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Richard Phillips, Managing Director of Silverstone Circuits Ltd, praised the design team Populous and construction team Buckingham Group Ltd, in just 6 months the final layout went from the CAD system to completion and receiving an FIA Category 1 license.

HRH Prince Andrew in his role as Special Representative to the UKTI was invited to open the new circuit. Silverstone is owned by the BRDC, British Racing Driver’s Club, presided over by Damon Hill OBE. In his role as President of the BRDC Damon gave a brief speech before inviting HRH Prince Andrew to become an honorary member of the BRDC.

Before the official opening of the circuit many names from the world of Motorsport, past and present, 2 wheel and 4 wheel, were called forward to help with the unveiling of the new Silverstone logo. Present to help, alongside Damon Hill and Prince Andrew, were: Sir Jackie Stewart, Martin Brundle, David Coulthard, Mark Webber, Christian Horner, Mike Gascoyne, Ron Haslam, Leon Haslam, and Jeremy McWilliams.

The official moment came when Mark Webber, David Coulthard, Damon Hill, Prince Andrew, Richard Phillips, Leon Haslam and Ron Haslam were called forward to witness the blessing of the circuit. The Bishop of Brixworth Rt Rev Frank White conducted a blessing with a prayer and marking the sign of the Cross on the circuit with his Crosier. The blessing was followed by a traditional ribbon cutting and the Motorsport tradition of spraying Champagne in conjunction with some pyrotechnics.

Upon the formalities being completed it was time to put the circuit to use with both bikes and cars. One of the cars was a 2 seater Grand Prix Masters car, with approximately 600Bhp, which Damon Hill used to ferry Prince Andrew around the circuit at high speed. The pair were quickly followed by the father and son duo of Ron and Leon Haslam on a pair of superbikes, then holding back at the end was David Coulthard in the Red Bull demonstration Formula 1 car. David Coulthard drew a somewhat traditional close to proceedings by completing several donuts in the Red Bull leaving thick circle of rubber on the barely 2 week old asphalt.

Photos courtesy of Silverstone Circuits Ltd.

A few of us popped down to the London School of Economics recently to hear a talk given by Professor David Goldblatt on the inescapable connections between global sport and global capitalism. He summed up his argument in an anecdote from when he was studying for his PHD at Cambridge explaining that his tutor was insistent that to get an understanding of global capital and its movement he should read the Financial Times from cover to cover each day. Having a busy work life balance he argued it was just as plausible to only read the sports pages. 

He then went on to dissect the recent African Cup of Nations in Angola and to beautifully explain this principle. Starting at the initial decision to award the games and ranging from construction of the multiple stadia, through to the precise location of the individual games, he showed the consistent influence and manipulation by ‘global capitalism’. The full podcast of the evenings talk can be listened to here, and is well worth the consideration.

“Look at the numbers. The United Nations has 192 members. Fifa, football’s world governing body, has 207. Half the people on the planet watched Zinédine Zidane implode during this summer’s World Cup final. About a billion people play the game on some kind of organised basis, often without head butting opponents in the chest. There are 25 million kilometres of white lines on the Earth’s football pitches, enough to circle it a thousand times. This is world domination on the scale of a Bond villain’s fantasy.”  The Independent – By Chris Maume

“One of Goldblatt’s major criticisms of mainstream history is that football is ignored by `serious’ historians. He points out that anyone writing Twentieth Century history is omitting a great social development by doing so. Historians are happy to discuss literature, theatre, and even film – so why not football? Goldblatt argues that with TV viewing figures in the billions (estimates vary, but up to a third of the planet were watching) can events like the World Cup continue to be ignored by historians?” Amazon Review – By Jim-San

The night played host to the finals of various categories from the juniors aged 7 & 8, schoolboys 13 to 16, the open class made up of professionals and amateur senior riders and finally the SX2 and SX1 races. Sandwiched between all the heats and finals for 2 wheel bikes there was even a race for quad bikes.

Riders travelled from all over the UK, USA, Canada and France. The youngsters were mainly from the UK however one particular American lad aged 11 had travelled from the USA and had clearly received media training dutifully thanking all his sponsors and parents.

The standard of riding from all the age groups was astounding with nobody holding back. The pros were hitting the jumps and getting a good 3m height before returning to earth and turning hard to make the next corner. For the 7 & 8 year olds on their 5cc machines the jumps were more like mountains for them as they climbed up the front side before disappearing off the much steeper back side of the jumps.

The professional riders had some equally entertaining characters including 19 year old Steven Clarke originally from Rochdale but now lives on his 50 acre estate in Georgia, USA. Clarke had travelled to Liverpool back to the USA and back to London in the week before the event.

The winner of the SX1 final, Heath Voss, had been the 2004 World Champion before spending the next 5 years in the United States Air Force as an F15 and F16 pilot.

It would appear that Supercross is no stranger to some good old pushing and shoving and this was no more apparent than in the SX2 final where Steven Clarke took on Cedric Soubeyras from France. The two had an extremely close race over the 10 laps leaning on, and elbowing, each other throughout. It culminated in an amazing final lap when they finished half a bike length apart over the finish jump with the Rochdale lad coming out on top.

Lloyds Building
On entering the building, you are graced with the great open hall. It is a tremendous space to stand in with as much of the structure of the building exposed. The sense of hierarchy in the company can be felt from standing on the ground “working” floor. As you travel up the building, the views experienced are amazing, not only of the city of London and surrounding building like Tower 42 and 30 St. Mary’s Axe but also of the external services located on the outside of the building itself. The work spaces open out more as you travel up each level due to more light penetrating the building and the view to the work floor becomes ever more impressive, which also makes one feel powerful and in control of the people below. Oonagh Crotty

G.L.A.
When entering the G.L.A, you are directed straight up the top floor. Exiting the lift, you enter into an impressive open hall where a kids work shop had just taken place with their task to design the city of London. The views from the balcony allow one to see some iconic images of London for example Tower Bridge, Tower of London and the famous City of London Skyline. What impressed me the most however was the staircase leading down through the centre of the building. Based on an offset expanding spiral, as one gets further down and the length of the steps increases, the staircase actually moves. Suggesting to me that Foster likes to design wobbly structures (Millenium/ “Wobbly” bridge.) This leads onto the central meeting room, where one can sit and stare at the city of London skyline and recover from the dizzying spiralling staircase. Oonagh Crotty

Detail from SEIZURE (photo by Marcus Leith)

Our 2008 commission SEIZURE earned sculptor Roger Hiorns a nomination for this year’s Turner Prize.  His startling blue copper sulphate crystal installation, set in a housing estate near the Elephant & Castle in south London, reopened in July and has been extended to the end of 2009.151-198 Harper Road, London SE1 6AE
EXTENDED UNTIL 3 JANUARY 2010

Until 18 October:
Thursday – Saturday 11am – 7pm
Sundays 11am – 5pm
Closed Monday – Wednesday

22 October 2009 – 3 January 2010:
Thursday – Sunday 11am – 5pm
Closed Monday – Wednesday

ADMISSION FREE. Click here for more details.

Seizure: Roger Hiorns – 151 – 159 Harper Road. Commisioned by Artangel

Something that is well worth a visit if you are in or around South London at the moment is Roger Hiorns new instillation in an old council flat on Harper Road, by Borough/ Elephant and Castle.

The artist has taken over an abandoned flat on a derelict estate and transformed it in to something magical and evocative. Through a process of sealing it up and pumping it full of copper sulphate he has enabled stunning blue crystals to colonise every surface in the flat – floors, walls, ceilings and unfortunate bathtubs. You are initially amazed at the spectacle of these crystals and the process of their creation but it soon leads on to the contemplation of the lives and of the people that would have occupied this small working class home and their individual stories.

“The production of the work on site has involved a sequence of events, many of which might have seemed to an observer as strange, almost ‘foreign’ processes, imposed upon the site. The initial structural alterations effected the transformation of the Flat 159 into a completely water tight tank, reinforced by steelwork on the outside, with its upper surface open and accessible – through holes punched through the ceiling – to the flat above. The super saturated copper sulphate solution itself was prepared on site. Hundreds of bags of the chemical powder were mixed with very hot water in large steel tanks. More than 70,000 litres of the solution were made in this way was eventually pumped into Flat 159, to fill it to the brim.

With an initial temperature of around 60 degrees centigrade, two and a half weeks were needed for the temperature of the solution to drop significantly, and for the ‘cooling crystallisation’ to take place, during which time it was left untouched. When the temperature reached roughly 30 degrees the flat was drained of its liquid contents and the opening of the resulting cave like rooms took place. The tank was breached through the hole that connects the adjacent flat to its crystallised neighbor and which visitors to the work now use as an entrance.”

Warning:
* Visitors will be provided with a change of footwear before entering the space.
* The flat itself is a small space, with low lighting, exacerbated by the crystal growth. The atmosphere is likely to be claustrophobic and navigation through the space will be fairly challenging.
* The surface of the work is sharp and the floor uneven, so the room must be navigated with care.
* Visitors must avoid touching the crystals, as contact with the skin should be avoided.
* Limited space may also necessitate a short wait before gaining entry to the flat at certain times.
* Children under the age of 15 will not be permitted to enter the installation unaccompanied.

Permanent Exhibition
03 November to 16 November 2008, 11am to 11pm daily.
The Sportsman Public House, Tongdean Lane, Withdean, Brighton

Temporary Exhibition
Sat 04, 18 October & Sat 01 November, 12 noon to 3.15pm.
Brighton & Hove Albion Ground, Home fans turnstiles, Withdean Stadium, Tongdean Lane, Brighton

The exhibition is a series of images from an ongoing project by Richard Baskott on football fans from around the world; from the UK, Europe, Latin America and in greater detail, Africa.  The exhibition shows the diverse colour and emotion, from the ordinary and occasionally the extreme; from father and sibling wearing matching home shirts to the juju man summoning the spirits on behalf of the national side.

The matchday exhibition is an opportunity to take the images of the fans directly back to the fans, in a site-specific setting, showing outside the turnstiles of Brighton & Hove Albion FC during the Brighton Photo Fringe Festival.

A large part of the study has been undertaken at the last three African Cup of Nations tournaments, from Tunisia (2004), Egypt (2006) and Ghana (2008) and there are plans to continue for the foreseeable future.  The championships were the first pan-continent national tournament, set up in 1957, the forerunner to competitions such as the European Championships and Copa América.

Football as a spectator sport allows the individual to live in the moment, the here and now and that is what these images document. They remind us how much the game brings people together, full of expectation and hope.

The show is a mixture of 16×18 C41 hand prints and 11×14 prints from digital files, all in colour.