always comes with a degree of jeopardy but that's right.

You can't change the weather. Correct. Obviously there's lots of exciting and interesting things going on within MotoGP at the moment which I want to come on to but just first of all last year when I was here I remember commenting on the show the Sunday crowd last year felt to be a bit down was that reflected in the numbers? Yeah. Did you sort of manage to have a little bit of a post-mortem on what might have affected that in terms of learning and understanding this year's event?

We did Rich. It was down. Your eyes were not deceiving you. The previous year had been up. Yes.

So the previous year was post-Valentino's retirement announcement. People recognising this was the last chance to see him on the home turf. That gave us an uptick and some of those people didn't come back in 2022 so we were down last year. I think that quite a lot of it is as simple as just saying it's down to the Rossi effect. I went to Mugello last year and their gate was down as well.

Significantly. Significantly down. It didn't pick up greatly this year. There was something about some odd ticket pricing in there in the mix which I can't remember the details of but if you can't get Italians, when Ducati are dominating the championship with an Italian rider, if you can't get them to go to Mugello then it's pretty telling. I sort of reflected that perhaps it wasn't a total disaster in 2022 and perhaps the championships do go through cycles but there's no question we need, well any promoter will tell you that having a home hero to promote is a great advantage.

We've really felt that effect in Formula One with Lewis for many years building the crowd and then Orlando and George really helping sustain that and indeed you look at the crowds around Barry Sheen at Silverstone back in the day and peaks in World Superbike with Carl Fogarty and things like that. Perranz was never busy at the moment, Foggy was winning in WSB there so in that respect I really, really hope that Jake Dixon is successful in getting his premier class ride next season. It's not easy to put together and it's not the work of the moment but win last time out. He can't do better than that to stake his claim and I think if he gets there he could be really, really good news not just because he's a Brit on a bike, in MotoGP but actually he's got a bit of stardust sprinkled on him. He's very marketable isn't he, in particular Jake Dixon.

I must admit three weeks ago I think it was Aston, I had a picture of you running around the living room punching the air when you won the Moto2 race. It makes a difference, absolutely the timing is spot on. Now I don't want to talk about Formula One too much but there's a lot to talk about Formula One in the context of Silverstone because you've just had a weekend of 480,000 round figures haven't you? I mean that is a lot of people now. For me cars and bikes are quite different and I think the crowds are quite different in terms of core fans but in the post-Bernie era we've seen Formula One really embrace digital media, gone down to things like Drive to Survive and so on and so forth.

Have you had an opportunity to discuss with Dan Rosamondo who for the listeners who don't know or they most will, he's the new Chief Commercial Officer at Dorna that's coming American from the NBA. So have you had a chance yet to talk to him and Dorna about strategies to unlock the latent potential in this championship of which I believe there is an enormous amount? And I agree with you Rich, yes I have. I had the chance to welcome Dan to the family when he joined and meet him relatively briefly in the morning, he was busy on event weekends and then caught up again afterwards. I've every confidence that his understanding about how you build a sports brand, I mean that is what the Americans do well and if any of the listeners don't know Formula One after the business that Bernie Eccleston was latterly working for CVC sold it and went to an American owner, Liberty Media and they know about building, they are applying the playbook of building an American sport and they are unashamedly challenging themselves to build the world's biggest sports and entertainment product.

Ironically one of the things that's working so well for Formula One is that there has been Drive to Survive, you referenced it just now in your question but it is occasionally accused of embellishing the story with a bit of judicious editing to try and tell the story. The one championship you don't need to make more exciting in the edit is MotoGP. This sport naturally is way more compelling than the vast majority of four wheel races so it's a sort of frustration that when MotoGP have the opportunity to follow Formula One with a Drive to Survive style fly on the wall documentary they got it wrong and they will admit. They've got it wrong, they have admitted to me and they have apologised because I think that's a really costly miss. Drive to Survive has been amazing at helping overcome some really key hurdles that you have with motorsport and it doesn't matter whether it's MotoGP or Formula One, the same fundamental problem is that you can't see the hero, they wear a mask for protection but you can't see them, it's unmasking them and going behind the scenes and you get a sense of how dramatic they are being by hanging off the bike, by being the athletes and the brave individuals.

You look at the scary angles and the rubbing and the touching and stuff and that core bravery is so obvious but even the most untrained eye, so I think Dan knows exactly what he needs to do. I know that he has the full support of Carmelo, the chief executive of Dorna and the only thing I ask is that he's given time to do his job. Rome was not built in a day and we're now in season six of Liberty's ownership of Formula One and certainly the first three years we're building years, I mean it's got to be a three year build. So let's not, I hope for Jack tomorrow, we've got to just be patient and I'm sure he won't get his work done. I've been going to MotoGP races for longer than I can admit but I've been coming to this MotoGP race since the first start in fact ironically it was the first year that Rossi was injured if we remember back, he broke his leg at Mugello that first year.

So the first year here was a little bit muted I think for that same reason which is interesting but anyway that being said, I mean this is a fantastically run event as low as you have to see and do and listen to besides bike racing which is why most people are here but you've already just mentioned about how great it would be to be having say Jake Dixon on a MotoGP bike but is there something else that Dorna or teams let's say could do that would help you to market this event? Well I do think the riders need to be accessible, I think that generally the riders in this paddock haven't really understood how they just need to be accessible to the fans and do the engagements and come on the main stage and Formula One in that respect they're better. They train their PR, people train their drivers better from a young age, you name me a racing driver in Formula One who hasn't got word perfect English and I'm not suggesting that we shouldn't make an effort to learn other people's language but the reality is English is the international language and they need to get it nailed on from an early age, they need to be eloquent and not shy and not afraid of going up in front of the fans. I think also that we the promoter have to really recognise that we've got to offer the best possible product and I do recognise that and that is behind why we've moved from the older national paddock to the new wing Formula One paddock or back to it. We did come here for a couple of years with MotoGP to begin with, actually for MotoGP it is operationally more challenging to operate from here because many teams have a MotoGP, Moto2, Moto3 team and so you actually need a huge amount of paddock space and we don't have the overflow back here but anyway we're going to make it work again this year because I think it's important because this is now an established iconic statement for international motorsport it is recognised as the hope of the Formula One race and that's important, I mean you and I don't want to compare MotoGP to Formula One or if we do we want to point out how favourably it can and should be compared but the reality is that Silverstone is known as an F1 track this building is known as an F1 pit and paddock building and if we want to be serious about supporting the World Championship and showing it in the best possible light then doing it from this paddock is important even though it costs my business more money to put it on down here, it's the right thing to do as is, we've got 80,000 seats up at the moment around Silverstone, that's about the capacity of Wembley Stadium yet historically we haven't allowed people on a general admission ticket at MotoGP to sit in them consequently we've had very empty grandstands which looked poor on television and so we're opening those up to everybody with a general admission ticket we are allowing them to come and sit in a grandstand and that's fine, it's great, it's good, I'm delighted, it costs a bit more to put it on but let's improve the visibility and hopefully enhance the experience so people won't come back again and tell their friends, bring their friends with them that's the key isn't it?

It is, broadcast it for us I mean I love to bring new people to a particularly MotoGP race for the first time because it's just great to watch people's mouths drop open when they see a bike go past them at 210 miles an hour at the back of the Hangar Strait, I mean you can't, you don't get that from TV do you? No you really don't, it's so important to get people here I have never brought anybody to MotoGP who's gone away and said I wish I hadn't gone, that was a waste of my afternoon everybody's gone wow I had no idea and we've just got to spread the word so yeah we were down a bit last year but I'm tracking quite favourably this year, I do think that grandstand seating ticket price is making a difference I do think chance to see Razorlight and the kinds of cheeses within the ticket price is also making a difference Yeah I mean I was just explaining to you before we started recording, the people that run the show in the background the MotoPod hosts, myself and Jim in America and certainly all the listeners, I mean we're basically just bike racing fans and one of the big frustrations that we talk about often and that we hear feedback from the listeners of the show is this kind of glass or ivory tower kind of complex that exists in MotoGP that doesn't exist to the same extent in the world of superbike and definitely doesn't exist in say MotoAmerica or British Superbikes I mean my one thing that if I could bang my fist on the table and say to Dawn please do this it would be better access to the riders and just kind of allow those personalities to come out a little bit and to engage with the fans because I think that is so important and I think that's another area where Formula One, sorry to keep talking about Formula One but it's so successful at the moment you have to take what's good about it and discard what's not good I think the riders need saving from themselves, you know they've all got to have a long and successful career in this championship they need to actually smell the coffee a bit and that's where I think somebody like Jake will make a difference actually I think, in fact I'm going to make a prediction here, I'm going to say that he'll get into MotoGP and I reckon that if we have this conversation at the end of the 2024 season we'll reflect not just because we speak English as the first language but we'll reflect on somebody who's come in and actually really moved the needle on engagement and I think that he's absolutely bright enough and switched on enough and savvy enough to recognise this is a real opportunity that he's got to win a lot of popular support by just engaging with people that's the sort of guy he is and I think the sport can kind of market him and certainly Silverstone in terms of the homegrown hero can market him very much as that Barry Sheen guy from the modern age because he does have that sort of carefree, easy, cheeky, chappy charm, doesn't he? 100% and it's so marketable that if people make use of it and that's obviously the great hope Before I start going on about Formula One, I don't know if this was completely just pie in the sky thing but a little while back there was some talk about whether or not there was value in looking at a co-run car race and bike race has that ever been discussed? Because Silverstone clearly is one venue that could handle something like that It has been discussed actually, even this year Wow But the commercial obligations and the contracts that sit behind both championships just seem to make it not deliverable I mean from your point of view as MD of the circuit, is it something you would like to see happen? Is there value in it?

I'd love to expose my Formula One audience to bike racing because I think there would be huge value I think it would be a great opportunity but the reality is that this is a business where there's quite a lot of money at stake with the respective rights holders and when push comes to shove neither of them is prepared to take a haircut to make it happen Even if they were just to, I don't know, in a Formula One weekend let the British Ducatis run out and try to do some demo laps or the Yamahas, whoever, just let the Formula One people see a MotoGP bike being ridden in anger by the current rider Do you know what, I actually don't think that a single bike or a pair of bikes on track, even MotoGP bikes makes a particularly compelling sight at this circuit, can't speak for other circuits though but this is a big, wide, fast circuit and actually it is the density of the field and the closeness of the racing that really gives the excitement so I don't think it would achieve the aim if we just put one or two bikes out at a time Right, okay Because I've given that a bit of thought about whether that was the solution, but I've rather concluded it isn't but, I mean, giving the Red Bull rookies or something like that or Moto3 to go on an early morning slot on British Grand Prix weekend I think that would be absolutely mega So I think there's any point of putting Formula One car out in front of a MotoGP audience? No No Don't think that would work Well that segues somewhat neatly into sprint races Obviously they're a big draw, now excepting that a lot of people will buy a weekend pass only for this event, that's what I've always done but for the more casual audience, let's say, have you seen any trend in the sales towards just say a Friday or a Saturday ticket? Is there any kind of signs of a spike? Not really, but we are quite a heavy weekend audience here and we've piled in weekend value with the music So I think that's something that we will have to look at when we've seen whether or not we pick up the late in the day sales and the local sales I think that Friday and Saturday ticket are very, very well priced for casual local viewers We are sitting not quite within earshot of my PR colleagues, although they've generously organised today's for us rich But I would say the ballies are very much in their court to try and pull out of the bag a local Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Warwickshire, Leicestershire, Rutland Last minute come up your free kind of deal Correct, Silverstone is, there's one third, there's over 22 million people that live in a two hour drive off Silverstone And actually, if the sun's belting down, if you're free on Friday, 35 quid to come and watch MotoGP bikes and listen to Chase and Status in the evening Pretty good deal I mean it genuinely is a round of drink stuff to this I'm horrified to admit Just on that point, and when I put the show out in a couple of days time, I'll, Alison, your PR colleague has kindly sent through a sheet with all of the pricing strategies with tickets and everything that's going on So I'll make sure I read through that so that any people that are local in this country might just make that decision to go and have a look I mean your audience are, we are preaching to the converted really, aren't we? Yes, true We must ask, we do some post event survey, it's quite interesting to find out how many of our customers say they listen to your podcast And we must work with you because as I said when we started our lunch earlier, actually I think we all need to try and help the ecosystem And if we can get, you know, rise and tide floats all boats and that sort of thing Yeah, yeah, and I think direction is important I think actually there perhaps is an incorrect perception in my view that it's an expensive weekend but I actually don't think MotoGP is Now whether that's again a kind of a false connection to the F1 weekend which is a lot more expensive, but it's a different product It will be interesting to gauge the listeners' take on that It is more expensive, it's quite a bit more expensive than BSP and that is the comparison that people make really rather than saying Well it's an awful lot cheaper than Formula 1 so actually, you know, in my opinion, it says man and the clapper more than dust, you know, the racing is better or whatever But yeah, I think it's the BSP comparison that people make, but we don't put the enhanced value into BSP and the reality is it's not a world championship World championships come with certain costs, you know, it's a fact I mean ironically it's so less obvious to so many people because people don't understand the difference between prototype bikes and super bikes There are so close to things that you can find in the local dealership, your audience too because they are experts, they are educated in this sport But to most people out there who, you know, we know that the number of people that ride motorcycles in this country are dwindling Two-wheel sales might be going up but I don't consider scooters or maxi scooters or whatever For people who don't want to get on tubes post-COVID to be indicative of the greater enthusiasm for motorcycles We're all getting older, none more so than the motorcycle community, so everybody wants a GS, don't know why, but they do And everybody wants a GSX, indeed Well they're stopping making them, so more, better go Exactly, the days of the R1s and the Fireblades and even more recently the S1000s and stuff like that The world is changing, I'm pleased that people are riding enduro bikes, I'm pleased that they're carrying on longer I'm pleased that they're on two wheels, although I wish people would fill the bloody potholes in and stop texting when they're on their telephones Because it's making me ride less in the UK and making me do most of my riding on the continent where I feel fundamentally safer I agree, I totally agree It's a challenging landscape Just in terms of the circuit itself, without getting too down a separate avenue But we know Silversone is an independent business, I've written on my notes here, little to zero I'm guessing zero is really the word to government support in terms of the running and keeping the place going So despite the fact that so much global motorsport resides in the UK, it's always been a bit unfathomable to me But clearly the circuit's ever adapting and has had to look at newer novel ways to generate income So we're sat in this lovely new Hilton Hotel for example We've got the museum which is very much worth a dedicated trip to anybody that hasn't done that yet, which I have and it's brilliant We've now got the Escapade complex, is that correct?

Correct, yes Over the way, so obviously most of this has happened under your tenorship as managing director So how does all this stuff fit into the business problem of keeping the UK's premier circuit afloat? If you look back, you don't need to be the greatest student of motor racing history to recall that Silversone's financial fortunes have been a bit challenging over the years Is Silversone going to keep the Formula One Grand Prix? Is it going to Donington? Is it going abroad? Blah blah blah Many of our financial woes of old were principally rooted in the fact that we had way too many eggs in one basket with one championship We sort of had a second string to our boat, laterally with MotoGP, but really we were a one Sunday in July business Yet the brand, we always underestimated the power of the brand, Silversone's had a load more brand strength and we've given ourselves credit for years And actually what we've sought to do in the last eight or nine years with my management team is to try and extract the value that's tied up in that brand and string it out over 52 weeks a year The climate in this part of north-western Europe means that for one third of the year, November, December, January, February, there's no racing, not many test days or track days So our core, we're watching customers on their bikes going on a track day today, but they're not going to do that in mid-December or mid-January So we don't earn revenue off the track, but we are looking at the wing, as you said, sitting in the hotel, looking across at the wing The wing was very expensive to build and why on earth were we only using it for a few weekends a year?

So actually we're building a business to market it as the biggest conference and exhibition space between London and Birmingham, sitting under the motorsport brand of Silverstone, which has huge global resonance It passes the my mum test, my mum knows what goes on at Silverstone, that's always important, bellwether And actually we've got other bits of real estate where we weren't earning money, so Escapade, to which you refer, is another short stay development It's at the more luxury end, this is a three and a half star hotel that we're in that's designed to meet the needs of our conference and exhibition business The reason why we're doing this, Escapade, is orientating, recognises the fact that if you go and buy a V4S Panigale, then you're spending 20-odd grams And actually that's quite an expensive discretionary purchase, left alone if you're buying a McLaren or a Ferrari and coming on one of our track days So actually there's probably a bit more brass around than we've given ourselves credit Should we be selling them £4.50 bacon rolls in the Paddock Diner or would they actually like a better quality breakfast? Well, the wife might come and if they can stay somewhere nicer and stay a bit longer, and it's all about increasing the dwell time Exposing people to the different opportunities to get involved at Silverstone We hope very soon to build a cart circuit here, right in the heart of the circuit I aspire to redevelop some of the old farm buildings to make it more of a home for petrolheads to come to seven days a week And just somewhere to come and park up and talk to night-minded souls and kindred spirits But fundamentally we need to make this a venue that operates seven days a week, 52 weeks a year And we just engage with our customers, give them a better, more fulfilling experience in every respect So yeah, that's what we've been up to for the best part of a decade So leading on from that, and just let's say to play devil's advocate a little bit Because I think, you know, again there's a perception out there and maybe some of it's correct, I don't know How would you therefore respond to some concerns, let's say from the traditional person that's been coming since the 80s or 90s As we have, both of us, with bike racing in mind, obviously with MotoGP primarily But you know, the rarefied extravagance of F1 creeping into bike racing events And the risk that costs and access become so difficult that it kind of dissuades people from attending I mean, as I said a minute ago, I've prefaced that by saying I think the weekend ticket this year is the best value it's ever been When you look at what you're getting for that But do you get a bit frustrated that perhaps some fans out there think it's not the place to come anymore Because it's too expensive or they can't get to a certain corner that they wanted to view from Well the answer is they can get to a certain corner So you can still spectate at Magots I presume, I haven't been around and seen the development either, it's finished Absolutely you can OK, good The bank has gone, but you're now at eye height, it's arguably a more compelling view down there But we've enhanced the spectator viewing a little bit further down at Chappell OK But it's a huge general admission berm I was accused of taking away people's favourite viewing here where we built this hotel Actually we've now got 2000 more seats in along Hamilton Street than we had before the hotel was built So we've enhanced things, we've improved it down at Laughfield into Brooklands with a huge great spectator berm there So I did another podcast with one of your colleagues who was here earlier this morning And actually the room that we did it in we had an aerial photo of Formula One And the Formula One attendance is three times the size of MotoGP We could almost count the individual people whilst we were sitting there just doing the interview Between Copts and Beckett on that bit that you talk about where Escapade now is Honestly it's a fuss about nothing, the people that are throwing this around, they're not there And even if they were there, then turning up once a year on a general admission ticket Was not going to save Silverstone, never mind not having a view of the circuit They wouldn't have had a view of anything because it would have been bankrupt if we'd carried on We had no choice but to change the way we were running this business because the old way was not working And the circuit was going bust And I made no apology for saving Silverstone In fact I'm very proud of the way that my colleagues have knuckled down and tackled the task And turned the financial fortunes of this place around I think its best years are ahead of it I love the old days, I can show you some photos of me here in the hot summer of 1976 As a five year old I've been coming since then There's barely been a year where I haven't been here, even prior to the 18 years I've been lucky, honoured enough to be coming here for work But it wasn't working, it was going in the wrong direction We had to do something to change it It is better now, and if you don't think it's better Then you're either not taking a balanced and measured view of what's here Or your rose tinted spectacles are misted up Because actually there are more facilities, better options and greater entertainment Yeah, no here here As somebody that's been coming to Silverstone for such a long time And that's F1, MotoGP and BSP for me I think it is testament to your leadership and the commitment of the ops team here That we are where we are at Particularly considering the race that wasn't in 2018 when we had the disaster of the rainy day I was sat in the stands all day that day I'm so sorry, top tip to anybody out there who wants to promote a motor race If you're going to keep people sitting in the pouring rain for the best part of six hours Do at least run the race at the end of it, don't cancel it That would be my advice to you And obviously particularly Covid as well, which must have been tremendously But I don't want to talk about Covid because it's behind us now Well do you know actually Rich, I reflect on Covid as At the time it felt like the worst thing that had ever happened, indeed it was We very nearly ran out of money again Luckily we had the practice of saving the business just six years before So actually we had our eye in in that respect But I now actually reflect on Covid as probably the best thing that ever happened to Silverstone Bizarrely, it changed the buying behaviour Not so much of MotoGP because we were never, we're not close enough to a sellout event But for Formula One it created a sellout event because we rolled so many people's tickets forward As indeed we did with MotoGP from 2020 to 2021 That when we went back on sale for 2021 there was a short window with a small amount of tickets And they sold out It meant that we were able to warn people ahead of 2022 that the event was a sellout And that then kickstarted a much swifter buying cycle And that has created momentum indeed with Formula One That produced a whole host of problems when we went on sale for the 2023 race Because so many people wanted tickets so urgently that we struggled to deal with the demand However, I believe we've learned the lessons and we'll get that right for next year But actually that buying behaviour, any promoter of any event, be it a music concert Be it a football or a top demand, Wimbledon or whatever Once you get that sellout momentum to your selling cycle It brings a whole different dynamic to the business which is really very welcome So actually it turns out Covid wasn't a disaster that I thought it was That's really interesting And I mean to go back to what we were talking about a moment ago I mean yes, we are preaching to the converted in terms of this podcast to a large degree, it's true But people just need to come here and if they haven't been for a few years And just see what a great facility this is And normally great racing as well in terms of the bikes No question, I mean the fast flowing nature, the high speed nature You referenced 210 I think, 217 or 220 as we remember They're up to cracky, they're doing 197 in the weight before 2018 I remember that figure So you know, give us a go I'll talk directly to your listenership and say if you haven't been to Silverstone for a while Give us a go It doesn't need to be committing the full £110 for the 3 day ticket But come and on a single day enjoy the music, enjoy the racing, enjoy the view, enjoy the accessibility Enjoy what I hope are clean facilities, enjoy the traffic manager It's all about the loose, it really is And bring your family, introduce them Your under 11 is free, your under 16 is half price There are not many sports events that you can do that And a Friday ticket is the cost of buying a round of drinks for 3 mates and yourself That's the reality, so give us a go Thank you ever so much for the invite today and to the team for organising this It's been fantastic to come and talk to you and to talk to some of the other people that have been in attendance today I hope the event is a great success I'm sure the ticket sales are looking pretty good already And no doubt Jake Dixon will be helping that along For our little part we'll do everything we can to publicise things And keep talking about MotoGP and Silverstone in particular as well I hope the job is still fun, it looks as if you're enjoying it despite everything we've just been talking about in terms of the challenges And the future is clearly very bright Absolutely, I have no complaints, I'm honoured to have the chance to steer this amazing sports venue at this time in its history And I'm very proud to leave a very passionate and hardworking team And so thank you for the opportunity, it's been a real pleasure And we'll hopefully get a chance to catch up again sometime in the not too distant future and we'll see how it all works Absolutely Rich, love to do that Thanks Stuart, cheers, love talking to you