Responding to talk of a bid by a British businessman, British Racing Drivers' Club President Damon Hill has said that Silverstone is not for sale.

"We are not planning to sell Silverstone," the 1996 World Champion told BBC Sport.

Explaining how he perceives the reasoning behind the bid, made by Spectre and revealed on Wednesday morning, Hill continued: "It's quite common for property developers to approach anyone with a property and make a proposal and it would really fit into that category. The BRDC board has responded to that (offer) in the correct way, and it will be looked at thoroughly.

"We said 'Silverstone is not for sale, we're in the middle of a property development procedure which involves co-operation from government and all the local authorities that Silverstone affects and that is an ongoing process. We're not being diverted from that."

However, though any such bid would be rejected by the BRDC, Hill admitted that Spectre's proposal would be club members privately.

Last week, the BRDC issued its 'masterplan' for the future, and it is this that Hill wants to focus on.

According to the former Williams, Jordan and Arrows driver, the plan is to: "get planning permission, raise the asset value of the property and we can borrow against that to develop the circuit.

"It is a self-funded approach to developing the circuit," he added. "It's a good proposal that we have confidence in and that has the support of the members who came to a forum with the Sports Minister (Richard Caborn) a couple of weeks ago.

"We're going forward to develop Silverstone so we can go to Bernie and say we're developing better facilities and we can dovetail that into a Grand Prix contract as well."

Hill said that although there is a perception of BRDC members as being a bunch of men in blazers, living in a bygone era and blissfully unaware of the realities of 21st century business, the truth is that they are fully aware of the situation and know that Silverstone must react to the threat from other countries and circuits.

"They are happy to have the circuit and the Grand Prix running in a sustainable way," he said. "That should include an amount of profit in order to make the thing grow, but they're not unreasonable in what they want from a Grand Prix. They understand that the club is there to serve motorsport generally as well in the country.

"There is a certain degree of sacrificial business being done," he continued. "We entered into the last contract knowing that it would be in some ways a sacrifice, but we've provided a Grand Prix for the country for the last five years.

"The way to approach this is to say that we feel the Grand Prix is very important to the club, to Silverstone, to motorsport in this country and to the region, and we are prepared to go to very great lengths to make sure it happens."