The Silverstone circuit is aiming to be the "number one destination" for motorsport fans in the future, according to the track's managing director Richard Phillips, as the brand new pit facility at the track nears completion.
Silverstone secured a long-term spot on the Formula One calendar back in late 2009, after the collapse of the proposed Donington Park bid for the British Grand Prix.The Northamptonshire track inked a deal with Bernie Ecclestone to keep the British Grand Prix for the next 17 years, beginning with the 2010 race.
And the deal triggered a wave of improvement work to the circuit, with the 2010 event debuting on the new Arena layout, featuring a new complex of corners between the Abbey chicane and the Brooklands corner.
For 2011, there will be more changes, with the track close to completing work on a new £30 million pit and paddock complex between the Club and Abbey corners, named the Silverstone Wing after a fan-based competition to name the new buildings.
The new pit straight will see the new fast Abbey chicane become the new first turn at the track, with the former first corner at Copse now placed midway around the lap.
And Phillips said on Monday that the developments may not end there, with the ultimate aim for the British Racing Drivers Club being to install Silverstone as the top motorsport destination on the planet.
"Silverstone wants to be the number one destination in the world, that's our ambition, and that's a blend of a number of different things really," Phillips told the Autosport website in an interview on Monday.
"We have some buildings in place now, we have invested in the track which is a good circuit. It's a flowing speedy track. We are ticking some of the boxes. But working forward we have got to improve more of the spectator facilities and have better viewing."
He added that the track would look to involve casual motorsport fans with the experience of a grand prix weekend on a grander scale, with off-track entertainment supporting the racing.
"You have got to have things for people to do and you have also got to appeal to a wider demographic than perhaps we have in the past," he mused.
"So if some of the family is interested in motorsport, then [we need to provide] the rest a passport to be able to go and do something that they enjoy instead."
He added: "It's on a big scale as well so you are not going to achieve it overnight but that is the aspiration moving forwards."
One of the main casualties of the renovation is the old section of the track that went unused with the new layout. The historic corners at Bridge and Priory have been largely razed from the landscape, with Phillips and the BRDC planning an improved spectator area in their place.
Phillips even suggested that the new general admission area would be the equivalent of "Henman Hill" at the Wimbledon tennis club, a raised grassy hill outside the club's Centre Court used by spectators to watch big games on a large television screen.
"The gravel traps around Bridge, Priory and the inside of Brookland have all been removed to allow the public into these areas so that there is a massive piece of ground that has been taken in there," he explained.
"It will be like the motor racing version of Henman Hill. There will be a big screen there as well and much better access to the PAs."
He added that the track was aiming to become a better venue for GA attendees, as well as the big money spectators in the grandstand seats.
"We are a circuit that has to value its customers otherwise we can't pay our way and if we don't look after the general public then we would have failed and we won't survive as a circuit," Phillips explained.
He added: "We have got 27 large screens going in. Some of those aren't trackside either, they will be going in behind the grandstands.
"So at Priory we have a screen where they can sit and watch the action and there will be a stage behind that as well, and that will be a general admission area."
But one slightly negative change to the track for 2011 has been the removal of the bump from the new Abbey corner, which proved challenging enough for the drivers that they have successfully moaned enough to have it removed.
"There were a lot of people who watched from there, especially head-on, who quite liked the bumps, and it was a huge challenge for the drivers," Phillips explained, "But the pressure from the teams was a bit more towards changing it.
"Abbey was actually a depression and a lump, which contributed towards that bump. But it's gone now, so we will see what they make of it now."
The 2011 British Grand Prix is scheduled to take place on the 10th July, but the new Silverstone Wing is set to be completed in the Spring.
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