Escapade Silverstone is a development of 60 residencies and a clubhouse on the edge of the Silverstone race circuit. Prices start at £850,000 and exceed £2m for larger properties, but there’s a catch. You’re not allowed to live in them full time.
This article takes a proper look at what Escapade is all about and how it works.
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What is being built?
Escapade Silverstone is a collection of 60 residencies and a clubhouse set in 14 acres of land directly adjacent to the edge of the Silverstone track. Check out the official website here.
There are four different types of property being built at Escapade Silverstone:
- Trackside 4 bedroom
- Trackside 3 bedroom
- Dual aspect 4 bedroom
- Countryside 2 bedroom (no track view)
It’s just the countryside residencies that don’t have a view of the track, all others do.
The trackside properties have cantilevered terraces that are only 11 metres from the edge of the circuit catch fencing, and the dual-aspect properties which are set behind the trackside buildings have roof terraces that offer panoramic views of the circuit. Interestingly, the 3 bedroom trackside properties are stacked on top of the 4 bedroom properties.
Each of these has either a fully enclosed garage or a car port for the discerning guest or owner’s pride and joy(s).
Can you buy the properties?
Each of the 60 individual Escapade Silverstone residencies is for sale. However, they are classed as commercial properties, not residential properties.
There is already a waitlist for the trackside properties with only a couple of countryside and dual-aspect ones still available.
How much does an Escapade Silverstone house cost?
Escapade Silverstone prices start at £850,000 for a countryside 2 bedroom property and go up to £2.2m for a trackside 4 bedroom property.
Can you live in them?
This is where it gets interesting. The Escapade Silverstone development is designed to be an extension of Silverstone’s current hospitality offering and as such they are fully managed by Silverstone circuit themselves, right down to the matching furnishings.
If you purchase one of the properties you can live in it for a pre-determined number of days each year. Go over that number of days and you have to pay a nightly room rate to stay in your own property, albeit at a 35% discount over standard rates.
You can stay for 30 nights multiplied by the number of bedrooms in your property. If you have a 4 bedroom trackside residency, you have 120 ‘bedroom usage nights’ per calendar year that you can stay.
During the major events at Silverstone, nightly bedroom usage rates are multiplied by a preset factor. At the F1 the nights are multiplied by 5, and all of the bedrooms in the property are assumed to be used regardless of how full it is.
So if just one couple stays in a 4 bedroom trackside suite for 3 nights at the F1, they would use up 60 (half) of their yearly bedroom usage nights.
An investment with petrolhead perks
Owning one of the Escapade Silverstone properties is like a cross between owning an AirBnB and a Timeshare.
Think of the whole Escapade development as a hotel complex. Now think of the money to purchase one of the properties as an investment in the hotel. As a perk of your investment you get a number of ‘free’ night’s accommodation in the property with incredible views of the circuit, as well as a number of other bonuses including free access to Silverstone events, free access to the Escapade clubhouse all year round, discounted track days and more.
As an investor, you expect a return on your payment. During the nights which you are not staying at the residency it will be available for hire as an extension of Silverstone’s hospitality and accommodation offerings. As the owner you will receive 35% of the properties’ rental income, paid quarterly.
Escapade are forecasting an 8% net yield after year 1 of property ownership, but don’t state whether this is based on the property being available for commercial rental the whole year. It’s likely that exceeding the yearly personal usage allowance is likely to be the point at which your yearly yield is cancelled out.
It's in Silverstone's interests
Silverstone have been investing a lot of money in to the circuit and its facilities in recent years. By being able to list the Escape properties as additional Silverstone hospitality and accommodation offerings, it helps the circuit appeal to the potential VVIP guest on the big race weekends.
Obviously there’s also a few quid in it for them too. A huge reason it’s been given the go-ahead is because Silverstone, or more specifically the BRDC, will be earning a share of the rental income from the properties. This helps them pay the extortionate fee to Liberty Media for hosting the F1 each year.
Which bit of the track is it next to?
The Escapade Silverstone properties are directly adjacent to the track between Copse and Becketts corners. The trackside residencies line the edge of the circuit from the Copse exit kerb right up to the entrance of the Maggots and Becketts complex.
They have been strategically placed on a part of the track which will see action when either the Grand Prix or National circuit configuration at Silverstone are in use. Only when the International circuit layout is used for a race meeting (which it rarely is) will the track directly in front of Escapade not be in use.
What's the view like?
From the level of the terrace on one of the 3 bedroom properties located nearest to Becketts, you have an amazing view of Maggots, Becketts, Chapel and the Hangar Straight. Being on a WW2 airfield Silverstone is very flat, so the height of the terrace means you can also see over the inside fencing towards Village, the Loop and Aintree.
The video below from the Escapade team gives an idea of the view from the terrace level.
Circuit Access
Even though Silverstone is quite literally on the doorstep, Escapade residents won’t be able to use it as their own personal test track. Circuit access will still be limited to normal public Silverstone track days plus one private track day specifically for Escapade owners each year.
There is also car storage and track-day preparation offered by Escapade, offering the ultimate wake up-arrive-drive package.
When will it be built?
Construction is currently underway, as the video above shows. The clubhouse was built in time for the 2023 British Grand Prix. The rest of the residences are nearing various stages of completion.
