CEO ' s MESSAGE
During the seminars we like to do live polling of the audience , with an app called Slido on people ’ s phones . We were keen to see how this community had progressed with Sport : 80 and I am pleased to say that the consistent feedback at every location was positive . On the NCRs we polled at the start and end of the sessions and again , after some workshop discussions , we had well over 90 per cent saying that they were now comfortable with implementation of the NCRs and acknowledged that they were a marked improvement in many respects over the old format .
I am sure everybody has read or heard with great interest the news stories around Artificial Intelligence or AI as it is known . Whilst I won ’ t get distracted with the debate on the existential risks of AI , and will leave you to form your own judgements , it is something that is here to stay and Motorsport UK must grasp the potential that this offers in reducing red tape , bureaucracy and enhancing efficiency . As such we have launched an internal project to specifically look at how AI can improve our functionality across all our workstreams and at the same time consider the risks that it may pose to the sport and the governing body .
In 1948 the Royal Automobile Club secured a lease on an inactive World War II RAF airfield close to a small village called Silverstone . They converted the perimeter road into a racetrack and hosted its first Grand Prix in October of that
year . By 1950 Silverstone held the first Formula 1 Grand Prix Championship race , won by Giuseppe Farina in an Alfa Romeo , watched by King George VI . It has held all but 17 of the British Grand Prix races since then and can lay claim to being at the very heart of post-war British motorsport . The British Racing Drivers ’ Club ( BRDC ) took over the lease of Silverstone from the Royal Automobile Club in 1952 and subsequently purchased the site ’ s freehold from the Ministry of Defence in 1971 . Growing up in and around Silverstone , with my father as one of the very earliest members of the BRDC , and more recently having joined the Club myself , it was with great interest that I was invited to take part in a strategic planning session with all the various stakeholders in the broad geographical envelope that is today ’ s Silverstone . I think it is fair to say that for many years the great success of Silverstone as a race circuit on the world stage was not matched by its financial stability , and this had been one of the main drivers to diversify their portfolio of assets and that in turn led to the creation of the Silverstone Business Park . As you enter the circuit now you are greeted not only by the Aston Martin Formula 1 team ’ s shiny new factory but also an array of technology businesses that have sprung up around the perimeter . These are in addition to the Silverstone UTC which has built a fine track record in a specialised field of education that forms a key part of the motorsport jigsaw puzzle .
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Silverstone has diversified its assets , but motorsport remains its core focus
James Roberts
Revolution - March 2025
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