Donington revamp hits planning delay

The sign-off for Donington Park’s redevelopment plan has been delayed by its local district council – raising fresh doubts about the venue's readiness to stage the British Grand Prix in 2010.


Donington won the contract to host Britain's GP from Silverstone earlier this year when Bernie Ecclestone signed a surprise 10-year deal with the Leicestershire circuit.


The owners are planning a £38 million redevelopment scheme to get the facility up to Formula 1 standards by 2010, including a new pit and paddock complex and an extension of the track itself.


Planning approval was expected this month, but North West Leicestershire District Council has postponed its decision until 27 January in order to carry out a full environmental impact assessment.



It means organisers will have just 14 months to complete work on the circuit before their self-imposed deadline of 1 April 2010.


Nevertheless, they remain confident that the construction work will be completed on schedule.


"There is no question that Donington's ability to stage the race will be jeopardised by this delay to the planning procedure," a spokesman told the Daily Telegraph newspaper.


"As soon as permission is granted construction work will begin."


Ecclestone has made it clear that Britain's race will simply be taken off the 2010 calendar if Donington cannot satisfy the FIA that it will be ready in time







I still think is doomed to fail, and Bernie knows it & used it as leveredge to get it away from Silverstone knowing full well it wont be ready in time, thus allowing him a free slot in the race calender for the highest bidder




LS's Tip of the week
ESSENTIAL OILS aren't essential unless you're an engine, a gearbox or a twat

Yep. Maybe with Britain out of the picture there may finally be room for Canada to make it back on the calendar, ey?

Sorry if I sound overly pessimistic but Donnington have set themselves a tremendously tall order while planning delays, unforseen building complications and runaway budget estimations seem to be an integral part of any construction project here in the UK. But, hey, I genuinely welcome Donnington proving me wrong.

It was never going to happen, and the Silverstone management are too incompetent to actually make the facilities worth using.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
theRacingLine.net
SportsCarArchives.com

they can always delay the race until september 2010 if they have to i suppose.

---

X (@ed24f1)

SchueyFan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> they can always delay the race until september
> 2010 if they have to i suppose.


somehow i don't see bernie passing on the chance to sell the slot to the middle east or russia.

it is a rather cunning deal he hatched.

he got to embarrass the BRDC on british grand prix weekend
and he got a deal where he either,

gets the facilities and the money he wants from donington

or if they fail,

they get all the blame for loosing the race and he gets to sell a race to someone else who will give him what he wants.

whatever happens he can't loose. He may be getting on a bit but the man doesn't miss a trick.

environmental impact assessment....what?


the place has been there for over 80yrs and is next to a bloody airport..surely adding 0.5km of tarmac makes no difference

Sim

---

All Hail The New York Giants - Winners of Superbowl XXI, XXV and XLII!

"I'd love to know what goes on in that crazy head of yours sometimes, Sim..." - Locke Cole

sasjag Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> environmental impact assessment....what?
>
>
> the place has been there for over 80yrs and is
> next to a bloody airport..surely adding 0.5km of
> tarmac makes no difference


add to that the trucks, public, drivers, teams, stewards, FIA and TV stations coming with their cars, and 20 F1 cars running with BIOFUEL.

---

In my opinion this is all going towards Ecclestone's plan, I think that he just wants to get rid of the British Grand Prix without seeming like the bad guy (If he just drops it outright, he'll be hated all across Britain) so the simple method is to transfer to another circuit who has virtually no chance in been ready in time, so he can say "Oh well we don't have a choice then, **insert country with loads of money name here** can have their grand prix instead." and come off like he's 'apparantly' done everything he can for their to be a British Grand Prix.

Bruninho Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> add to that the trucks, public, drivers, teams,
> stewards, FIA and TV stations coming with their
> cars, and 20 F1 cars running with BIOFUEL.

Errrr... the circuit has on its calender, about 20 of these racing at once -



Something tells me that the whole F1 weekend ain't as bad as just that one race


PSN/Xbox 360 ID - Ianwoollam



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 11/21/2008 05:49PM by Ianwoollam.

@Ianwoollam: ROFLMAO

These trucks werent allowed to race at Interlagos, mainly because they would damage the "new" tarmac there I assume that they are +1000 kg heavy, then they surely would make it break in pieces :P

---

Bruno. A large BMW weighs nearly two tons. I'd imagine that a truck weighs a lot more than 1000kgs

oh :P

never have been into F-Truck races really.

---

Hopefully this won't mean the race stays at Silverstone beyond next season. The revamp is comprehensive but it's not like they're building a whole new circuit, so they might still be able to complete it in time

---

The race won't return to Silverstone anyway. Bernie has had enough of dealing with the BRDC, If Donington fail, then there will not be anohter British Grand after 2009.

If only Silverstone could sort themselves out, and if only Bernie had a soul the possible loss of the British Grand Prix from 2010 at least could never have been a possibility.

Sad that once again money holds the sway in F1

Doesn't it everywhere...a bit of a slowdown in ridiculous consumerism and the entire world is in a 'crisis'...

---