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Despite arriving late, missing qualifying and thus starting from the back of the grid, the Maseratis of Luigi Villoresi and Alberto Ascari dominated the International Grand Prix at a new Silverstone back in 1948. Photo SHL/BRDC Archive
The 2023 Silverstone Festival will celebrate 75 years of Grand Prix racing at the birth place of Formula One and one of the highlights of the weekend will be the Masters Racing Legends event for DFV-engined F1 cars between 1966-1985.
Silverstone Festival will celebrate the circuit’s 75th anniversary in style
* Introducing The 75th Anniversary Grand Prix Trophy for Front Engine Cars
* Glittering track demo of great Grand Prix cars to mark major milestone
* Special race to honour Jaguar’s long association with Silverstone
* Evocative Formula Libre grid adds to the unrivalled on-track excitement
* Race line-up for Silverstone Festival is now complete
Above and below: The start of the 1948 International Grand Prix. Copyright Michael Turner, BRDC collection
2023 SILVERSTONE FESTIVAL RACECARD
* Historic Formula Junior
* HGPCA Pre-’66 Grand Prix Cars – incorporating the
75th Anniversary GP Trophy for front-engine F1 cars
* HSCC Road Sports Trophy
* HSCC Silverstone Formula Libre Trophy
* HSCC Thundersports
* International Trophy for Pre-’66 GT Cars
* Masters Endurance Legends
*Masters GT Trophy
* Masters Racing Legends (1966-1985 DFV era F1 cars)
* Masters Sports Car Legends
* MRL Big Cat Challenge Trophy
* MRL Historic Touring Car Challenge
* MRL Royal Automobile Club Woodcote Trophy
and Stirling Moss Trophy
* Transatlantic Trophy for Pre-’66 Touring Cars
** A wide-range of tickets for the 2023 Silverstone Festival are now on sale, including camping and VIP hospitality options. Full details can be found at: https://www.silverstone.co.uk/events/silverstone-festival.
This summer’s spectacular ‘Silverstone Festival’ (25-27 August) will celebrate the world famous circuit’s 75th anniversary in high octane style with special birthday races, parades and displays to mark this major milestone in British motorsport history.
It was back in October 1948 that Silverstone hosted its very first race meeting, staged on the runways and perimeter roads of a former RAF bomber station (see original 1948 track map above).
With the country’s other race circuits such as Brooklands and Donington inoperable post-WWII, Silverstone swiftly established itself as the home of British Motor Racing – a status it has been proud to hold ever since.
That first race meeting back in 1948 was an International Grand Prix featuring all the sport’s top stars and fastest cars and, two years later, Silverstone had the further honour of hosting the very first round of the FIA World Championship for the newly inaugurated Formula One.
Celebrating the glorious past and the circuit’s present as the home of the annual British Grand Prix, Silverstone Festival will put a special spotlight on 75 remarkable years right at the pinnacle of global motorsport.
To mark this major milestone, a glittering parade of Grand Prix cars that have raced at Silverstone over the ages will be taking to the track on all three days of the Festival. This incredible ‘moving museum’ will stir memories, honouring past champions and lauding British Grand Prix winners from yesteryear.
Adding to the Bank Holiday celebrations, the packed racecard will also pay homage to 1948 with a dedicated showdown reserved especially for classic front engined Grand Prix cars dating back to the circuit’s earliest days.
The Historic Grand Prix Cars Association will be inviting a selection of 30 front-engined and 30 rear-engined F1 cars to race and, following one qualifying session on Friday for all 60 entrants, the weekend will witness three not-to-be-missed 20-minute races.
The Silverstone Festival evening entertainment courtesy of these acts
The late Murray Walker, the 'Voice of Motor Racing', was honoured with the Formula 1 Memorial Trophy
Murray Walker OBE was a larger than life character who loved commenting at Silverstone.
The life and times of the unforgettable and treasured Murray Walker OBE was honoured at Silverstone back in 2021.
The passion-fuelled broadcasting legend passed away on 13 March 2021 at the ripe old age of 97 and, in a special tribute, the prestigious Silverstone event’s two headline races for evocative Formula One cars from yesteryear were dedicated to his memory.
Staged on both Saturday and Sunday afternoons, the pair of races for the Murray Walker Memorial Trophy for Masters Historic Formula One was a fitting celebrations for the much-loved ‘Voice of Motorsport’ at a circuit which meant so much to him throughout his remarkable career.
Murray was presented with a richly-deserved Lifetime Achievement Award by event director Nick Wigley and is joined in the Silverstone Wing pitlane by former F1 driver and televison's Fifth Gear presenter Tiff Needell.