New ‘industry leading’ simulator suite at Silverstone Museum unveiled in official launch at Northamptonshire attraction

Silverstone Museum has launched a new sim suite at an official unveiling today (March 28), designed for visitors to the attraction to try their luck at setting a blistering time around the home of the British Grand Prix.

Seven simulators have been installed at the museum, sponsored by Radical Motorsport, giving attendees an opportunity to race approximately 250 cars at over 100 circuits.

Bosses at the Northamptonshire site insist that the ‘industry leading, professional grade simulators’ deliver a feeling that is ‘the closest thing you can get to driving the car, without actually driving the car.’

Max Fleckney, sim suite operator, said: "The main goal for us is to really just expand the sim world and get it way more commercial than it already is. Our idea is to not only make it accessible to the general public, but to make it accessible to pro drivers and sim racers.”

The attraction uses up-to-date technology that is designed to mimic the real thing with accurate feedback and pedal pressure akin to what real-world racers would be used to. Max insists that the feeling had with different cars is different according to which is being simulated.

He added: “The steering feels completely different, you can feel the downforce in the steering wheel. Cars that have more or less suspension, you can feel it when you run over the curbs, it really shakes.

“The software we use, it adapts straight away to that different car, and all of them are set up very well, to the point where you can feel the differences.”

The sim suite is on a pre-booking system, though people attending the museum can reserve a space using QR codes dotted around the attraction, even saving their name to the system to store previous lap times, giving them the opportunity to improve with each new visit to the museum.

Matt Gallagher and Tom Bellingham, of the P1 with Matt and Tommy YouTube channel, attended the unveiling of the new sim suite, giving it their stamp of approval.

Tom said: “Sim racing is always a fun event for people to do, it’s competitive as well and brings a lot of competition. As soon as people get on a sim and they can see a leaderboard everyone goes into competitive mode.”

Matt added: "It’s great, I’ve loved sim racing for many, many years, it’s the reason why I got into what I do today, it’s cool to see it add to everything else going on at the museum."

The suite is sponsored by Peterborough-based racing car manufacturer, Radical, who were eager to be attached to the project, with it being set up at the home of motorsport in the UK.

The simulators sit adjacent to the museum, which features exhibits and trinkets from motorsport’s rich history at the site, from its post-Second World War beginnings to present day.