Donington Park: The Revival

So. With Silverstone "the home of British motorsport" now thoroughly axed by Bernie for no real reason, and Donnington Park now set to host the event from 2010 after some layout changes as well as a complete overhaul of the pit complex, what are your thoughts on how it will work?

As most of you will have heard there are no carparking spaces, meaning the vast, vast majority of people will have to arrive by public transport. Camping areas have not been discussed.

To be honest, I'm a little worried that the work hasn't really started yet and there is only just over a year (really) to go. I think it would be a bit of a LOL if the circuit isn't ready in time.

Here's a picture of the planned changes to the layout, not sure if anyone's seen it, couldn't find it in this forum:





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/13/2009 12:21AM by loque.

loque schreef:
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> So. With Silverstone "the home of British
> motorsport" now thoroughly axed by Bernie for no
> real reason

Go through Silverstones history and count how many times it's been warned by Ecclestone/FIA to get their act together. I think there has been enough reason to axe Silverstone. They've been threatened to be thrown off the calendar for as long as I can remember. They never improved a thing. Extra money they got was spent on a new club house for the BRDC. Silverstone was rightfully kicked off.

As for Donington, getting there will be a disaster. Public transport can never cope with the vast amount of people who'll come. I don't know if the track will be actually ready by the time the race is there, but if Shanghai was built in a year, I'm sure Donington can add a simple section within one and a half years.

I doubt it, everything here is delayed by years. Donnington will be lucky if its revamped by 2015.

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With Silverstone "the home of British motorsport" now thoroughly axed by Bernie for no real reason

Other than it being a complete sh*t tip, yeah, no reason at all.

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OK come on it's not that bad. We have a government which is simply not interested in F1. What we really need is a government backed uberdrome but we know that's not going to happen in the next twenty years.

What do you think of the layout? I'm happy they're keeping the fast section (that series of S's) and I think if they do manage to update it in time (yeah right) then it might prove quite a nifty little circuit.

Work has begun.



A post I wrote on the VT forums a week or 2 back:

This is Britain. We never do things on time (by a LONG way) and when we do get them completed, they cost twice as much as was expected and are a cut-back version of what was originally agreed on.

And as far as I know they currently have little to none of the required funding in place (before the price goes up) and the country is in a complete financial mess at the moment anyway.

It's all paper so far. Come the summer it'll be paper and mud. Come summer 2010 it'll be mud, the original track and a few hotdog and donut stalls for corporate hospitality and the garages will simply be the team trucks with the rear door down.

It's not going to happen.

oh dear. very bleak then.

i like your posts gav you're very down to earth

In my opinion, Bernie Ecclestone is banking on Donnington not been finished on time, or there been some sort of problem with the final product. He wants to remove the British Grand Prix and insert a random country who is willing to pay plenty, however he can't just straight out remove the British Grand Prix, he'd be the most hated man in the country! Just his threats to remove the British GP have seriously backlashed from the F1 fans and teams in the past, never mind outright removing it. Henceforth he goes to another British Circuit, gets them to sign a contract for 2010, only for the circuit surprise surprise not be ready in time. Then he can say "oh well I tried my best, here you go **insert country with plenty of money here**, you can have your GP instead". He knows full well how Britain works and how everything we do is always delayed, the government isn't willing to help out and quite frankly that Donnington is seriously run down and will not be ready in time.

This is why I seriously hope that Donnington can somehow pull a joker out of the hat and really make a good job of the upgrades, because quite frankly the better condition the track is in, the more of a pillac Ecclestone will look when he says its not upto standards or some sort of excuse along those lines. Although deep down I've virtually accepted that there won't be a GP in Britain in 2010.


PSN/Xbox 360 ID - Ianwoollam

The British GP DESERVES to be removed. Our facilities are a disgrace. Silverstone, the home of british motorsports. And leaking garages and faulty plug sockets. You'd be as well operating the teams out of tents and generators.

Donington being completed won't be the kick in the face to Bernie that some people are hoping for, given he is funding it. If it is completed, awesome, we have a GP in the UK and Bernie has a track that isn't a sh*t tip, that is in his back pocket and Silverstone gets a kick up the arse. If it isn't completed, fine, we go somewhere else, and Silverstone gets another kick up the arse.

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Ecclestone is funding ?

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DaveEllis Wrote:
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> Donington being completed won't be the kick in the
> face to Bernie that some people are hoping for,
> given he is funding it.

Really?! I haven't heard that before

I fully agree that Silverstone's facilities are laughable, but Silverstone had just got planning permission and funding for a £25 million improvement, why decide to remove the circuit now? After all the threats that Ecclestone had made to the BRDC seemed to have finally paid off and they were doing something about it :|


PSN/Xbox 360 ID - Ianwoollam

Who do you think the "mystery investor" is who came out of no-where, just in time to get Silverstone kicked off the calender?

but Silverstone had just got planning permission and funding for a £25 million improvement, why decide to remove the circuit now?

The last time Silverstone improved the facility they built themselves a f**king club house.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/27/2009 01:44AM by DaveEllis.

I thought that the general consensus is that Paul White is the second investor

Edit rewrite

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/27/2009 01:50AM by tripleM.

tripleM Wrote:
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> I thought that the general consensus is that Paul
> White is the second investor
>
> Edit rewrite


Grandprix.com and a dude from ALMS claimed it was Bernie. I don't read grandprix.com, so if they wrote a retraction/replacement piece then i missed it, but it seemed quite a few people were confident it was Bernie. Good timing for Bernie too. Contracts up for grabs, and Donington gets funding just in-time for a big to replace Silverstone.

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DaveEllis Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> tripleM Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I thought that the general consensus is that
> Paul
> > White is the second investor
> >
> > Edit rewrite
>
>
> Grandprix.com and a dude from ALMS claimed it was
> Bernie. I don't read grandprix.com, so if they
> wrote a retraction/replacement piece then i missed
> it, but it seemed quite a few people were
> confident it was Bernie. Good timing for Bernie
> too. Contracts up for grabs, and Donington gets
> funding just in-time for a big to replace
> Silverstone.


So Dave you don't Actually Know that Berine's backing it!!!!!!!

My Post at [theracingline.net] mearly points out that Berine made a statement insisting that he and Indian company Jaiprakash Associates Ltd are "fully committed" to the Delhi in 2011 project. "Of course we will deliver... otherwise we wouldn't have entered into an agreement,"

Berine hasn't made the same re-assuring statement about Donnington,...... i wonder why?

Do the people complaining about how it should still be at silverstone realise what an awful, boring layout silverstone is? Seriously, I was utterly shocked when I played the gpl version of it for the first time - it actually used to be quite a nice layout :O

Now it is ultra flat and boring. Yes I know it was an airfield but still the old layout was nowhere near that flat. And the majority of corners are soooo boring with no flow. This can be said about the majority of f1 tracks though so whatever to be honest.

At least donnington is a good track, and they don't appear to be getting rid of the good part (unless they widen the parts they are not changing which YES IT WILL ruin it - completely changing lines and everything. Hopefully the new part isn't that bad - though the long bend into sharp hairpin looks rather tilkeannoying.

H E L L O

Paul Boy Wrote:
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> DaveEllis Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > tripleM Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > I thought that the general consensus is that
> > Paul
> > > White is the second investor
> > >
> > > Edit rewrite
> >
> >
> > Grandprix.com and a dude from ALMS claimed it
> was
> > Bernie. I don't read grandprix.com, so if they
> > wrote a retraction/replacement piece then i
> missed
> > it, but it seemed quite a few people were
> > confident it was Bernie. Good timing for Bernie
> > too. Contracts up for grabs, and Donington gets
> > funding just in-time for a big to replace
> > Silverstone.
>
>
> So Dave you don't Actually Know that Berine's
> backing it!!!!!!!
>
> My Post at
> [theracingline.net]
> 3 mearly points out that Berine made a statement
> insisting that he and Indian company Jaiprakash
> Associates Ltd are "fully committed" to the Delhi
> in 2011 project. "Of course we will deliver...
> otherwise we wouldn't have entered into an
> agreement,"
>
> Berine hasn't made the same re-assuring statement
> about Donnington,...... i wonder why?

I know what was said by the people in the know. Compared to you, where you started reading deep and meaningful things out of statements that Bernie didn't even say. Which really shouldn't surprise me, since any time Bernie does anything, even if he just says something, you take it as a chance to rip him a new @#$%&, even if it means reading things which aren't even there from it. Get a bloody grip.

Do the people complaining about how it should still be at silverstone realise what an awful, boring layout silverstone is?

Hey man, Silverstone has a cool layout. Copse rocks, the complex afterwars rocks, Stowe rocks, Bridge rocks. Its a great circuit. Elevation wise it has more now than it did before, since Bridge now is quite a drop where as it wasn't before. tbh, the new Donington doesn't look too exciting either. Other than the craners, there is nothing interesting about it.

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I don't go to Silverstone because of facilities. I go to watch cars going round corners like Copse, Maggots, Stowe and Bridge because they are bloody brilliant corners and the circuit is one of the best.

Modern Silverstone is crap. I liked thed 1988 layout of the track, especially the final corners after the "Daily Express" bridge.

Now we have two annoying final slow corners in a lap, which are a pain in the ass to drive...

I personally prefer Brands Hatch or Donnington Park. Never been a fan of Silverstone really.

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I like Silverstone, it's a technical circuit but the last corners would have been nicer had they been more like the old track, a nice run and a fast right hander to finish the lap, and kill any expectators around if the car flies 20m into the air around there