Less well-known on the mainland, but no less spectacular than the Goodwood Members' Meeting, is the Silverstone Festival, which took place this year from August 22 to 24 at the traditional race track in Northamptonshire. Launched in 1990 as the "BRDC Historic Festival", the event has developed over the past 17 years under the direction of Nick Wigley into the world's largest celebration of historic motorsport with record-breaking numbers of participants and more than 100,000 spectators.
The 15 qualifying races took place on Friday, before a program of 20 races followed over the weekend, bringing back all the golden eras of Formula 1, GT, prototypes, touring and sports cars.
Among the standout moments was a record-breaking field of 54 Formula 3 cars from the period immediately after the Second World War. Sam Wilson in his 1962 Cooper T59 narrowly defeated Alex Ames' 1963 Brabham BT6 in the opening race on Saturday - but only after race leader Horatio Fitz-Simon, also driving a 1963 Brabham BT6, collided with a slower car while overtaking. Fitz-Simon made no mistakes on Sunday; Wilson finished second and secured the "Howden Ganley Trophy" in the overall standings.
Following Lando Norris' victory in the 2025 British Grand Prix, another McLaren driver triumphed at Silverstone in the first of the two Masters Racing Legends races for Formula 1 cars from 1966 to '85): Tom Bradshaw, who drives full-time for Porsche, made his debut in historic Formula 1 and drove his 1981 MP4/1 to victory.
The "Transatlantic Touring Car Trophy" was particularly close, with less than a second separating the three Ford Mustangs of Matt Johnson, Sam Tordoff and Jake Hill, who were the first to cross the finish line after 45 minutes.
Saturday ended with the "Masters Group C" for Group C prototypes. Despite a small field of participants, the race was exciting and culminated in a thrilling finale in which Spanish racing driver Andy Soucek in his 1982 Lancia LC2 beat the 1992 Spice SE92 driven by Dutch duo Kalff and Campagne.
The "RAC Historic Tourist Trophy" on Sunday offered fans a fascinating duel between David and Goliath: American racing driver Michael Gans in the agile 1963 Lotus Elite and the 1961 Jaguar E-Type of the Pearson brothers. The Elite crossed the finish line first, but was not eligible to win due to its participation as a guest starter - which meant that the trophy went to the Pearsons, who were able to fend off a late attack by David Harts in the Ferrari 250 GT "SWB".
The Silverstone Festival 2025 concluded with two sports car races. In the Masters GT Trophy, the Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 of Wilkins/Scott and Glover/ Reade claimed a one-two victory. The final winners of the weekend were Alex Brundle and Gary Pearson, who won the Masters Sports Car Legends in the Lola T70 Mk. 3B.
The attraction away from the race track was the "World Champions Collection", which was on display in the paddock. To mark the 75th anniversary of Formula 1 at the birthplace of the world championship, racing cars from all 34 world champions were presented. It was the first time ever that such a collection of title winners was on display. More than two thirds of them were the actual cars with which the championship victories were achieved. The rest represented important moments in the careers of their respective drivers. The collection ranged from Giuseppe Farina's Alfa Romeo 158 - the winner of the very first World Championship race in 1950 - to Max Verstappen's 2022 Red Bull RB18, in which he won his second of four titles to date.
As always, numerous clubs were also represented with member vehicles, exhibitions and anniversary parades. The "BMW Car Club" was recognized for its "50 Years of the 3 Series" exhibition, which included a model from each model series.
On Friday evening, visitors had the opportunity to take part in a "Fun Run" on the Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit, in which more than 350 participants raised thousands of pounds for Sir Jackie Stewart's organization "Race Against Dementia". Next year, the Silverstone Festival will share the weekend and circuit with CarFest, which will also raise money for charity.
