Silverstone bosses have today unveiled the extent of the resurfacing work at the Northamptonshire track which will be complete before the end of this month.

After a consultation period which began at Christmas, Silverstone has contracted Tarmac to carry out the massive undertaking under the guidance of Dromo, a world renowned consultancy that has previously carried out projects at Sepang, Misano and Termas de Rio Hondo among others.

The entire track has been ripped out - in some areas to a depth of 14cm - by a team of Tarmac planers and the planed surface is now smoother in some areas than the previous track.

Tarmac has brought in technology never before used in the United Kingdom including 3D scanning machines during the removal of the existing track surface to improve circuit gradients, enhance drainage and eliminate bumps to lay a millimetre-perfect surface under the supervision of Dromo’s Jarno Zafelli.

“What we have come up with is a full design which takes away what has been done in the past 25 years on the surface and using the actual layout to change the behaviour of the water,” Zafelli told bikesportnews.com at the track.

The result is we are changing almost every point of gradient and we have had to use technology that has never been used in the UK or at a racetrack.

“We have been accurate to +/- 2mm and this accuracy means we can have four times the speed of drainage than the shape it was before.”

The side drainage of the track is also being updated on a day to day basis and rain over the past three days has been a massive help to the project as engineers can see where the water is collecting and remedy it quickly.

Tarmac plan to begin putting down the first layer of the new surface this weekend.

Check back tomorrow for an in-depth look at the processes involved.