Silverstone owners the BRDC have confirmed they have sold the Northamptonshire circuit on a 999-year lease to property development company MEPC - itself owned by the BT Pension Scheme.

The firm will be responsible for developing all of the land outside of the track boundary while event operations themselves will fall to the management of the current Silverstone Circuits who have found backing from Lloyds Capital.

“Following major improvements to Silverstone, including significant investment in the Grand Prix Circuit and building of The Wing, the BRDC Board was given a mandate three years ago to attract suitable partners to invest in Silverstone and help realise the full potential of its 760-acre Estate," said BRDC chairman Stuart Rolt, probably while tending the elbow patches on a Harris tweed blazer.

“Over three years the Board has given consideration to a number of offers from credible parties and we are delighted to have reached an agreement with MEPC, which was selected on the grounds of its financial standing, reputation, the quality of the developments it has undertaken - and continues to own - and the price it was prepared to pay.

“We have every confidence that their vision for our land will see the realisation of a high-quality development, which will add to the ever growing status of Silverstone as a world-class centre for motor sport and vehicle engineering. We are also confident that in MEPC we have a partner which fully appreciates the status of Silverstone as a race circuit, its history, the ethos of the BRDC and the importance of doing everything to ensure that reputation is enhanced in the future.”