Lap of Lights at Silverstone Circuit

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I was invited to the press event for Lap of Lights, however, all views are my own

This year, the Lap of Lights has returned to Silverstone for its unforgettable two-mile light trail on the Silverstone race circuit, along with a chance to visit Santa and ice skating in the garages used by the F1 teams. We previously visited Lap of Lights during 2020 and 2021, and it was one of our favourite Christmas events, so we were very excited to be invited back for the press event for 2025.

If you’re not familiar with the Lap of Lights experience, it’s essentially a huge drive around light show, which takes place on the actual Silverstone Circuit. It may be the one and only time that you can say that you’ve driven on the Silverstone race track!

My husband Chris is a huge F1 fan, so he was very excited to say that he had an opportunity to drive our car around the Silverstone circuit – despite the fact it was only at 10mph in a Toyota Prius…

The Lap of Lights Experience

This year the Lap of Lights claimed to be bigger and better – and having attended the previous events for this, I was expecting to see great things on our drive around.

Silverstone had described Lap of Lights as “a dazzling trail featuring ten immersive light installations, 35 lasers, and over 7,000 LED panels, an electrifying festive experience that merges motorsport heritage with Christmas magic”. However, I found it a little underwhelming at points.

Don’t get me wrong, some lights were incredible – but there were parts of the trail that we were driving without anything to see, and some parts felt a little bare as you can see in the photographs below. It’s hard to not compare Lap of Lights to previous years – but Lap of Lights now starts from £50 per car, which is a big jump from what it cost when it was last on in 2021, and I feel for this price I would have liked to have seen more.

However, my 6-year-old loved looking at all the lights as we drove around, and my husband was buzzing to be able to say he drove around the Silverstone circuit! We did really enjoy it, but I feel the claims of being bigger and better this year didn’t live up to the hype, which is a shame.

The Ice Trak Rink

A pretty cool part of Lap of Lights this year is that you can visit the Ice Trak rink through the famous F1 garages, which was a nice addition for F1 fans! The ices skating sessions last around 45 minutes, and we had a chance to do this during our press visit, which was great fun!

Ice skating on the Ice Trak is an additional cost to your Lap of Lights experience, starting from £8.45 for children, and £11.45 for adults – and they do have skating aids available for £5 – however my 6-year-old was too tall for these, so worth noting they have a height limit of 120cm, so if your child is also taller than this they won’t be able to use these. I did find this a little odd as we’ve been ice skating at other places and she’s been able to use a skating aid!

I do think this is a nice addition to the Lap of Lights event to help make a longer day out of your visit, especially if you’re attending with older children.

Santa’s Garage

New for this year, there is Santa’s Garage, which is in partnership with LEGO, and again an additional cost that you can add onto your visit. We visited this as part of our press event, and I thought this was a brilliant addition, however it felt a little rushed on the night and we didn’t get to do all the activities – but that’s likely because of the timings of the press event.

Inside Santa’s Garage there’s lots of different activities set up, such as Lego, making reindeer food, and a chance to see an exclusive LEGO F1 car and trophy, and get up close to real F1 cars. There was even a screen that displayed Santa’s nice list that you could add your child’s name to.

I have to say I probably enjoyed this part the most, as kids were allowed to walk around at their own pace and do the different activities as they pleased – this suits my 6-year-old daughter really well. The elves announced that Santa was coming after a while, and then they invited us to sit down and wait for him.

Santa arrives in an area with lots of benches and beanbags, and reads all the children a story, which was a really lovely experience, and my daughter really enjoyed this. After the story, you can go up and have your photograph taken with him, but the interaction is minimal, and we felt rushed to move on, so I wouldn’t recommend this if you’re looking for more interaction and a proper Santa visit. At the end each child is given a gift, and we got Lego which was a big hit.

Festive Food Market

If all of this has left you feeling hungry, then you might want to visit the festive food market. Here you can find a variety of street food vans, serving food, drinks and snacks – there’s plenty to choose from, which is great if you’re with a group of people who want different things.

There’s an indoor seating area with lots of benches, and even a movie corner for children with Christmas films, games and colouring to entertain the kids.

Inside the indoor seating area you will also find lots of photo opportunities here, with some of the iconic F1 cars out on display, and the podium – where my husband loved pretending he’d won first place!

Final Thoughts

I did really enjoy Lap of Lights, and it was great to see it return again this year – However I do feel it’s expensive for what it is. As I said earlier in my review, I found it a little underwhelming at points, and there seemed to be parts of the track without any lighting. When we last visited in 2021, we paid £30 to visit, and if this were the case again this year, I would be happier, but starting at £50 per car to visit feels like a steep increase. Especially if you add on all the extras such as ice skating and Santa’s garage, it adds to a pretty pricey day out.

However, I do think it’s really enjoyable, especially if you are a F1 fan – my husband was so excited to drive around the track, see the cars and visit the pit garages!

How to Find it

Lap of Lights is taking place at the Silverstone Circuit, Northamptonshire, NN12 8TN – use the map below for directions.

Good to Know

• Lap of Lights opens on the 12th December 2025, until the 3rd January 2026 – (closed on 25th December)
• Tickets for Lap of Lights range from £50 – £60 per car depending on when you go
• The Lap of Lights experience lasts around 30 minutes
• You need to arrive 30 minutes before your Lap of Lights experience time
• Lap times are available from 4.30pm until 9pm
• Ice Trak costs an additional £11.45 for adults, and £8.45 for children