My account of yesterday from the track

Hey, I hope you don't mind me taking some liberties and a few minutes to give my view of what happened yesterday as we saw it at the track. I'll try and be as balanced as possible, but will give my view in reaction to some of the comments I've read here. I'll be keen to hear other accounts from people at the track and watching on TV. I'm also really interested in some of the view of fans from outside of the UK and their perception of Silverstone after this.Little background from me, my partner and myself are in our mid 30s and been consistently every year to race meets in the UK for a fair few years now. But yesterday was something else, arriving home last night and waking up this morning, ahhh man I can't describe how disappointed we feel. My partner, well, she was absolutely deflated and devastated yesterday (which broke my heart).The weekend did start well. The Day of Champions was lovely weather wise. We had paddock passes again this year. We felt that some of the riders could have at least made some effort to say hello, but let it be said that Herve Poncharal is an absolute gent and took the time to chat. Top bloke. Weather report was rubbish for Saturday, but clear for Sunday.By Friday the report had changed, and the bad weather was now pencilled in for Sunday but clear for Saturday. By Saturday afternoon we were seeing some small dark clouds hovering and in FP4 we saw the chaos that led to Tito's injury and the red flag. Sitting in Luffield there was chatter as to whether there was oil on the track. It certainly looked that way from where we were - it was sunny at Luffield! It became clear however that the localised rain round the back of the track was not moving off the track and pooling in-between the bumps - leading to what was it? 4-5 bikes coming off? And Tito being airlifted for emergency surgery. I do wonder if this point was forgotten by a few yesterday.The weather report that night for Sunday was clear till 12pm - then a >95% chance of rain till around 4pm. We saw the Tweets from Silverstone explaining the change of time. That the teams needed the early morning for a warmup, so 11:30am was the earliest they could put the main race on. Their view was that the powerful bikes was be unsafe in wet conditions but Moto2 and Moto3 would be fine. We were pretty pessimistic of seeing a complete race in truth.We arrived on track early for the warm up and one of our group; 74 year old James Tolesland superfan Dot asked if we didn't mind heading to the paddock entrance to see if she could meet him. He recognised her and popped over for a chat, a hug and a photo. Let it also be said that James is a top bloke. Speaking to some of the Silverstone staff at the paddock at this point the view seemed to be that hopefully the rain will hold off the main race, but the feeling from the staff was that Moto2 would probably be a washout. Definitely a different line from the announcement we read the day before.After the warm-up it started raining. Damn. It was light rain but enough to send us scurrying to the bus to get to our seats. We were in Club for the race. By 11am the rain was starting to get heavier and the MotoGP boys started their sighting lap. From the 6-7 bikes that entered club at a slow slow cruising speed, 2 ended up in the gravel and 2 more managed to keep it just on the run off area. I won't lie, after only light to medium rain - Club was a pond and the International Straight was becoming a river. We knew the race wouldn't happen.It was duly delayed and the rain only got heavier. Speaking to stewards about a Monday race, they all pretty much told there were no plans to return the next day, and that many had work any way. So starting the repeated delays till 3pm and eventual disappointment.So, was yesterday different that other meets where it has rained? I'd say yes and no.Yes - it was different in the sense that it just NEVER stopped. Certainly round Club. It may have eased off, but it never stopped. The track didn't improve after sending the trucks round (they'd only temporarily clear the racing line). It was not safe to run bikes on. By 3pm there were rivers of water you had to jump across running down the paths outside the track.But also no - because at the time the race was supposed to run (11:30am - 12:30am) the rain was only light and no different than from what we had during qualifying on the Saturday at 2016. The difference being that the track drained in 2016. It didn't at all yesterday around Club, even though we were hearing that the National Straight was improving. We sent our friends pictures of the spray from the safety cars and standing water, which showed a different picture from what they could see at Woodcote (where it was drier)I think our main frustration yesterday was the communication and the blind hope from the organisers that something would let up, despite the Met office clearly stating that the weather was unlikely to improve till around 5-6pm (there was still an 80% chance of rain at 5pm). The track radio was great and Fred did a great job as always - but even he was switched off at 2-3pm (can't remember the exact time), but it before they'd officially declared the race cancelled. By 2:30pm, with queues forming at the exit we ended up in one of the Red Bus bars - literally the only warm place at the circuit and drowned our already soggy sorrows with other fans while we decided what to do.We were back at our hotel by 4pm. Race was finally cancelled.Dot and her husband Pete said this was the first time in over 30 years they've ever attended a race meeting and not seen any actual racing. I'd say this raises a serious issue for Silverstone. I can't see any bike meetings happening next year unless this is addressed. My partner is adamant that we won't return to Silverstone for any race meets in the future (Mugello or Barca it is for us, then)We've been told by Silverstone to expect an email soon outlining what they will do with paying fans.​​
Submitted August 27, 2018 at 07:43AM by philipengland https://www.reddit.com/r/motogp/comments/9amq4n/my_account_of_yesterday_from_the_track/?utm_source=ifttt