Photography by Jakob Ebrey
2025 review by James Loveridge
Since 1947 when Silverstone ceased to be an RAF base and motor races were first staged there, it has become the home of British motor racing. From the FIA’S Formula One Grand Prix being held there, through major motorcycling as well as many club events, it has genuinely become “The Home of British Motorsport”.
Jakob Ebrey, himself a member of the world famous British Racing Drivers Club, themselves headquartered at Silverstone, and an award winning photographer, decided that he, and his team of photographers, would produce a book which would show what goes on there during the year; the year chosen is 2013. The results of this task are contained in “SILVERSTONE 365 – A year in the life of Silverstone Circuit”, a profusely illustrated record, each photograph accompanied by a suitable caption.
The story is told month by month and whilst no author “per se” is credited clearly a great deal of thought has gone into selecting appropriate images to show the story. The myriad of illustrations utilised, some single page and some with six or seven per page, cover the various activities that went on in the year. Rarely is nothing happening: construction work, preparing for events, the events themselves, the crowds that flock to the circuit and what those crowds do when they get there are vividly shown.
It isn’t just the races that are dealt with although there are some stunning pictures of both cars and bikes in action; it is very much the atmosphere of the place that comes through. Some of the pictures are clearly posed but there are many candid shots, particularly of spectators, which get that over. Too many incidents that caught the cameraman’s eye (all named appear to be male) are given to justify any listing breakdown: you can have that pleasure when you read the book, but a few incidents are worth mentioning:
The training of the safety marshals shows a dramatic image of a car on fire which, no doubt, was safely extinguished; a vintage Alvis in the VSCC’s Pomeroy Trophy; the memorial event to honour Monte Carlo hero Paddy Hopkirk; a grid of 28 Porches – Mr Ebrey has a Porsche so perhaps no coincidence. Four pages are given to George Russell’s “show and tell” in March.
Understandably a good deal of space, 23 pages, is given to the British Grand Prix mostly focussing on the massive crowd, including a wedding proposa,l though it is difficult to tell if she actually accepted but she was certainly surprised. Here again the atmosphere is particularly well captured. If you were there then buy a copy and see if you can find yourself in the many crowd pictures. There are also some stunning shots from the August motorbike MotoGP race.
This is a very imaginative way of presenting what Silverstone does and how it does it. The book is priced at £25.00 and is available from Mr Ebrey at his website jakobebrey.com. [Webmaster’s Note: there appears to be no easy way to buy the book at this website. Far easier is to put Silverstone 365 into eBay, where Jakob Ebrey is selling the book.]
Publisher:jakobebrey.com
Price: £25 plus £4.85 postage.
Description: Paperback, 21cm x 29cm, 188 pages.
ISBN: 978-1-0684049-0-0
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