Comments on: Has Donington had its last chance?

By: F1: British Grand Prix developments liveblog October 2-11 | Brits on Pole

F1: British Grand Prix developments liveblog October 2-11 | Brits on Pole — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 13:04:43 +0000

[...] James Allen: Has Donington had its last chance? [...]

By: John

John — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 17:09:45 +0000

Chicken and egg Cliff, if they had the deal for 15 years they would invest no doubt!

By: John

John — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 17:07:50 +0000

Reading between the lines, Simon has probably had dealings with Gillett – I know people that have in the distant past and would say the same….

By: Érico

Érico — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 13:28:12 +0000

I don’t know about you guys, but I’ve never had faith in Donington pulling it off. In my mind, Benie wants no British GP in 2010 and then to have the gap filled in 2011 with any other Tilke-o-dome willing to pay him enough. All this together adds up to me wanting Moto GP at Silverstone to be a tremendous success and the renewed track and facilities to become memorable. Oh, and please, don’t let Silverstone bend over for Bernie and agree to a gap filling 2010 GP.

By: john g

john g — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 10:18:46 +0000

as much as i don’t like bernie or how he operates, you can’t accuse him of being a poor business man – killed two birds with one stone here. firstly there is to be no race at silverstone which makes bernie happy as he doesn’t like the BRDC (nothing to do with the actual racing or fans, he clearly doesn’t give a crap about either of them). donnington won’t be able to make in time, which most of us thought when the deal was announced, which means that in addition to south korea, we can fill the calendar up with another short term cash cow with little interest and zero heritage like india or russia! hurrah!

By: " for sure "

" for sure " — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 17:44:34 +0000

Hardly anyone worth listening to believed Donington had more than a very slim chance of succeeding. The only reason it got that chance was that Bernie was desperate to win his long running campaign against the BRDC and Silverstone.

If the money required to complete the deal is so small, a mere 12 million, why doesn’t Bernie and CVC step up to the plate and risk their money?

Whilst part of me hopes that the 2010 British GP takes place at Siverstone, a voice in my head is saying I hope that the BRDC holds out for a decent contract, and that Bernie refuses to deal. The resultant fallout might just be the catalyst to topple Bernie and make CVC finally wake up to the fact that the people who really matter, the fans, need to factored back into the equation rather than being totally ignored as happens now.

By: Rudy Pyatt

Rudy Pyatt — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 16:33:28 +0000

Yet again, this proves proves the hostility of Bernie’s business model to private investors. Having said that, James, I have to ask: What happened to the old FIA/CSI rule, that any venue seeking a world championship round had to prove that they were ready by holding a race to international standards first?

It appears that since Bernie’s Deal, that opportunity to dry run/rehearse has been replaced by an inspection and benchmarks system. And that in turn seems to pivot entirely on Bernie’s commercial considerations. I mean, correct me if I’m wrong, but getting the track to the required safety standards is the easy part. Getting it to Bernie’s facilities standards is something else.

By: James Allen

James Allen — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 14:29:08 +0000

As far as I know they are offering what they offered last time when Donington outbid them. However they are saying that if they get a long term deal they will invest the money in the new facilities and remember they now have a mandate from the members to get a commercial partner for this deal.

By: iceman

iceman — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 10:27:06 +0000

One of the reasons for the high sanctioning fees is to service the multi-billion loan that CVC took out to buy the rights from Bernie.

By: Alistair Blevins

Alistair Blevins — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 10:08:20 +0000

Why can’t someone like Jonathan Palmer step in with one of his circuits or expertise?

Maybe he’s done the maths and it doesn’t add up, but if there’s a motorsport entrepreneur in the UK who could make it happen I would suggest it’s JP.