Re-Develop Donington Park? How silly can you be?

Donington Park in Leicestershire was the first permanent "road" type race circuit in the world; pre dating Indianapolis by a year Brooklands, where the majority of British motor races were held in the 1930s was a large banked oval track in Weybridge Surrey. It closed to motor racing in 1939 with the onset of the Second World War and would not open for racing again. Interestingly this is where the RAF WW2 bomber the Wellington was produced thus it is not a little ironic that Mercedes Benz now has a museum and test track there.

But Donington was also quite famous, not least for two major races(both known as the Donington Grand Prix) involving the German Mercedes Benz and Auto Union teams in 1937 and 1938. There was a bit of an outcry at the time because of course these two teams were used by the Nazi government as nothing more than propaganda machines. Indeed there was great play made of the fact that one of their drivers was a british man by the name of Richard Seaman. As with Brooklands, racing ceased in 1939 and the circuit was used as a vehicle store by the ministry of defence, eventually falling into disrepair. Which is why in 1971 the late

Tom Wheatcroft, a construction contractor and motor sport enthusiast who was born in Castle Donington, bought it and reconfigured the track into a 1.9 mile circuit. The first meeting of the new era was a motorcycle meeting in 1977. From then many motorcycle and car meetings have taken place, including major touring car events such as the Tourist Trophy (TT) 500km, GT and Sports Prototype races, Moto GP and Superbikes and famously in 1993 the European Formula One Grand Prix.

Moving forward to 2007 and the British GP at Silverstone, where the then President of the FIA Max Mosley, announced to what can only be described as general amazement, that from 2010 the British GP would be held at Donington. It seems that Bernie Ecclestone the supremo of Formula One had been in discussion with the leaseholder of Donington Park Circuit, a company known as Donington Ventures Leisure Limited (DVLL) and they had signed a contract to host the GP from 2010 for a period of 17 years.

We must Take nothing away from Donington Park as a circuit but if the location and logistical issues represented to anyone wishing to host an event where at least 70,000 people would turn up on one day a "difficulty", the amount of work required to re configure the track, build the necessary infrastructure, pits complex and grand stands, presented at the time what can only be described as a serious challenge. In particular the proposed method of financing the scheme was novel in its approach, involving banks and individuals who would buy debentures for rather large sums. Of course at the time of the announcement, very few people realised that the financial institues would be entering meltdown within a year, the feeling among many was that whilst a massive task the scheme was (just) possible.

That was 2007; by March 2009 the full effects of the worldwide recession were being felt and even if Gordon Brown felt it necessary to blame our American cousins, his stance made little difference to us in the UK or indeed anyone else in the world. By this time (20 months after the initial announcement) we had little indication of any work at the circuit other than the installation of an access tunnel under the track. This it turned out would prove a major headache for DVLL because the design of the tunnel created a dangerous section of the track and therefore resulted in the eventual removal of the track licence until such time as it was reconfigured. A further problem was the stability of the tunnel which lead to a collapse of the track surface and therefore remedial work in order to support it. An inauspicious start tot he 2009 season and a prtent of waht was to come. By now of course even staunch supporters were more than a little concerned.

I last raced at Donington on 23 August 2009, after it had been through a truamatic season associated with cancelled races and track licence problems due to that tunnel. To say it was run down would be an understatement but the general lack of enthuisiasm around the place was sad. Furthermore apart from the tunnel there was little evidence of any attempt to get on with the major work involved in the required improvements. Of course we were now 11 months away from the 2010 GP and worryingly DVLL had not yet announced the funding deal. But by end September 2009 the infield had been largely excavated and things did appear to be moving on apace! Indeed trenches for services have been cut across the track and barriers removed etc.

The skeptics among us (me included) just could not see how the miracle, at the time delayed by a year, could ever be realised. Well we know now that it cannot be realised because sadly DVLL has been put into administration, possibly owing many millions of pounds as we understand it, and of course the construction has ceased.

So what are we left with?

It is currently uncertain as to who will take over the reins of this circuit, or indeed if anyone will at all! At best we can expect an uncertain race calendar for 2010 and at worst it means the loss of a major motor sport asset to the UK and motor sport enthusiasts far and wide. But let us not forget, this destruction of what was Tom Wheatcroft's dream has been perpetrated on the altar of greed, nothing more nothing less.

Rest in Peace Tom.