The Silverstone Interactive Museum opened its doors to the public in 2019 to allow visitors to learn about the history of Silverstone and British motor sport. The museum is located on two floors and has an interactive element to appeal to different audiences. The exhibition is located alongside the famous racing track with views over the track. I visited the museum at the end of 2021.
The exhibition starts on the top floor with a small interactive video showcasing some of the historical cars and motorcycles that have raced on the track.
From there, the exhibition starts out with the origins of Silverstone with an ode to the names of the turns in the track. The location of Silverstone made up of the Stowe estate, which is a large country park owned by the National Trust that I have previously visited (Autumn Colour at Stowe Landscape Gardens). In the 1000s, Silverstone was home to a priory and monastary. Some of the buildings of this were used as a farm in later years. The farmers lent out the land for informal races before World War II. During World War II, Silverstone was used as an airbase. Part of the exhibition details its use as an airbase and then as a racetrack again after the war.
Some of the oldest cars to have raced at Silverstone were on the upper floor.
From here, the exhibition continued to the lower floor where there are the different decades of racing at Silverstone from the 1940s until the modern day. Information about the years and some of the cars or motorcycles are included in the exhibition.
One of Lewis Hamilton's outfits and helmets was on display.
Further exhibitions inclued the technical aspects of racing and car design with interactive and informative elements. Other aspects are also detailed, such as the pit crew, volunteers, doctors, media, afety concerns, and others who help the sport to make it what it is. There is an element of interactivity in most of the exhibits around the museum.
At the end of the museum exhibit is a final interactive aspect for visitors to pretend that they are racing around the track. This is depicted on full screen surround with a video that showcases various elements of Silerstone. Overall, it is worth a visit if you're interested in motor sports.
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