Yucca

HRH Prince Andrew opened the new track

The Yucca Twitter team popped along to this week’s new track launch at Silverstone.

The launch was a proud moment for the circuit. Having secured the British Grand Prix and MotoGP, the track has been on a tight deadline to see the multimillion pound changes to the track completed in good time.

HRH, the Duke of York, opened the track after Damon Hill had invited him to become an honorary member of the BRDC (British Racing Drivers' Club). He was taken for a few laps in the Santander 2-seater GP car, and looked impressively composed when climbing out.

The Red Bull Racing GP team were also at the event with David Coulthard. Once HRH had departed for his not-so-mellow tour of the new track with Damon Hill driving, David arrived at the grandstand in the Red Bull. And the car sounded absolutely amazing. David did a few laps, then slowed down in front of the grandstand and completed several doughnuts before speeding off. Everyone loved it, and talking to a Red Bull mechanic later in the day, I was told the stunt would have cost around £6k in tyres!

The day was topped off with high speed laps for media and Twittering types. I chose a Ferrari 360 and then an Aston Martin V8 Vantage. The professional driver in the Aston really did take the car to the absolute limits whilst at the same time explaining to me in a calm voice why the new track is so wonderful; “You can hit this one at well over 100 and the braking point is just perfect”. It was impressive but terrifying and I involuntarily and embarrassingly shouted ‘BRAKE’ at least once.

As anyone following @SilverstoneUK during the day will have spotted, we had a very scary 100mph+ moment on a slippery kerb just beyond the pit straight. Check back in a few days time, as we’ll be posting a YouTube video to demonstrate.

In attendance was Keith Collatine, editor of F1 Fantatic, who had the chance to grab a few words with Damon Hill and Richard Phillips, MD of Silverstone. Silverstone had a huge amount of support via Twitter and Facebook, wishing them luck on the launch and getting excited as journalists started updating their blogs and news feeds on the latest circuit information.

Thanks again to Silverstone for a wonderful day, and congratulations - it was a fabulous celebration of the new circuit and a great achievement for British motorsport.