SILVERSTONE

With half its circuit in Northamptonshire and half in Buckinghamshire, Silverstone is roughly equidistant from Milton Keynes and Northampton. The famous circuit is built on the site of a World War II bomber base, RAF Silverstone that opened in 1943.

The first races were held on the runways themselves before it was decided to switch to the perimeter track. This arrangement was used for the very first official grand prix event in 1950 and remained largely unaltered for the following 40 years. The circuit underwent a major redesign between 1990 and 1991, with further safety modifications in 1994 following the deaths of Roland Ratzenburger and Aryton Senna earlier that year.

There are three circuit variations including the full grand prix circuit, the international circuit mainly being used by the British Touring Car Championship and the slightly shorter National circuit which both make use of the original runway layouts.