Woodcote Corner

Woodcote Corner is located at the Silverstone circuit in Northamptonshire, England. It is the final corner on the circuit before the cars cross the start/finish line.

History

Woodcote has long been regarded as being one of the fastest corners in motor racing and is taken at full throttle in many racing series. A Formula One car can take the corner at speeds in excess of 180 miles per hour.

Due to the high speed nature of the corner, Woodcote or the entry into Woodcote has been reprofiled several times in an attempt to control speeds.

Woodcote has been an ever present feature on the Silverstone circuit since its creation in 1948.

It was initially a 90 degree turn preceded by a long straight. Woodcote was at this point the first corner on the track, with the pits and start/finish line located on the Farm Straight preceding the corner. Speeds were not increddibly high at this stage due to the lack of technology featured on the cars.

In 1952, the pits and start/finish line were relocated from the Farm Straight to the straight following Woodcote. This meant that Woodcote was now the final corner on the lap.

The entire track would remain in this configuration until 1975 when Woodcote was turned from a high speed corner into a tight right-left-right chicane in an attempt to reduce speeds following a dramatic first lap collision during the 1973 British Grand Prix. Woodcote was also very bumpy, making it easy to lose control. The entry to the pit lane was re-located to the mid part of the new chicane at this time too.

A major re-vamp of the turn was carried out in time for the 1987 British Grand Prix. The Farm Straight was straightened slightly to make way for a new left-right chicane at Luffield. The chicane at Woodcote was removed, and the corner itself was changed from a 90 degree right-hander to a much less intense sweeper onto the main straight.

The corner has been relatively untouched since, though in 1991 a series of major revisions were made before Woodcote again to decrease speeds. Again the Farm Straight was shortened, and instead of a tight chicane at Luffield, the track instead turned right at high speed through Bridge corner before snapping left at the tight Priory and Brooklands corners before turning through the two tight 90 degree turns of Luffield 1 and 2. Speeds and lap-times were dramatically changed, with some drivers complaining that Woodcote was no-longer a challenge in an F1 car as cars were now simply accelerating through the corner rather than taking it at full speed (or as near to full speed as possible).

Luffield was tightened in 1997 and became a 180 degree right hander, further reducing speeds before Woodcote.

Notable Incidents

Woodcote has been host to several incidents since 1948, less nowadays compared to the pre-1975 layout.

1973 British Formula One Grand Prix-First lap crash

The most famous incident to occur at Woodcote is the 1973 multiple car crash at the end of the first lap of that year's British Grand Prix.
Jody Scheckter ran wide exiting the corner, resulting in his McLaren-Ford car spinning across the track and into the pit wall. The car bounced off the wall back into the middle of the circuit as the midfield pack were arriving. 10 cars were involved, with Andrea de Adamich breaking his ankle. Graham Hill was also caught up, but was able to drive away with little damage. The race was stopped, but a further accident was narrowly avoided when the leading cars came round the corner at full speed to complete the lap before seeing the red flags. de Adamich was trapped in his car, and it took thirty minutes to remove him from the wreckage. The start of the race was delayed by an hour and a half, one of the longest delays in F1 history.

2006 British Touring Cars-Mike Jordan

Touring Car driver Mike Jordan was injured after crashing during race two of the 2006 British Touring Car round at Silverstone. Jason Plato's Seat slowed through Woodcote after suffering a driveshaft failure. Jordan attempted to avoid Plato, but was clipped and was sent sideways into the wall. Jordan suffered a head injury, a punctured lung and several broken ribs. There were concerns over his injuries at one point, and he was airlifted to Coventry hospital. However he regained consciousness on the evening of the crash and was released from hospital a few days later.

External links

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7R_XId0YabQ Video of the first lap and crash]

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iU6GJ_WyG6A Mike Jordan's accident]