It would appear that Silverstone's planned World Superbike round could drop off the calendar as early as this year, being replaced with a race at Istanbul.

The Northamptonshire took a bath on all its motorsport events last year, in particular a very soggy F1 race, and rumours suggest it is looking for a way to drastically reduce costs - getting out of the sanctioning fee for WSBK would be one way.

The circuit has already moved the MotoGP paddock and pits back to the National Circuit for 2013 so it doesn't have to spend a fortune on the Wing's hundreds of generators as it doesn't apparently have mains power.

How many will lament the loss of a second WSBK round in Britain will more than likely be outweighed by the number of people who don't go purely because you can't see very much.