http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/7489662.stm
had a search and couldnt find any topics on this, sorry if i am double posting
is this a good thing for the bike racing?
maybe improved facilities and hopefully connections to the m-way
but what about the track? its short even for bikes so i suppose it might be a good thing
trouble is F1 is boring and whats good for F1 is not usually the case for bikes
No I don’t think it is. They’ll have to increase the run off… putting spectators further back. They’ll probably change the circuit to suit the cars. The cars will bring more money than the bikes so any future changes will be for their benefit not ours. The only good thing is that they’ll have to sort out the awful traffic arrangements…
yeah you’re right, i hadnt thought about the run off areas, bugger :unsure:
although that should improve safety for the riders
Racing is racing, they wont change the track “too much” as that will be too costly.
If it improves safety, can only be a good thing, just buy binoculars. If is improves general access to the circuit and bring along improved facilities, that will certainly be a warm welcome.
It is ultaimately just a slap in the face to Silverstone who weren’t willing to make the investment necessary to keep up with other world wide F1 tracks. Rockingham may have been a better track choice, but I hear that they were not interested in hosting the F1GP.
I dont think the local residents of Donnington will be too happy, think they get jerked off with the other events held there through out the year.
Not really answered the question though. In other words, I shall remain on the fence and see if it crashes and burns like many other british attempts. Mind you, the government arent involved, so it may work! 
For the punters I don’t think it’ll make much difference, Donnington’s always been a crap track to attend, with ever increasing costs and ever decreasing provisions it’s about time GP was moved elsewhere (this year we just watched on TV and have booked to go to Valencia for the last round instead:)). For the riders I think it’ll have a negative effect, as given the power and footprint of the F1 cars the surface will suffer, and they’re going to have a very bumpy track to deal with shortly.
F1 will bugger up the track making it all bumpy etc, they are boring going round wide flowing silverstone so where the hell they gonna overtake at donny ? oh yeah IN THE PITS like always they shoulda just gone to rockingham and gone round the oval for all the excitment in F1, more fun in local carpark watching women parking
we went this year, hadn’t been before and i was pleasantly surprised
we had been to catalyuna in '06 so expected a massive difference in experience
yes the facilities are poor in comparison but the actual experience of using them was a lot less stressful as we brits (on the whole) know how to queue up properly 
surprisingly, i actually prefer donington to silverstone, which bearing in mind its reputation, is a shock to find out its a crap hole
No argument there, Silverstone is crap. I’ve not been since WSB in 2002 (I think). The weather was terrible, and the management closed all the free covered stands because no one was paying for the exposed grandstands. Thousands of people soaked to the bone unecessarily. The punters were treated like animals… I’ve not been back since.
They’re going to Mueller all the good bits like adverse cambers, they’re going to widen the track by about 50 meters either side for 240 mile per hour car run off areas, and the fans are going to get shunted WAAAAAAAAY back from the action… then to add insult to injury, track day prices are going to rocket from £100 to £400 for the next 15 years which they’ll say is “for the prestige of riding on an F1 level” track, but it’ll actually just be to recoup the ruddy £100 million pounds worth of debt they get themselves into just for courting that freakish androgynous freak Bernie Ecclestone and the BORING BORING BORING F1 parade. PLUS cars braking from 240 down to 30 for hairpins is going to UTTERLY DESTROY the surface making it rubbish for bike racing.
i might have to get a donny track day in before they start faffing about with the place
brands for my first one though
F1 is moaning about silverstones facilities but donny is way more of a dump!!
so its cars to donny as moto gp to silverstone bring it on!!
Watched formula 1 cars use Donnington in the 80’s, they could’nt overtake then, so in todays world of superfast F1 cars it would be like sitting in the outside lane of the M25 on a busy day.
The truth is that none of our circuits are good enough for F1:
Silverstone…Great track for F1, loads of history, Rubbish facilties for the milllionaire jet set, grandstands built in the 30’s seats no longer fit the fat MaccyD arses of 2008.
Brands…Great track for bikes, facilities to small for the F1 circus.
Rockingham…Possible for both but no heritage.
Why not build a brand new mega complex halfway up the country, state of the art facilities, awsome new track with plenty of overtaking places, mega granstands.
It would be called Bernie’s world race circuits and would have the Ecclestone crest above the gates, all the other circuits would be closed and Bernie E would be a happy man, the death of British motor racing.
Should’ve sent it to Knockhill.
F1 is crap and the further away from me the better…
A few bits of bias showing here folks.
As an F1 fan, I’m not surprised that Silverstone lost the franchise.(That’s what we are talking about.) I’s pretty sh*t and always has been even without the officials attitudes.
Donnington is great. For bikes and smaller formulae cars.
What F1 will do to the circuit, access and facilities, we’ll have to wait and see.
For now, it’s just a change. May prove to be good or bad, but that’s just guessing.
And of course next years bike racing will be a nightmare for all concerned because looking at what the bloke in charge of Donington has got planned it’s going to be one very very bid building site.
I’ll wait and see what happens, but I think that the big bucks in F1 will mean than bikes will become second class citizens at Donington.
If the British MotoGP was moved to Silverstone, I’d cry tears of blood from my anus. The facilities at Donington may be fairly awful but it’s a wonderful track for spectating, helped by the natural bowl of the circuit. It really is the perfect venue for MotoGP - even the tactility of the track has sorted itself out quite a lot since the pre-2007 resurfacing.
I fear when F1 arrives at Donington those excellent spectator points; namely at the bottom of Craners, the Foggy Esses and Melbourne Loop will all need a rethink to allow greater run-off. I should also mention the effect an F1 car has on track surface. Donington can be bad in the rain as it is but ripples in the braking zones would exacerbate that.
Highlight of presumption and supposition in this post but its a nightmarish vision of hell I don’t wish to see realised.
