Donignton Gets Planning Permission….

Yahoo!!!!…..

maybe the credit crunch will save the British GP. As Bernie will find it much harder to screw millions out of places like asia and the middle east over the next few years.

Fraid not, jayb. If anything, Asia and the Middle East will be the areas LEAST affected by the crunch, and so far, that’s proving to be the case. It will cause (and is causing) much more mayhem in the US and Europe.

I’ve been a victim of the ‘park-and-ride’ scheme at the Farnborough Airshow and that’s a complete joke and a literal waste of time. Take my advice and just walk from the train station. Honestly I want Donington to work but they are being completely naive on this issue.

re problems with airport

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2008/09/05/2010-donington-park-f1-track-revealed/

So what has that to do with anything? Well, that puts them in broadly the same camp as Silverstone and the BRDC. The purpose of that organisation, and the reason it owns the track, is “we exist to race” – in other words, for the furtherance of motorsport in Britain, as anyone who has stood there soaked to the skin watching round after round of junior formulas will attest.

For 51 weeks of the year, it’s not about glamour or making money, it’s about making sure that infrastructure for developing British racing is in place.

But as soon as the Grand Prix switches to Donington the very top tier of British motorsport stops being about existing to race and starts being about purely commercial concerns – making profits, providing entertainment, going in for this whole ‘experience’ package at what I very passionately believe is the expense of the sport and of its fans.

Particularly ironic at a time when people are saying how good it would be if privateer teams like Williams could race economically in F1

My advice to you, Keith, is to use the very longest spoon you can find.

Alonso world champ? Two Spanish GPs

Shumi world Champ? Two German GPs

Lewis Hamilton World Champ? No UK GP?

I don’t think so……….

Keith’s post concentrates on the positive aspects of the situation and I understand why but amongst the negatives is that Mr Gillett’s partner left almost as soon as the deal was done. They were always shown as a pair and now half of the pair is no longer there. That must cause problems.

The idea of shutting down a commercial airport is insane. Given the problems Moto GP have had with the airport it is a certainty that F1 would need to make many changes to its normal set up to keep things below the required height. The airport has to operate normally or it will be in breach of its contracts with airlines, retail facilities and other airports so the circuit and F1 have to accommodate the airport and not vice versa.

Regardless of public statements I refuse to believe IMG have written a blank cheque and I cannot imagine anyone is going to buy debentures in something as shaky as a new F1 circuit. Equally I don’t believe there are 150 mega-rich people who want to live next to Donington and under the flight path of an airport 1 mile up the road. If I was mega-rich and wanted a house on the edge of a track to house my fast cars and have the right to play in the track somewhere like the new test track in the Algarve would be a lot more appealing than Donington.

Bernie spotted a mug he could use to apply pressure to the BRDC and who would write him a cheque for a few million to default on the contract. This is Brands part 2. There will not be a GP at Donington.

But as for Joe Public – we seem to largely represent a transport conundrum the circuit would rather be without. To me the British GP is a wonderful national event that I look forward to greatly. Not a uniquely profitable business opportunity for some promoter that sees it more in terms of entertainment than sport. Say what you like about the facilities at Silverstone – and if I never had to encounter one of their burger and donut vans again I’d be a happy camper – but at least I feel that my proletarian bum is welcome on its uncomfortable plastic seat, and I can generally afford to park it there.

A couple of points about planning – Gillett is right that the circuit *should* get permission. It will be very strange if it doesn’t, since it has been working with planning officers for months and things should have been thrashed out behind the scenes well in advance of the meeting.

The South Derbyshire thing was also, in my humble opinion as someone who has spent far too much of their lives reporting on planning hearings, hugely overstated in importance by a lot of people, including Autosport. It is routine for any neighbouring authority to be consulted on a big development and just as routine for that authority to concentrate on the strategic aspects (economic benefits to the region) rather than the local one (environmental and planning consideratons) which are outside its remit. Again, South Derbyshire said exactly what you would expect them to.

My question suggestion is this: Cars are to be strongly dissuaded from attending, will motorbikes/ people planning to camp be similarly barred from arriving directly at the track.

I realise my question is a bit piffy & specific thats perhaps not really related to the racing itself but a growing number of race fans now attend on two wheels to beat the jams. I was at home in South East London only 2 hours after the race ended in July.