Silverstone Interactive Museum : Days Out Review

Booking was quick, simple and pain free.  Just a case of picking a day, number of tickets and time of entry.

Upon entering the museum, we could see a shop to our right, a welcome desk to our left and a coffee shop just behind it.  Entrance to the museum was a simple case of presenting e-tickets for scanning.  Once scanned, we were told that the museum starts upstairs, no further guidance was provided, and I was glad I spotted a map to pick up.

At this point its worth mentioning that like many other industries, the racing community has been disrupted hard by Covid, and that sports like F1 have implemented strict guidelines.  I was surprised that the welcome desk did not mention Covid,  Instead, the museum had placed a large quantity of hand sanitisers around the site, cleaning staff were seen around the museum and all the staff wore masks.

Once we had ventured upstairs a staff member greeted us and we were directed into a conference room overlooking the racetrack.  We waited here for a few minutes before being directed to the first of two cinematic experiences, handily called the ‘Starting Grid’ – a long straight a room with grid marks on the floor to show a standing position for family groups to gather in.  Along each wall are projection panels and a strange red light running along the ceiling.  After a short wait, the projection screens sprang into life and an animated introduction started.  It was an animated blast through time, showing years and key drivers/ cars that have appeared at Silverstone.  It didn’t really explain what we were watching and weirdly the people looking at the left animation had a different set of images to the people looking at the right.  This meant your attention gets divided between looking at each side of the presentation.  The animation itself looks like it was powered by a PlayStation 3.  In fact, anyone that’s played a F1 game in the last few years is likely to be disappointed with what’s on view.  I would have thought with Silverstone’s resources a more ambitious welcome experience would have been created.

Once the presentation was over a set of doors opened and we were free to walk around the exhibition at our own pace.

The Museum is laid out in sections across two floors.  The upper floor moves through the history of Silverstone, from farmland to World War 2 airbase, to its first use as a racing circuit, to its current form – The home of British motorsport and its future of a centre of technical excellence.

Silverstone has evolved massively over the years and its great to see its heritage so proudly put on display.  The museum is billed as being interactive and this is achieved by various interactive touchscreens and activities dotted around each section, such as trying your hand as a WWII bomber, or sitting in a mock-up air raid gun.  People looked like they were enjoying these activities, and they looked very educational.  You could even sit in an old racing car and have a photo taken.

Once the top floor was exhausted, we made our way down to the ground floor to carry on the experience.  Here, the focus moved onto the racing and the technology involved.  Various race engines are on display as well as detailed information on aspects of race technology such as gearboxes, tyres and aerodynamics. Lots of interactive panels were on hand to explain things in as much detail as you need.  Carrying on we moved into a section discussing the medical advances in motorsport, a commentating booth that we completely missed, and something called the pit gun challenge.  This was not what I expected as the last time I did a pit gun challenge was at the NEC Birmingham and I got to change the tyre on an actual F1 car.  This challenge was pointing a mock pit gun at some sensors around waist height, whilst a digital timer provided your time, not as immersive as it could have been.

The next section we entered consisted of a relatively small exhibition of race cars, bikes, race suits and helmets.  I have been privileged to visit both Williams Private collection and the Donnington Collection (before it closed) both had a vastly superior collection of cars and vehicles compared to the Silverstone offering.

At the end of the museum walkthrough is the last exhibit simply called ‘The Ultimate Lap’.  I won’t spoil what this entails, but I will say the PlayStation 3 graphics make a return.

Once the ‘Ultimate Lap’ is over, you exit near the museum shop and café . All is not over though as we had one more experience left – Silverstone call this the Heritage walk.  They let you outside to walk on

a disused part of track and look at the actual Silverstone racetrack.  An import note here is if you visit on an event day you will need to buy a ticket for the event as well as a museum ticket.  It’s a nice addition to the museum and great way to see the esteemed racetrack in all its glory.

Back inside, the Café is an ample size.  Prices are typical for a tourist attraction of this type.  £3 sandwiches, hot drinks and bags of crisps came to around £24 for 3 people. Food on offer ranged from pre-packed sandwiches, hot paninis and basic pizzas.

Toilets were clean and plentiful, and accessibility has been taken well care of.  There is a lift to access the top floor and the Museum offers the hire of wheelchairs if needed (chargeable).