Silverstone Museum presents Black Cats & Chequered Flags by MIAT in a UK First

Black Cats & Chequered Flags by MIAT (Multiverse Institute for Arts and Technology) makes its UK debut at Silverstone Museum, where it is available for a year-long exclusive installation. 

Selected in competition at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival - Venice Immersive 2025, this groundbreaking multiplayer immersive Mixed Reality (MR) and Virtual Reality (VR) experience tells the compelling story behind the life of Alberto Ascari, the first double F1 World Champion and a prominent figure at the start of Grand Prix racing at Silverstone. A prestigious premiere event was staged to mark its UK launch where Sky Sports F1 commentator David Croft made a guest appearance. 

Black Cats & Chequered Flags is a unique interactive experience tracing the life, triumphs, and haunting legacy of Ascari, Italy’s only two-time Formula One Drivers’ World Champion at the wheel of a Ferrari. Visitors to Silverstone Museum will don the racing champion’s legendary blue helmet, gloves and goggles, step into a collaborative 1950s pit stop and race alongside Ascari on the Monza circuit, immersed in archival audio, 360° cinematography and authentic period sound. This experience showcases the story of a born champion, the exhilaration of his victories, the weight of his superstitions, the cursed number 26, the black cats, and the fragility of a life lived at full speed. 

Rob Jaina, Director of Curation & Learning at Silverstone Museum, said: “We are delighted to be the first in the UK to showcase Black Cats & Chequered Flags, which is an unmissable experience for all motorsport and Ferrari fans. Alberto Ascari’s connection to Silverstone is one of the greatest stories of early Formula One. It was in October 1948 when he first raced on the world-famous circuit, finishing second in the Royal Automobile Club International Grand Prix driving for Maserati, at the very first Grand Prix ever held here. The following August he returned to Silverstone with Ferrari and won the inaugural BRDC International Trophy in front of crowds of more than 100,000 spectators, which marked one of Ferrari’s earliest victories on British soil. Following this success Ascari won World Championship Grand Prix at Silverstone in 1952 and 1953 on his way to the FIA Formula 1 Drivers’ World Championship in each of these years.” 

The pioneering project brings together art, technology and sporting memory in a mixed reality experience that made its world premiere at the Ferrari Museum in Maranello in December 2025, where it was experienced by thousands of visitors in just two weeks.

Located trackside at Silverstone, it’s fitting the Museum is the first venue in the UK to host Black Cats & Chequered Flags as Ascari went on to race at the circuit in 1951, 1952, 1953 and 1954, winning the British Grand Prix in both 1952 and 1953 at the peak of his back-to-back Formula One World Championship seasons. He is the only Italian driver to achieve such a feat with Ferrari, and the last Italian to win a World Championship, winning two in a row behind the wheel of a Ferrari. 

Phil Lawrie, CEO at Silverstone Museum, said: “Silverstone Museum is incredibly proud to be the very first to launch Black Cats & Chequered Flags in Britain. It is another first for the Museum and we expect that this exceptional experience, which is here for a limited time, will be extremely popular with our visitors.

“The Museum has a fantastic track record of offering unique, world class experiences that help tell the story of this great sporting venue and the legends that have graced the Silverstone racetrack over the decades. As we build into another busy summer, in a year when we expect to welcome a new record of c.200,000 visitors, the Black Cats & Chequered Flags experience will be a must-see for everyone. We are delighted to have been able to present this pioneering project in creative collaboration with MIAT.” 

At the launch event it was also announced children aged 15 and under will have free admission to Silverstone Museum throughout the summer (from July 6th until September 1st 2026). 

Elisabetta Rotolo, Founder and CEO of MIAT, Director, Executive Producer and Creative Producer added: “This is a work of immersive art that brings history, emotion, and cutting-edge technology together in a uniquely shared experience, which places Museum visitors inside Alberto Ascari’s world. At the heart of the experience is a thrilling multiplayer challenge as participants perform pit stops with Ascari's team, exactly as they were done in the 1950s, capturing the adrenaline and precision of Formula 1 racing in a uniquely shared, embodied encounter.

"With Black Cats & Chequered Flags we wanted to unite the evocative power of sporting memory with the most advanced technological innovation. It is a tribute to the courage and fragility of a man who defied destiny, but also an invitation to reflect on the relationship between man, machine and fear, through an immersive language capable of speaking to both the heart and the mind."

After his Black Cats & Chequered Flags experience David Croft added: “It is great that we can bring history to life and this is what this museum is all about. It’s our history as motorsport fans, as Formula One fans that we can bring this to life and bring to a new audience as well, which is why kids going for free in the summer is so important.”

The new experience is the highlight of attractions available at Silverstone Museum this summer which will give visitors and families the opportunity to take part in fun, free activities and enjoy the Museum’s Driven by Design exhibition, which celebrates the brains behind some of Formula 1’s most iconic racing cars.