Editor Balfe's first Grand Prix at Silverstone was the 1969 event.
Whilst many will remember it for the epic duel between Jackie Stewart and Jochen Rindt, the Austrian losing out as a result of two pit stops, one for a damaged rear wing, the other for a 'splash 'n' dash, thereby leaving his Scottish rival to lap the entire field, our esteemed editor remembers it for another reason.
Ahead of the race, the gawky schoolkid was able to access the paddock - as fans could do back then - where he spied his hero, Chris Amon, sitting in a small Fiat.
Autograph book in one hand, an ice cream in the other, editor Balfe leaned into to the car to get his hero's autograph. Being Amon's birthday, our editor proudly offered the Kiwi his congratulations, only to be left mortified when his ice cream fell into the driver's lap.
As Balfe made a hasty retreat, apologising profusely, and Amon wiped himself free, Ferrari teammate Pedro Rodriguez, who had been sitting alongside the Kiwi, howled with laughter.
As if to ensure that the date - 20 July 1969 - was never to be forgotten, later the day Balfe watched, along with millions of others, as Neil Armstrong uttered the words... "one small step for man..."
The following year, Balfe was to witness Rodriguez give one of the greatest performances he has ever witnessed in a racing car, driving his Porsche 917 to victory at Brands Hatch. Months later, Rindt was to perish at Monza, but still becoming the sport's only posthumous champion, the Mexican joining him in motorsport heaven the following July.
In an article to be published later this week, Max Noble suggests that we tend to look back at the past with rose-coloured spectacles, convincing ourselves that the 'good old days' were better.
Whilst, on paper, the result of that 1969 race suggests domination of staggering proportions, Balfe argues that it is so many other aspects that have changed for the worse, not least the lack of access to one's heroes, if only to spill ice cream on them.
Then there is the circuit, barely recognisable from the 1969 version, a circuit, which along with Monza, was one of the very fastest, the most demanding. Now, largely emasculated, re-profiled for the demands of TV broadcasters who barely gave the sport lip service 'back then'.
Based on the evidence thus far this weekend, while it is unlikely we are going to see the entire field lapped, Mercedes looks likely to run riot. Third placed Felipe Massa, the only driver to significantly improve on his final run, qualified 0.83s down on pole-man Lewis Hamilton, 0.72 down on Nico Rosberg.
While Hamilton has looked scrappy for much of the weekend, much like he did in Austria, in Q3, when it really mattered, he got it together and took a well-deserved pole.
All that matters now is not to repeat his Red Bull Ring mistake and get his car off the line ahead of his teammate. With that in mind, the Briton is running a 2014-spec clutch spring.
Massa heads an all-Williams second row, and while the Grove outfit is unlikely to be challenging its Brackley rivals, it will be delighted to be ahead of the Ferrari pair who fill row three.
Interestingly, Kimi Raikkonen, the subject of continued, intense speculation, was the quicker of the two, the Finn really needing a good result here.
The next two rows are mostly taken by the Renault-powered Red Bulls and Toro Rossos. Daniel Ricciardo one of several drivers to lose his time after running wide at Copse (T9) yesterday, whilst Carlos Sainz clearly didn't encounter the massive changes between FP3 and qualifying that his teammate did.
A strong, convincing start for the B-spec Force India, Nico Hulkenberg doing a fine job to take ninth, whilst Sergio Perez was another to fall foul of T9, albeit in Q2.
Neither Lotus made it to Q3, the E23 lacking the downforce so vital at this track. Then again, much to his engineer's obvious frustration, Pastor Maldonado's numerous excursions at T9 didn't help.
Whilst three teams dominate the first three rows, so three teams have the infamous honour of filling the three final rows, Sauber, McLaren and Manor.
After two days of bright sunshine and (fairly) intense heat, today the weather is a little more typical, cool and overcast. This, of course, will impact some more than others, Ferrari probably thankful for the slightly cooler conditions.
There is talk of rain later in the day - and the rest of the country has had its fair share in the last 24 hours - which would surely turn the race on its head.
If it remains as it is, we are likely to see another (groan) one stopper, but a lot will depend on track temperature.
Generally, wear and degradation is higher with higher temperatures, but tyres can also be affected by cooler conditions than expected, because they slide more when they are outside their optimal working range.
The ideal one-stopper would be to start on the mediums (option) and change to the hards on lap 23. A two-stopper could be to start on mediums, change to mediums again on lap 17, then hards on lap 34.
As the pitlane opens, Pirelli tweets: "Was cloudy, now warming up" Vettel is the first to head out.
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