11 things you don't normally see at Silverstone

Yes, British weather is a bit unpredictable. But even so, we really didn’t expect to see a full-on blizzard in the hours before qualifying at the World Endurance Championship’s Six Hours of Silverstone last weekend.

The snow caught several teams out during the final practice session on Saturday, a shakedown that was eventually red-flagged because visibility was so bad out on track.

Much like the wintery conditions, here are a few other things we didn’t see coming...

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Think drivers have to maintain complete focus between stints? Wrong.

The nature of endurance racing means there’s a lot of waiting around when you’re not in the car, so there’s plenty of time to send encouraging Tweets to your teammates, and indulge in occasional banter with rivals...

No, this isn’t an overly ambitious young driver programme. It’s a school trip being shown the inner workings of a GTE car and its surrounding garage.

Forget safari parks, teachers: racetracks are the future of education.

It’s not uncommon for teams to add their brand to every conceivable bit of kit that their personnel might need during the course of a season, but apparently this extends even to woolly hats.

Modelled here by AMR Team Principal Paul Howarth, the addition of the bobble doesn’t exactly scream ‘authority’, but maybe that’s the point. He’s the boss, and he can do as he pleases.

No, this engineer isn’t looking for a barcode: the laser scanner seen here is used to monitor the condition of the tyres before and after use on the circuit.

There are no specially-heated blankets though. The sets are delivered by quad bike, rolled into the garage and are then plonked on the car when required. No F1 nonsense here.

You might have thought that drivers would switch to contact lenses for racing, but it turns out this often isn’t the case.

While contacts would offer a weight benefit (every gram counts), the danger of them becoming dislodged inside the car isn’t worth the risk of an extra pit-stop. Honestly: would you fancy repositioning a fiddly lens whilst flying through Abbey corner?

During a six-hour race, mechanics and engineers need to keep their energy levels up. Pit-stops require strenuous bursts of effort, and you can ill afford to change a set of heavy tyres on an empty stomach.

As such, food is in ample supply. A hot meal at lunchtime is a must, plus a selection of chocolate bars and fruit for the rest of the day.

Oh, and tea. Lots of tea.

The weather at Silverstone, as we’ve already discovered, wasn’t exactly tropical. For some drivers this can be a bit of a problem, especially if they’ve been brought up in a warmer climate.

Fortunately for Fernando Rees, AMR’s garage has plenty of hair dryers (okay, they may have some other garage-based function as well) to go around to heat up the extremities. Ahh, toasty.

Most of us are familiar with the traditional pre-race circuit walk, but not everyone has the time to complete a whole lap on foot. Silverstone’s GP track is over three miles long, which can hardly be done over the course of a 20-minute stroll.

For those with busy schedules, cycling is a great time-saver. No wonder Olympic champion Chris Hoy feels at home in the motorsport world...

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Drivers aren’t the only ones who need to while away the hours. Mechanics have to work exactly the same hours, and so must be equally skilled when it comes to avoiding boredom.

Reading, drinking coffee and catching up on sleep were just some of the activities TG observed. Nothing wildly unexpected, we grant you. But, Fernando Alonso's sunbathing aside, you don't see this sort of thing in other forms of motorsport...

Understandably, pit-lane regulations are extremely tight when it comes to health and safety. Which means that everyone down to the photographers must wear fire-proof clothing during each session.

Helmets are compulsory too, although snappers don’t have nearly the same budget as well-funded works teams. Plus they need to be able to get a camera to their face. Subsequently, cycling headwear is a common sight down by the garages. Who knew?