With Christmas in the air, and a 1.5 year old who currently thinks twinkly lights, snowmen and Christmas trees are the height of excitement, the invitation to visit Silverstone’s Lap of Lights felt well timed. A festive drive around the track,with food, skating and a bit of Christmas atmosphere sounded like a solid plan.

The Lap of Lights itself is exactly that. You drive your own car around the Silverstone circuit at around 5mph, passing a series of light installations. I’ll come back to that. Because our toddler’s sleep schedule dictates everything, we booked the earliest 5:30pm slot. That gave us just under an hour beforehand to eat and look around. In reality, it didn’t leave much breathing space.

Food, skating and the festive elements are set up separately, in the pit stop garages near the Hilton. It’s a different car park and there’s no easy way to move between the two. We arrived to a fire alarm going off, PR guests standing around outside and slightly conflicting instructions. It felt a bit chaotic, though it was clearly the first night and staff were trying to get on top of things.

Once inside, it did look good. The pit garages are a strong setting, with trackside views, cars on display, podiums for photos, Xmas trees that twinkled and The Grinch playing on a huge projector screen.

The food stalls were set out along the pit lane and offered a decent mix, including marshmallows, hot chocolate, Poor boys, donuts, burgers, bratwurst and Lebanese options.

There was also an ice skating demonstration, which was genuinely very good. The skaters were excellent and our toddler stood watching the whole thing, completely absorbed. Because it was early in the evening, not many people saw it, which was a shame as it was one of the better parts of the night. Food-wise, we went for the Poor boys and lebanese.

Service at Poor boys here was slow and a little muddled. We were the first customers of the night so the chicken needed cooking, and their drinks hadn’t arrived. I’d had my eye on the Gooey Gobbler with hot honey fired cheese and onion mayo, but ended up playing it safe and ordering the Dirty Boy with chicken as I also had a hungry toddler.

It took a long time to come out, long enough that we were already watching the clock. When it did arrive, there were positives. The chicken was genuinely good. Juicy, boneless and nicely seasoned. There were plenty of chips too, although the overall flavour leaned quite sweet for me.

My partner opted for the Lebanese wrap. It was fine, but forgettable. No big flavours and nothing that really stood out, although it did cater well for his egg and nut allergy, which I appreciated.

The surprise hit were the halloumi fries. Quickly delivered, big chunks, crispy on the outside and nicely salty.

Our toddler loved them and happily worked his way through them while watching The Grinch. By the time the food that I had ordered with him in mind arrived, he had decided the halloumi fries were his. If I was ordering again, I’d probably start there.

Belliesfed, we rushed to get to the Lap of Lights at 5:45pm, then promptly waited another 20 minutes before getting onto the lit bit of the track. 

The drive itself took around 40 minutes and felt underwhelming. Because of the queues, you could see the light displays ahead of you, which took away any real sense of surprise. We spent more time pointing out what was coming next than actually taking it in. If you want to drive the Silverstone track, this will appeal. If you’re hoping for something more magical, it may fall short.

We’d planned to go back afterwards to visit Santa, and I was already thinking about a hot chocolate or mulled wine. By the time we finished, our toddler was overtired, it was past his bedtime, and I’d spilled milk on myself trying to give him his bedtime milk during the delays. So we called it a night.

There are good ideas here and the setting helps. The skating was excellent, the halloumi fries were a win, and the chicken deserves credit. But it all felt a bit rushed and disjointed, and the food didn’t quite justify the wait. I’d only recommend if you live near, or if driving the track is the main appeal.

Silverstone Lap of Lights Experience

Bitten were invited as guests, all views are our own