Gear Head

iTrader: (2)

pitpass - the latest, hottest F1, GP2, GP2 Asia & A1GP news

Hopefully a deal can finally be done to keep the British GP at Silverstone. Everyone, including myself were 99% sure that Simon Gillet was full of sh%t. The man should be kicked out of the UK for almost destroying any hope this country had left of retaining it's GP.

Credit crunch or not, the man was an prize bull sh&tter!

I fear for what remains of the great circuit though. With no F1, no Moto GP and no money, that is going to be one difficult task to stop Donington going down the pan.

fivetide

iTrader: (1)

Bernie too? Or could he not see it for the piles of cash he was getting paid and still demands?

What an evil little dwarf he is. That man is to blame for all of this, no one else.

5t.

Turbo2

There's a lot of now unrequired and expensive construction mess to clean up now just to get it back to Square 1. I guess most big events for 2010 have already finalized their calendars now, so where's Donington's income going to be? Poor old Tom Wheatcroft: sold down the river by a shyster. Oh well, at least I was one of the few who braved the rain to watch Ayrton Senna blitz the opposition in the one-and-only post war F1 held race there back in 1993. That was a false dawn for Donington too, but not nearly as bad as the current situation.

Trout

iTrader: (1)

Amazing lap that at Donington - Rubens was in that race which seems like it is from another age!

Senna

renny

iTrader: (2)

Aaah,nice link!

Back to the days when i used to be glued to the TV watching it.

Shame,just isn't the same for me these days.

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Oh well, looks like F1 will be back at that crap spectator track wth stacked portacabins for the VIPs - the Sheiks will love that. Then again, maybe it won't and there will be no UK venue at all (probably for the better considering Silverstone when compared to other worldwide tracks isn't really isn't a prime venue either).

I really did want Donnginton get the bill. But I guess it was against the odds from day one, the deadlines were far too optimistic. But considering the money that floats around in the sport, I belived it could happen.. Well that was until the NIMBYs started acting up, which made me realise that by the time it got the go ahead, there would not be enough time to finish it.

Ste RB5138

So is Donnington going to be stuck in its half finished state now?
What a pity as its a great circuit, really suits the Moto GP bikes

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

In my opinion Ecclestone went with Donington knowing it would never happen and now he can sell another GP to some bland street circuit in the Far East!!!

Mind you it is yet another example of how crap we in the UK are at organising anything like this.

Silverstone had the chance over and over to improve its facilities but I think they never thought it would be taken away from them - the 'F1 owes us a GP' mentality.

What a mess!!!

Gear Head

iTrader: (2)

F1fan, I see your point but how many GP circuits around the world actually make any profit? Silverstone actually made a £600,000 net profit for their last financial year. I agree in Damon Hill about not letting Silverstone being held to ransom by Bernie just to stage a race. There is no point in putting the Silverstone circuit at risk. Have you been to Silverstone? I went to the GP in 2000 (yes, the muddy one) & 2002 as well as doing a weeks intensive schooling at the BRDC in a formula ford to get my racing licence.

I think it is a fantastic circuit. Sod the luxery, that isn't what racing is all about, especially when hardly any GP circuits actually turn a profit.

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

I don't want luxury, I want good basic facilities and value for money.

I have been to Silverstone several times and to Spa, Monza, Hockenheim, Indy, Austria and Aus amongst others and can safely say that all those GPs were better organised and better value for money than Silverstone.

You mentioned the muddy event at Silverstone. Sure they couldn't predict the weather but they ripped people oof for their qualifying tickets (refunds were virtually impossible to get depsite the fact they closed the circuit) and didn't have any car park marshalling on race day - it was shambolic and they don't deserve a GP no matter how good the track is.

Compare that to Aus or Indy and there is no contest!

Turbo2

F1_fan is right though. I've lost count of the number of times that Silverstone has been told or promised to drag itself into the 21st century. Sure it's still a Drivers' track, but the paying spectators and teams get a crappy deal in comparison to nearly all other tracks. 100 quid to sit on a muddy windswept embankment all day just to see the cars flash 60 times past one or two corners of the old airfield track. At least the geography of Donington (and Brands Hatch) allows a wider view.

That 600k profit is peanuts in the motor-racing game and has been earnt during a period of revived British motorsport interest: if they reinvested all of that, they might just have enough to build another couple of toilet blocks! That's just the equivalent of 6000 general admission fans through the door on that single F1 race day. I don't know if the 2010 MotoGP earnings will match this.

Of course I want a British GP in 2010, but I think with their only rival now gone, the BRDC better get their act together and sort something out quickly for the long-term with Bernie. Damon Hill may have been F1 World Champion, but he is only the elected Head of a small sporting club at the end of the day, not some major international Corporation.

fivetide

iTrader: (1)

Problem is a lot of the others get help from their respective governments. the Abu Dhabi one is £30bn of public investment, Silverstone gets sod all. Yes it is a rip off but even then, it is hardly coining it is it?

If the posted profits equal about a days GP admissions then everything else from track days to the over priced burgers are simply going on paying the bills. You just can't invest the money needed on the expected returns. It would have to get goernment support because it 'helps keep up the international profile of the UK' but not a lot that can be done beyond that.

5t.

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

+1

Considering the UK is the home of many F1 teams, you'd think our venues would also be world class.

Would it be a stupid idea to even mention rekindling the Birmingham Superprix? or would that be just too daft?

Gear Head

iTrader: (2)

Exactly, we shouldn't blame the BRDC if we lose the GP. Blame the government for just resting on what it had rather than gradually improving the circuit over the years.
You do realise that Silverstone effively built a new relief road in 2001. None of that money came from the government either!

Turbo2

[QUOTE=ALi-B;9025820Would it be a stupid idea to even mention rekindling the Birmingham Superprix? or would that be just too daft? [/QUOTE]

I remember attending the inaugural rain-soaked event in 1986. My brother and I wanted Pierluigi Martini to win because we had read in Fast Lane magazine that he had bought a then-new Lamborghini Countach Quattrovalvole road car.

Leslie

As much as I used to like driving at Donington, I still think that Silverstone is a far better F1 circuit-one of the best ones in fact. I understand that the drivers like it too as in fact I used to as well. I am not sorry to see that the Donington plan is no more. The circuit access would have made Silverstone look a "breeze" to get into.

It was said that Ecclestone is looking into the chances of holding the GP at Silverstone.

Les

IWatkins

I'm sure there is a load of politics going on in all this, of course it is.

However, if the UK wants to keep a GP, then they do need to step up and provide a quality experience for the racers and spectators. Silverstone is poor for the later.

Anyone know if any other circuit was is the spotlight, obvious choice, Rockingham? Mind you I think they should hold the GP at Cadwell

Luan Pra bang

Silverstone has 1000 times better spectator facilities than donnington. Its only downside is the view can be limited even with grandstand tickets. Its still the only track in the UK that is even close to being able to stage an f1 event.

Leslie

Cadwell was one of my very favourte circuits. Not suitable for F1 though.

Les

IWatkins

I know it's not suitable (by a long chalk) but can you imagine 20 F1 cars all coming over the mountain on the first lap

Still reckon Rockingham would be a possibility though.

Leslie

Yes but think of them all arriving at the hairpin after that!!!!

Les