Two gripes

Sir,
I have never been to Silverstone, and recent letters from your readers suggest that I am not rnissing a great deal. Since improvements to the circuit have been made, and having plans for more, they want us to pay £30 to watch the British Grand Prix.

Do the mysterious “they” realise that, assuming my two children are admitted free, my family will still be charged £60 to gain admission to what appears to be a circuit with a growing reputation for poor hospitality? In all honesty, I think once again the call of Le Mans and perhaps the German or Belgian Grands Prix, along with the duty-frees, will lure me away from Silverstone.

Gripe number two: Who is this Balestre? I want to watch 6-litre Mercedes and 7-litre Jags along with Porsches et al. I don’t want 3.5-litre racing engines and nothing else. I go to F1 to see the ultimate in racing technology. I go to sports-prototype races to see cars that are not just two-seater F1 cars but use whatever engines the manufacturers want, cars that do have a connection with road cars, however tenuous it may be.

Surely I am not the only one to be concerned with the way the sport is heading? Any type of racing you want, as long as it has a 31/2-litre racing engine and the corporate giants don’t have to “endure” five or six hours of endurance racing!

I just wonder what can be done if Jaguar, of all companies, can’t even influence FISA. Is there any possibility that the humble spectator who puts his hand in his pocket to watch the sport will have his views taken into consideration? Perhaps there still is, as long as we have magazines such as Motor Sport through which we can share our views with others.

Alan Lewis, Jarrow, Tyne and Wear