This is an opinion editorial by Charles MacKenzie, head of business development at BitcoinRacing.
The U.K.'s most prestigious motorsports circuit which became the Grand Prix’s permanent home in 1987, and has remained a fixture on the F1 calendar ever since will soon be swarmed by a small army of Bitcoin enthusiasts.
Over 125 Bitcoin fanatics are congregating at Silverstone Circuit on October 16 to enjoy a spectacle never seen before at the 72 year old track, three bitcoin liveried cars sprinting around the historic circuit in their final races of the season. As well as enjoying this high-octane bitcoin themed thrill, guests will enjoy the opportunity to try Salvadoran Pupusas, race a Bitcoin liveried car on an advanced racing simulator and listen to conference style speeches from prominent U.K. Bitcoiners.
The Bitcoin Racing team has made it mandatory that all guests wear Bitcoin merch so that on the big day Bitcoin has a huge presence at the track. The team has given this strategy the hashtag #turnsilverstoneorange and they hope that this huge display of support for the team and the digital currency will encourage both officials at Silverstone and fans alike to start learning more about Bitcoin. If you would like to attend this event you can sign up for free here, and you can also grab some official merch from these websites.
Bitcoin racing is a small family-run race team that has been driving to circuits like Brands Hatch Circuit and Oulton Park across the U.K. to promote Bitcoin, using their own funds. Not only do they expose thousands of spectators to the bitcoin logo on race days, they also make sure that thousands of motorists see the logo on their massive semitruck as they traverse the U.K. highways. You can watch Bitcoin racing's most recent race here where one of their drivers, Liam Browning, achieved a second place podium for the team after taking full advantage of a safety car lap! The team currently races in the City Car Cup which is an entry-level championship, but they have some fantastic young drivers with dreams to go all the way, and the family team is now working hard to connect with bitcoin companies, plebs and fans to make this happen.
Charlie from Bitcoin racing said “So far during our campaign, we have traveled about 3,500 miles across the country with our Bitcoin racing semitruck ... I think these initial impressions on people who see us as we drive by are very important as they will start getting people to think about Bitcoin. We have estimated that over 70,000 people will see our cars on the U.K. roads alone based on some back of the envelope calculations!”
On an even more exciting note, Bitcoin Racing has government permission to display El Salvador's national flag on the roof of their cars, meaning that all the spectators who come to see their final races at Silverstone will enjoy seeing the flag of El Salvador fly by them as the team promotes the country and its legal tender. In fact, the team has been invited to El Salvador in September on an official visit where they will discuss with the nation how Bitcoin Racing, Salvadoran driver Sebastian Melrose and the country can collaborate to use motorsports as a medium to advertise the country and its currency. Melrose has his eyes set on the Porsche Carrera Cup and believes this prestigious championship will serve as a fantastic way to promote his nation.
On the day of the event there will be some very high-profile guests attending Silverstone, who all attendees will have the chance to meet. Although unannounced at this point you can rest assured that there will be some very well known individuals from the Bitcoin space attending. For example, at their first race at Oulton park the UK Ambassador to El Salvador, Her Excellency Ms. Vanessa Interiano, was in attendance.
In addition to these high-profile A-listers Bitcoin Racing has hired a full racing simulator where guests will be given the chance to race a bitcoin liveried car to try and beat the lap times of their official drivers. The director of LuxSim24, Robert Pearson, who was orange pilled by the team, will be accepting satoshis for the first time as payment from people who wish to see if they have what it takes to beat the team's top drivers.
Robert said “I am excited to open my business up to emerging currencies and to move forward with the times. Also, the fact that I can convert a portion of the bitcoin instantly to cash, with fees which are much lower than the traditional banking apps is extremely exciting.”
Attendees can also expect Bitcoin-themed games, pupusas, speeches from bitcoin OGs like Daniel Prince and Jason Deane, and the chance to receive £10 (~$10) in free bitcoin from the team if they bring a friend who hasn't invested in bitcoin before.
In the future Bitcoin Racing wants to enter a fleet of Bitcoin cars into the U.K.'s most prestigious, high-profile motorsports package known as the TOCA package. Within this package, the British touring cars, Porsche Carrera Cup, JCW MINI challenge and Ginnetas all battle it out for the podium. Importantly these championships enjoy over 70 hours of live T.V. time with millions of T.V. viewers, hundreds of thousands of spectators throughout the season and a global reach of millions of fans on social media.
With your support the team can fight back against the Cardano, Doge and HEX cars, and give Bitcoin a chance to be promoted in these high level championships!
Thanks from the Bitcoin racing team for reading this article, we can't wait to meet you at Silverstone this October.
This is a guest post by Charles MacKenzie. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.