The British Racing Drivers’ Club (BRDC) and Silverstone Circuits Limited are delighted to have been awarded a first-round pass for a £9.1million bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) for their project Silverstone Heritage Live. The initial funding allocated by the HLF for this project is £446,068, to which the BRDC will add further cash and volunteer input to allow development work to a total value of almost £892,136 to be undertaken, helping the BRDC and Silverstone progress its plans to apply for the full grant in 2014.

Silverstone Heritage Live, which is planned to open in 2016, will bring Silverstone’s history to life and feature the BRDC archive, a heritage trail and live interactive experiences within a Heritage Hub located at the entrance to the circuit. As well as the BRDC archive, which is a unique collection that charts the history of the club, other high profile motorsport names including David Coulthard MBE, Eddie Jordan and Lady Christabel Watson have all pledged items from their collections to be on display at the Silverstone Heritage Hub.

Stuart Rolt, BRDC Chairman, commented: “We are very proud to have won this grant and are extremely excited about the project. The BRDC and Silverstone have played an important part in the history of British Motorsport, and the Silverstone Heritage Hub will give us an opportunity to share this with motorsport fans from around the world.

“The experiences, memories and collections of the BRDC members, fans and others associated with the sport provide a unique resource with which to tell the compelling story of Silverstone and British motor sport, and we believe the Heritage Centre will increase our visitor number by over 300,000 each year.”

Vanessa Harbar, Head of Heritage Lottery Fund East Midlands, said: “We loved the British Racing Drivers Club’s vision for this exciting project, which will open up the magic of Silverstone to both motor enthusiasts and those with an interest in the wider history of the site. Silverstone is unique as a not-for-profit drivers’ club and we’re looking forward to working closely with the club as their plans develop further over the coming months.”

The BRDC, Silverstone and the HLF will continue to work closely together in order to apply for the full grant in November 2014.

Notes to editors

Silverstone Holdings Limited is the commercial arm of the BRDC group of companies.

Silverstone Circuits Limited is the operator and promoter of Silverstone Circuit and a member of the BRDC group of companies.

Silverstone is recognised as the home of British motor racing and one of the world’s most recognisable racing venues.

Silverstone is the host of the 2013 Formula One British Grand Prix. The circuit hosted its first Formula One Grand Prix in 1948, and was the venue for the first ever round of the Formula One World Championship in 1950. Silverstone has been the only circuit to stage the Formula One British Grand Prix since 1986.

Silverstone Circuits Limited has signed a five year agreement with Dorna Sports (the promoter and rights holder for MotoGP™) to host the British Motorcycle Grand Prix (MotoGP™) from 2010.

Silverstone stages some of the largest international and domestic motor sport series in the world, including rounds of the Superbike World Championship, World Series by Renault, British Touring Car Championship, Le Mans Series and British Superbike Championship.

The Silverstone Wing was officially opened on 17 May 2011 by His Royal Highness the Duke of Kent.

Further information

HPS Jardine: Dan Leach on 01628 894 828, email: Dan.Leach@HPSJardine.com or Charlotte Sefton on 01628 894 826, email: Charlotte.Sefton@HPSJardine.com.