Silverstone GP Heli Ops

[Flying Lawyer]

headsethair
No-one can deny Ecclestone's money-making acumen, but I share Eurobolkow's contempt for his methods.
It's true he put F1 on a more commercial footing, but he did so in a way which made himself a fortune (about £2.3 billion if the 2003 Times Rich List is even vaguely accurate) and has everyone else by the short and curlies. Any benefit to the sport was and is purely coincidental.
Of course he negotiated lucrative deals for television rights, but he gets the lion's share (53%) and the 10 teams get 4.7% each.
Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix was probably Ecclestone's biggest pay-day to date - $40m (£22.3m) - but the teams don't get a share of that.
By all means scoff at the BRDC, but the members are all current/former professional drivers, amateur drivers who've achieved distinction competing internationally and others who've made a significant contribution to British motorsport - and, in stark contrast to Ecclestone, they have a genuine concern for British motorsport. Perhaps you share Ecclestone's disdain for such old-fashioned values.
'Blazers and ties'? The image you're trying to portray went a long time ago, and the traffic problems which used to be horrendous have now also been resolved.
'Plenty of places that welcome F1 with open arms.' Silverstone is one of them; the BRDC is desperately trying to keep the British Grand Prix and struggling to raise the fantastic fee Ecclestone demands. They're prepared to run it at a loss, but they can't afford to keep making losses of the magnitude Ecclestone's fee involves or they'd go bust. This year's Grand Prix was a sell-out, but they still lost £3+ million by the time they paid Ecclestone.
'Friendly governments.' It's hardly the BRDC's fault that the British government won't subsidise the British GP in the way other governments subsidise theirs. The BRDC has been trying to persuade the goverment for years, but without success. Of course, if Ecclestone wasn't so greedy, there'd be no need for the British or other governments to subsidise their national Grand Prix.

You're right that F1 used to be run by 'backstreet garage' teams which didn't capitalise on the sport as much as they could/should have. Ecclestone's deals which offered them easy money must have seemed very attractive at the time. If they hadn't been so wrapped up in their enthusiasm for the sport, they would have realised his deals weren't quite as attractive as they appeared.


Governormalfunction
There is nowhere else.
The only other British circuit which can host a Grand Prix is Donington. The owner, Tom Wheatcroft, hosted one GP in 1993 to fulfil a long-held personal ambition, but I doubt if he could afford to do it annually.
The Brands Hatch circuit isn't suitable for modern F1. To make it suitable, and build the necessary infrastructure, would require an enormous investment.