Silverstone clears first hurdle for £9m lottery funding for heritage attraction

Silverstone has taken a step closer to gaining a £9 million grant to create a visitor attraction to pay homepage to the rich history of the British GP venue.

The Heritage Lottery Fund has awarded an initial £446,068 to the venue so that Silverstone's owners, the British Racing Drivers' Club, can complete development work on the 'Silverstone Heritage Live' project which they hope to open in 2016.

Silverstone themselves will top the initial investment up to just short of £900,000 before submitting more detailed plans for the full £9.1m grant next year.

The idea is to create a heritage hub at the entrance to the Northamptonshire circuit which takes advantage of the BRDC's extensive archive as well as creating a heritage trail and live interactive experiences.

"We are very proud to have won this grant and are extremely excited about the project," said Stuart Rolt, the BRDC's Chairman.

"The BRDC and Silverstone have played an important part in the history of British motor sport, and the Silverstone Heritage Hub will give us an opportunity to share this with motor sport fans from around the world.

"The experiences, memories and collections of the BRDC Members, fans and others associated with the sport provide a unique resource with which to tell the compelling story of Silverstone and British motor sport, and we believe the Heritage Centre will increase our visitor number by over 300,000 each year."

Silverstone says it will apply for the full grant in November 2014.