Side note, most circuits in the UK are either Airfield circuits (as above, Thruxton and Castle Combe), or Park circuits which started life as the roads inside country parks or stately homes. Examples of park circuits would be Brands Hatch, Donnington and Oulton Park, and these do tend to have significant elevation changes.
I know I'm very late to the party, but I just caught up with this thread and enjoyed the exchanges about Silverstone and other circuits. I also don't enjoy modern Silverstone, but that is mainly because I am so bad at that circuit - I find the blindness of the corners and the extreme width makes it very difficult for me to judge braking and turn in points - it tend to be my worst circuit relative to other drivers. On the other hand I love Silverstone Classic in PC2!
The Park circuits that I can think of are Cadwell, Oulton, Donington and Crystal Palace although sadly that one is no longer with us and hasn't been in any recent games.
Some circuits are based on old perimeter airfield roads and feature a stately home - e.g. Goodwood and (I think) Castle Combe.
@Scaff - I would guess that Mallory Park is also a Park circuit? - I haven't seen that in any games
Brands Hatch isn't really a park circuit although it has a lot of elevation changes - it was originally a farm, but soil conditions were very poor - only suitable for mushrooms. It was originally used for bicycle racing (1926 I think) then grass track motorcycles (I think 1929). Tarmac was laid in early 1950 and the first car race was around Easter time - the track used to run in the opposite direction. The Druids extension was opened in 1954 and at this time the direction of the circuit was changed. The GP extension was added in 1960 with the first British GP held at Brands in 1964.
Brands was used for storage by the Army in WW2 and a lot of cans of petrol were "lost" on the site at the end of the war. When a car club started racing at Brands in 1950 petrol rationing was still in place. The discovery of a large number of petrol cans on the site was very helpful to the budding racers!
For anyone interested in the history of Brands, there is a very nice book by Chas Parker with a Foreword by Bernie Ecclestone - called "Brands Hatch" - I paid peanuts for it last year with its sister volume on Silverstone - both are copiously illustrated and great value.
