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.

But the developments haven’t stopped. Silverstone’s latest addition, the striking Escapade hospitality venture created adjacent to the Maggotts-Becketts complex, is nearing completion. It is set to open this September, with bookings available now. It’s a sleek, modern and daring development, housing 60 properties with at least half that number overlooking the circuit, and the others offering a more ‘countryside’ experience. Taking more than a little inspiration from motor sport lifestyle facilities such as Ascari in Spain and Spring Mountain near Las Vegas, Escapade promises to be much more than another trackside trinket for Silverstone. This is a functional and highly practical development, aimed at motor sport enthusiasts, allowing competitors, sponsors, corporate clients, and yes, fans… to stay right at the centre of the action any time they choose. But above being just another hospitality venue, Escapade will work with Silverstone’s other recent additions to help secure the future of the whole venue.

“With Silverstone we have a tremendous asset but also a lot of business challenges,” explains Stuart Pringle, Silverstone’s managing director. “Back in the old days the circuit was far too reliant on one weekend in July, especially when we had bills 52 weeks of the year. Our strategy has been to create more aspects to the business of Silverstone, adding different elements to try and turn the circuit into a year-round leisure and business destination. Across recent years, we’ve been on an exciting upward trajectory, and we want to continue that, but it takes work. So, what do you do to make the site work 364 days a year? You take an old grass car park and create something innovative and novel that supports not just the facility, but the sport as a whole.”

Escapade’s creation came about when a private developer approached Silverstone, looking to make use of some of the land around the circuit. The site is contained within 13 acres of grassland, land previously only used by local sheep, and once or twice as an overflow car park, but otherwise added little to the venue.

“Real estate gives you opportunities, either to sell something and realise a capital receipt, or to take rental income over a long time,” says Pringle. “There’s little point in having 550 acres of land and it being a millstone around your neck. It’s about how you get it to work in your favour. That was 13 acres of grass car park that we used for perhaps two weekends per year. What we’ve been trying to do is turn areas of the site into revenue-generating infrastructure to help diversify the business, and help us become a more modern business.”

The language may not be traditional racing speak but the fact is Silverstone’s operations no longer solely rely on its 3.66 miles of Tarmac. Considering its prime location being a metaphorical stone’s throw from seven F1 team facilities, Silverstone has been short on hospitality. Across its properties, Escapade offers one- to four-bedroom accommodation, fit for individuals and full families with a total of 184 beds. Combine that with the 197 available at the new Hilton, and nobody should struggle to stay around Silverstone.

But how exactly does it work for the circuit financially? Each property has been designed to be sold to private owners, with each plot gaining a 125-year lease. From each sale (so far 54 of the 60 plots are accounted for), Silverstone takes a lease premium. Escapade’s properties aren’t designed to be lived in year-round; instead owners get usage for 30 days per year, either for themselves or to put back into the rental pool. Silverstone has founded a management company to oversee the rental and operation of the site, and offers owners shares of its own profits, weighted by how readily available each property has been for general rental across the year.

“It’s Silverstone land, owned by Silverstone and operated by Silverstone,” says Pringle. “The owners get a share of the revenue of the operating company, so they get financial return. If their property is available in the rental pool all the time, they will get a significantly bigger share than if they choose to use the 30 days entirely to themselves.”

It means owners can use their property for, say, the British Grand Prix week, and then allow it to be booked out generally for the rest of the year to ensure a return.

Alongside the properties, Escapade will also feature a private clubhouse for residents, featuring a state-of-the-art gym and well-being centre, plus a restaurant overseen by head chef Adam Bateman – who has worked with the likes of Delia Smith, Raymond Blanc, the Roux family, co-founded the company Green Kitchen and runs the Michelin-listed speak-easy style restaurant, Le “22” in the Swiss Alps.

“Silverstone is a burgeoning ecosystem for motor sport, with so many companies, teams and facilities right down the road,” adds Pringle. “So actually, if you’re coming on a factory tour of Mercedes-AMG F1, for example, why not come and stay at the actual circuit instead of a branded hotel by a motorway?

“It’s a hotel offering of the modern age, on our most famous and iconic section of track”

“We also believe Escapade will become the destination of choice for competitors. Take the sort of drivers who compete at events like the Silverstone Festival, Escapade is absolutely aimed at them as it’s the best place to stay during an event. You get a living area, a kitchen, a clubhouse, the balconies… it’s a hotel offering of the modern age, high standard and a home from home. And it’s on our most famous and iconic section of track. The balcony views also take in sections of Abbey and The Loop, down the Wellington Straight… it’s a really exciting place to watch from.”

But with every additional building block, doesn’t it detract from the experience of the trackside fan? Not in this case.

“Escapade doesn’t restrict any public trackside access,” says Pringle. “We’ve created a public walkway there with more space and more views of the track than before. We have removed part of the raised bank, but there were never many people who watched from there anyway. We’re periodically accused of reducing viewing on the Hamilton Straight because we’ve built a hotel, but we’ve reconfigured the grandstands so now there are 2000 extra seats on Hamilton Straight than there were before the hotel was built. The old model wasn’t working, and we have to appeal to a broader and more modern fanbase.”

With rentals starting at £208 per night with clubhouse access, Escapade in theory costs little more than a mid-range hotel for much of the year. However, expect rates to rise significantly for major events.

“Silverstone was not going to survive if we’d left it the way it was,” adds Pringle. “This is a way to activate the business seven days a week. It’s accessible and using our assets in a unique way. Nobody else is doing this. There’s a handful of private tracks that just run driving experiences that can offer similar, but when people stand on those balconies during race meetings they’ll totally get how fantastic it is. Will it only be accessible to the rich and corporate customers on grand prix weekend? Most likely, it’s a grand prix weekend, after all. But will it be accessible to fans and competitors the rest of the year? Absolutely.”

Escapade seems another powerful tool in Silverstone’s armoury. In a world where new race tracks are being created almost overnight, ‘keeping up with the Joneses’ can be close to impossible for permanent facilities.

The last word from Pringle is a poignant one. The drive behind the flurry of development at Silverstone has been brought on by both business needs, and the external pressures of being a modern F1 venue.

“There is a slight need to keep up with other circuits, but we can’t compete against many of the new-money facilities out there,” he explains. “Stefano [Domenicali, Formula One Group CEO] and Chase Carey [Non-executive chairman] were clear with us that history alone is not enough to be an F1 venue. There are two tiers of circuits – those that are grand prix venues and those that aren’t. We want to remain in the grand prix group, and we work hard to stay there. It’s not a level playing field, usually because the Joneses have state money behind them, or money is not an object and they are able to build regardless of cost or financial return constraints. We can’t do that. We don’t have a bottomless pit.

“The projects we’ve invested in have to be the ones that will move our business forward”

“Therefore, the projects we’ve invested in have to be ones that will move our business forward. It feels fantastic to see the progress we’ve made. We’ve adapted. We’ve had some frank conversations about what we needed to do, but the BRDC has always backed us. The sort of conversations about investing large sums of money for [rap artist] Stormzy to come to a motor race… well, why do we want Stormzy to come to a motor race? Because it’s not just a motor race. It’s a weekend full of world class entertainment. No, we won’t sell any extra tickets for this year from it, but we will for the year after, and the year after that.

“It’s been a journey for us, but my mission is to re-establish Silverstone as a world-class centre of this sport, and we’re well on the way, with a 10-year grand prix deal, which gives us the best foundation to build on.”