Hill: Silverstone not for sale

Damon Hill has insisted Silverstone is not for sale following the latest approach from a property company to develop the circuit.

The British Racing Drivers’ Club, who own the Northamptonshire track, last year rejected a proposal to lease the venue to another property developer, St Modwen.

The latest offer has come from Oliver Speight, who runs Spectre, and is a £56m (€82.5m) bid for the freehold of the BRDC’s property and trading companies.

The apparent proposal includes: an initial £20m (€29.5m) payment upon completion of the acquisition as well as a further £20m (€29.4m) on approval by the local planning authority of the intended development master plan.

“We’re not planning to sell Silverstone. That’s not the objective,” Hill, BRDC president and 1996 Formula One world champion, confirmed to the BBC.

“We’ve a plan to develop Silverstone, which we are proceeding with, in order to have a grand prix.

“It’s quite common for people – particularly property developers – to approach anyone with a property and make a proposal.

“There has been an approach from a developer called Spectre, and he has written to all the (BRDC) members, which is not particularly correct etiquette, and made a proposal.

“The BRDC board will respond to that in the correct way by saying Silverstone is not for sale.

“We are in the middle of our own development procedure which involves co-operation with Government and local administration to seek their backing.

“That is an ongoing process, and we are not being diverted from that.”

Hill and the BRDC last week unveiled their own master plan for the redevelopment of Silverstone as they look to secure the future of the British Grand Prix beyond the current contract that expires in 2009.

Hill concedes that will be “self-funded”, adding: “We are going forward to develop Silverstone.

“That allows us to go to Bernie (Ecclestone) and say ’we’re developing and putting in better facilities’ and then we can dovetail that with a grand prix contract.”