omg look at poor donington

[blue_peg_16v]

the previous owners have destroyed the place

was looking forward to btcc there this year as its the day after my bday but cant see that happening

film was made in march after a save donnington meeting and theres no way even if a new lease gets signed that will be up and running for september

such a shame

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDvULbnz_lk

[vaughanmc]

Does look some mess! How long has it been closed for ?

[bazil]

looks like Knockhill on a good day lol

on a serious note it is pretty shocking.

[blue_peg_16v]

since they went bust and the gp got moved to silverstone

there trying to find a new lease holder but who will want to take on a lease when theres no chance of income till summer 2011 if the take the lease now as it will take at least 6 month to get it usable

[auzzy-b]

:eek: What have they done!! i enjoyned going around donny at Traxs, i remember driving throu that now flooded tunnel to get into the showlol
Its changed a awfull lot since then..

[blue_peg_16v]

old owners (lease holders) had ideas and no way of fullfilling but started demolition anyway thinking they would borrow money on the back of the gp contract but then the credit crunch came so couldnt get credit so they went bust gp went back to silverstone and a once legendary track is left in ruins total nobs

[novacabrio]

shocking!! Is it in the hands of new owners? or still bankrupt?

[John]

Such a shame! personally i think it's the start of the end for the place.

[blue_peg_16v]

no new leaseholder yet but there are discussions ongoing according to the btcc forum

[blue_peg_16v]

what with that and the law suit thats threatening to close croft the north will have no decent venues at this rate

[Ste L]

:eek: What have they done!! i enjoyned going around donny at Traxs, i remember driving throu that now flooded tunnel to get into the showlol
Its changed a awfull lot since then..


Trax is at silverstone :confused: lol

[blue_peg_16v]

im guessing he ment donny

[Ste L]

im guessing he ment donny


more than likely :thumb:

[burgo]

proper mess :(

[auzzy-b]

lol Yea i meant donny!

[kent14sr]

Will take millions to even get it back how it was. Shocking - cant believe the previous leaseholders got away with it. Vandals.

[blue_peg_16v]

very true and after its lost its jewells bike gp etc is there anything left for a new investor cant see it myself


if i win 60 odd million on the euro millions might buy it as a playground lol

[mr5050]

does anyone how much its actually going for?

[blue_peg_16v]

its not forsale there is a lease available for it but that has to be negotiated

[Riggy]

Lol png club funds ha ha

[muzzy]

What a state that place is in!

[blue_peg_16v]

Lol png club funds ha ha

well in that state we might get the lease cheap and lees a pikey so he can do the resurfacing lol

[Joe Richardson]

what a shame:mad: ,donnington is the best track in the uk !!!!!!!

hope it gets sorted and quick,what a ****ing mess :witch:

[mowgli]

last summer, i was in a local quarry, and there was a job on the board for a lot of stone for donington... the customer was FIA...... when i asked them about it, they got all cagey.... from that moment, i knew it was never going to happen... messrs mosley & ecclestone were so desperate to stuff silverstone that they hung on with that dreamer with his 'there's no need for car access, parking or camping' bollox the track was cut up for a reason, but they claimed it was for archaeological surveys. there was no way it would be ready in time, they haven't even started to dig footings for the pit complex...

[Adam]

TBH though look at the vid, 95% of the track is still as it was and untouched?
Its just the run offs/grass that theyve started work on.

I was expecting it to be in a worse state if im being honest.



But i do hope to do a Donny trackday again.

[mowgli]

the trouble is that the infrastructure has gone, the track itself will be easy to fix, but the run offs, barriers & spectator areas have been ripped out

[Adam]

Exactly, so the important bit still remains.
The barriers etc etc can be replaced easily, its not like Donny was the most spectator friendly of places anyway so its a good thing if an improved Donny does eventually happen!

[Connor]

Fools, hope they get it sorted or get an agreement to get it sorted!!

[blue_peg_16v]

unless someone takes on the lease it wont get sorted

[mowgli]

tom wheatcroft died.... thus the driving force behind donington has gone. it cost him money to run, funded from his property development business, i'm guessing that the bean counters are saying no to a lot of projects at the moment

[blue_peg_16v]

tom wheatcroft died.... thus the driving force behind donington has gone. it cost him money to run, funded from his property development business, i'm guessing that the bean counters are saying no to a lot of projects at the moment

wheatcrofts say they are in discusions with parties about a lease but agreement is some way off according to the save donnington campaign

and they are still very much in support of the venue

[peester]

like an earthquakes hit it aint it

[dhdev (Oli)]

if i win 60 odd million on the euro millions might buy it as a playground lol

I hope your toys are very quiet, or you wouldn't be allowed to do much playing :( Bloody busy body councillor :mad:

[blue_peg_16v]

I hope your toys are very quiet, or you wouldn't be allowed to do much playing :( Bloody busy body councillor :mad:


same problem that could close croft, bet the fecking airport down the road from donningtons quiet lol

[Sloth]

meh, rallycross on it.

[Keif]

The Infield at Donington was a RallyCross circuit.

Last Year at the BTCC, you couldn't drive infield due to it.

I don't think it's that bad, yes it need work, but no where near as much as the press try to make you believe.

Still not a good sight tho.

[blue_peg_16v]

the wheatcrofts recon it would cost 1.5 million to get the track in a usable state again

so not that bad but thats just the track and runn offs and barriers

[Jon_nova1]

hasn't anyone got access to tarmacing equipment? tarmac over the holes, a few cut padlocks later and theres a free track to go to lol

[dj_wudgey]

my word hope it stays open! I love donington!

[blue_peg_16v]

its closed at present wudgey needs a new lease holder to re open

[Stuart]

so call is £0.5Million to get it working and ignore the other mill to put facilities there (well thats what a UK motorsport venue is all about isnt it? lol)

[Angus Closier]

Im not sure what all the real fuss is about? I doubt any of them knew they would go bankrupt before it was finished! Saddly donny has never been the most amazing place for anything but driving (the track is good) it was badly in need of re-doing! Might be lucky and get taken over and made into somthing the rest of the contry doesnt have both a good drivers track and a good spectators track/facilitys!

[mowgli]

Im not sure what all the real fuss is about? I doubt any of them knew they would go bankrupt before it was finished! Saddly donny has never been the most amazing place for anything but driving (the track is good) it was badly in need of re-doing! Might be lucky and get taken over and made into somthing the rest of the contry doesnt have both a good drivers track and a good spectators track/facilitys!

the man was a property developer that nobody had heard of, with no money, the whole scheme was ridiculously over optimistic, even if they flew pakistani labour in, like the arab states do, & suspended HSE rules, it would never have been ready, i personally think it was being used as a stick to whack silverstone with to get more money from them, and when they said no, it got the green light

[NovaLad]

Makes you want to punch a kid.

[blue_peg_16v]

it was too ambitious without having properfunding in place to back it up, if he was serious he should of gained the finance then gone for the gp jesus he had a 150 year lease on the curcuit, look at john wheatcroft he bought it when it was virtualy a boming range and gradualy improved facilities. tbf i would say doningtons facilities were very good compaired to other uk tracks i would have put it second to silverstone.

the rhumor at present is that motor sport vision is going to get the lease and tbf with the way they run brands etc id welcome that think they would do a good job of getting it back to being a good venue with a few showcase events such as btcc bsb and who knows hopefully in the future they will be able to attract wsb back and other events.

Because the company that had the old lease has gone bust and no one wants to buy the old business the administrator has given up so the old lease has now been riped up so the curcuit is back in the hands of the wheatcrofts and they are looking to re lease the curcuit, the reason no one would buy the old company and lease were many the main being they would have to take on the debts to builders etc and the fact that the lease cost was 2million per annum, and now all its jewells have gone like bsb and wsb so no way of even covering the lease with the wheatcrofts again having control a lease at a lower rate is possible which will secure the curcuit, btcc still has it on the calender for september but i think that optermistic.

whoever gets it though will not be continuing the grand plans it will be a case of get it running and get some income coming in then gradualy improve as john did which is the safest option for the long term future of the venue imo

[dj_wudgey]

^ well hopefuly we will see the place back to its best!

[mowgli]

i decent btcc meeting, especially a well promoted one at donington, would get about 30000 people thru the gate, and they will all be spending maybe £30 on tickets & catering...... thats 900k in one weekend. & i know the bloke with the catering contract & he pays well for that, so they'll maybe get 750k in one hit, if they can get a bsb & maybe wsb, plus a decent international meeting, they'd be cooking wi' gas

[blue_peg_16v]

tbf with the present state and the investment needed i would think the lease will be less dont forget tracks have to pay to host events such as btcc bsb etc and the costs aint cheap for maintaining the curcuit and any potential lease hlder will want the prospect of a profit

the other peope rhumored to be interested are brdc which would also be good hands imo

[mowgli]

they can't even host a festival at the moment, but by september, they could.....

this was always the problem with that blokes plans.... he stopped all other races & events, thus killing his cashflow instantly, the tunnel could have been done in 3 weeks from start to finish easily.... there are tons of restrictions at donington including noise, which is ridiculous considering the 747 cargo planes next door, and the venue simply couldn't create enough income from races alone & i can't imagine they'd allow any house building on the site.....

[blue_peg_16v]

housing is out look at the uproar about proposed hotels when the gp contract was anounced least that problem is gone lol, but as for the noise restrictions i think the locals are realizing that they need the place, it closing has had a nock on effect on the local economy there and alot of local businesses and home owners were at the save donnington meet on 7/3/10 this year so who knows maybe they will get relaxed slightly

at least the museam and confrence facilities are back open for business

[auzzy-b]

hasn't anyone got access to tarmacing equipment? tarmac over the holes, a few cut padlocks later and theres a free track to go to lol
lol i like it!lol

[bazil]

http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy181/Bazil_2468/random1/pothole.jpg

[saloonwoody]

i think they should race on it still :) would cirtainly be entertaining lol

[blue_peg_16v]

according to motor sport news the brdc is going to take over dommimgtom

also on skysports news the wheatcrofts have announced that they are hoping to reopen the curcuit it august

fingures crossed it happens

might get to see btcc there form my birthday