4 Ways To Improve The WEC Race Day Experience

This weekend I went to the 6 Hours of Silverstone race weekend to watch what turned out to be an eventful race in the LMP1 Hybrid class. Audi was the eventual winner after the leading Porsche crashed out in spectacular style, an Audi R18 had a catastrophic electrical failure, and a Toyota wrecked its bodywork thanks to a puncture. And after all that, the Audi was stripped of its win due to block strips that were too thin.

It was the second time I’ve attended a WEC race. The first time was at the Nurburgring last year, and I kept myself entertained during the six hour race by driving the Nordschleife and visiting various garages and landmarks in the local area. Six hours is a long time to keep yourself occupied, and at Silverstone there just wasn’t enough to keep me interested. Furthermore, with limited information at the trackside, watching the cars close up left you detached from the full race as you had no idea what was happening elsewhere.

I ended up watching a large chunk of the race in either the media centre or Audi hospitality venue, as they had televisions, commentary, and a live-updating positions ticker. It was a real shame, because I genuinely love WEC and was looking forward to chilling by the track soaking up the atmosphere. Instead I was glad I was watching TV when the big Porsche crash happened, as otherwise I would probably have had no idea why a full course yellow had been issued.

With all that in mind, here are four ways the 6 Hours of Silverstone could be improved for spectators…

1. More trackside TV screens

This is probably the main one with regards to enjoying the racing. I loved finding an exciting corner to marvel at the speeds the cars could change direction, but that leaves you out of the loop for everything else that’s happening in the race.

I walked around the whole track to watch different corners, with the Maggots, Becketts, Chapel corner combination a particular highlight as the LMP1 cars carry mind-boggling speed through the first section. But once the novelty wore off at each part of the track, I was left wishing I could see the battles happening elsewhere.

A large TV screen at each major viewing point would make the experience much more enjoyable, and would encourage more people to hang around watching up close and personal - it was harder to get a bean bag in the Tequila Patron viewing tent than it was to get a spot trackside.

2. Better trackside commentary

I get it, big TVs are expensive, but there is a solution. Loudspeakers are dotted around the track at fairly regular intervals, but there are either not enough, or they’re not loud enough. In the absence of televisions, listening to the commentary over the speakers is the next best thing, but that does rather limit where you can view from under the current setup.

If speakers were fitted closer together with the volume turned up, no matter where you spectate from, you could follow what’s happening on track without having to use precious mobile phone data!

3. More things to do during the race

During the mid-race lull I became really rather bored. With many thousand horsepowers pounding the track, you’d think that’d be impossible, but with six whole hours of racing you’ll definitely need something to keep you going. I know, the Nurburgring is a unique case by having the Nordschleife beside it, but even the paddock was more entertaining in Germany, as well as the huge commercial area at the main entrance.

Silverstone’s paddock was relatively unexciting, surprisingly, with the only other entertainment a small area nearby where a few manufacturers had display stands, some BMXers were jumping across a tiny course, and a tequila company handed out branded flags to children.

The entertainment should be almost good enough to warrant the entry fee alone. WEC is still a relatively niche series, despite its more prominent image in recent years, so if you can encourage people to attend for the cars on display or the incredible up close access, a love for WEC might be a handy byproduct. I mean, the small Stowe circuit was utilised as a damn car park for VIPs and media types. Why not get a manufacturer to take people around the track with skilled drivers for a small fee?

No matter how awesome the racing is, six hours is a long time to stand around. The pitlane walk before the race is fantastic, but there needs to be more things to do during the actual race.

4. Better marketing is vital

This is the big one. The stands were empty. There was hardly anyone at the race, I was shocked. This is some of the most exciting racing you can bear witness to, and aside from the fact there’s not a lot to keep you occupied, you do get fantastic access to the cars pre-race included in the £40 entry fee. 40 quid, and you get to watch the race from anywhere - none of the grandstands I saw had security on, though I’d imagine the start line stand was policed a bit better - and get up close and personal with the actual race cars. I found this in a Facebook group:

“I still find it astonishing that for 3 days of world class action and access to drivers etc that it still only costs £40, but let's keep that quiet.”

Keep it quiet? Why on Earth is this not being screamed from the rooftops?! You’d have to multiply that figure a few times to get to the price of a Formula 1 ticket, where you’d be constrained to one seat for the whole race, and the closest you’d get to a car is a pixellated zoom shot from your phone.

The big thing this race was missing was atmosphere. The grandstands were empty and there were so few people trackside that you could get to the barriers at every corner, meaning you never got carried away with the crowd. It all just felt a bit meh.

I really don’t want to sound like I’m hating on the 6 Hours of Silverstone, because the race was exciting and eventful, and it was fantastic watching the speed differential between the classes. I just wanted to enjoy actually being there, as sport should always be better when you’re in attendance. Despite the complaints above, if you have any interest in watching cool cars go fast, you must attend a WEC round. For the price, there are few better petrolhead experiences. You just better hope there’s a bit more going on around the track next time…

Big shoutout to Jayson Fong for letting us use his awesome photos from the weekend! Check out his Instagram, Facebook and website for more wicked images like these.