dykins Posted December 21, 2009 Report Share Posted December 21, 2009 I think the TSSC link is here Donington Regards Peter Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dykins Posted December 21, 2009 Report Share Posted December 21, 2009 Erm, sorry. Pictures are here Regards Peter Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Guest ntc Posted December 21, 2009 Report Share Posted December 21, 2009 Erm, sorry. Pictures are here Regards Peter Hi Peter It does look bad but the Truck race is booked as reported in MSN, maybe Stuart is right a cunning plan Quote Link to post Share on other sites
alanwcoote Posted December 21, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 21, 2009 No The pictures are on the thoroughbred sports classic car club site forum and were posted by Cris Acklam who is there forum moderator and races a Morgan ( very well), its the third posting down on there competition/racing section follow the link on that, I apologize for having the inability to put a link up here but have only just learned how to wipe my arse, my daughter is writing this. Alan Quote Link to post Share on other sites
alanwcoote Posted December 21, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 21, 2009 No The pictures are on the thoroughbred sports classic car club site forum and were posted by Cris Acklam who is there forum moderator and races a Morgan ( very well), its the third posting down on there competition/racing section follow the link on that, I apologize for having the inability to put a link up here but have only just learned how to wipe my arse, my daughter is writing this. Alan Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dykins Posted December 22, 2009 Report Share Posted December 22, 2009 (edited) Here are some more photos (from Alan's recommendation) http://f1.gpupdate.n...=4280&startat=0 For some reason I cant get a proper link to this site, but hopefully if you paste this address into your browser it will work. Regards Peter Edited to show a working link (hopefully) Edited December 22, 2009 by dykins Quote Link to post Share on other sites
BrianC Posted December 22, 2009 Report Share Posted December 22, 2009 Here are some more photos (from Alan's recommendation) Photos Regards Peter Link doesn't work for me - perhaps protected and I need an account to login? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dykins Posted December 22, 2009 Report Share Posted December 22, 2009 Link doesn't work for me - perhaps protected and I need an account to login? You might be right, Brian. I have just amended my previous post's link, so please try that. Regards Peter Quote Link to post Share on other sites
BrianC Posted December 22, 2009 Report Share Posted December 22, 2009 (edited) I have just amended my previous post's link, so please try that. Same result: This program cannot display the webpage Update: Clicking on the new link does work, but you don't need the bit before it (i.e. file:///C:/Users/PETERD%7E1/AppData/Local/Temp/moz-screenshot-3.png) Now that I've seen it, I wish I hadn't - very sad. Edited December 22, 2009 by BrianC Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dykins Posted December 22, 2009 Report Share Posted December 22, 2009 Don't know then, I'm afraid. I registered with the Thoroughbred Sports Car Club (which was simple to do) and went to their Forum, where the posting was easily found. The earlier link still works for me, but I suppose it is because I'm now a member. Well worth registering though, as apart from the Donington topic, there is a lot of interesting stuff. Regards Peter Quote Link to post Share on other sites
john.r.davies Posted December 22, 2009 Report Share Posted December 22, 2009 Works for me, and a most interesting clutch of pics - thank you dykins! Are those on the Thoroughbred site any different? I'm, now registered there and my logon accepted,but I am still told, " You do not have the required permissions to read topics within this forum." The GP Update pics are, strangely, reassuring. The only disturbances of the circuit surface that i can see are where the tunnel was built and at Goddards and, I think, at the Melbourne Hairpin. The works within the circuit look apocalyptic, though, and some are full of water. That amount of soil disturbance will need a while to settle so that events, spectators, shows, can take place on it, surely? But club racing may not be a problem once the road works are made good. Revealing are the works to lengthen the access tunnel. Oroginally a concrete box inserted under the track, it can be see being extended by steel shuttering, so that the run-off can be extended back to the original width and the slope of the access lessened. Surely the short steep tunnel was an incompetent cock-up? John Quote Link to post Share on other sites
roy53 Posted December 30, 2009 Report Share Posted December 30, 2009 Incompetent cock up probably sums up the whole saga. I know read that the ownership has reverted back to the Weatcroft family as a buyer could not be found by the reciever. Roy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
marshal Posted December 31, 2009 Report Share Posted December 31, 2009 hi guys and girls i asked the question of donnington becoming a developers heaven and have been informed that as it lays under the east midlands airport main flightpath it connot be used for housing so hopefully it will be saved and used as tom dreamed as a race track. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
john.r.davies Posted December 31, 2009 Report Share Posted December 31, 2009 Donington never left the ownership of the Wheatcrofts. It was rented to the new consortium, and on their defaulting on due payments they lost any rights they had been given to it. The receiver, as was their duty, sought people willing to invest in the consortium, a vain hope as the reason the consortium failed was that no one wanted to invest. Even better, the Wheatcrofts are free of any debts or responsibilities that the consortium took on. They do have an infield like a war zone. And the ill-advised access tunnel to it will need work and cost to make good the circuit surface and the run-off area. The pics also show a trench across the uphill section of the Melbourne Hairpin, but no other track damage. It can be done, but onky the Wheatcrofts can say if it will. John Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Alec Pringle Posted January 1, 2010 Report Share Posted January 1, 2010 Hi John, Donington was leased to DVLL, which is not the same thing as rented, for a 150 year term. According to the administrators, the terms of the lease were sufficiently 'onerous' as to deter potentially interested parties from purchasing the lease within the available time scale. Hence the lease reverted to the freeholders, Wheatcroft & Son Ltd. If the lease had been purchased, the new lessee would have been obliged to maintain operations as per the requirements of the existing lease, as a racing circuit. Reversion of the lease cancels any such continuing obligation, the Wheatcroft company now presumably being free to consider whatever possibilities the directors and/or shareholders may see fit. Counting chickens may not yet be in order . . . especially in the light of the past chequered relationship between Donington and the motor sport establishment. Cheers, Alec Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dave McDonald Posted January 1, 2010 Report Share Posted January 1, 2010 Hi All Like John Davies, and as a Civil Engineer myself, I am reasonably encoraged by the photos of Donington. There is no time/date info on the photos. Work to complete the tunnel it is fair to say looks extensive. This is by far and away the biggest single element. I have no idea how far this has gone since the photos were taken. The rest of the circuit does not appear to be beyond redemption. The only track disturbance seems to be a few drain or duct crossings most of which seem to be on the Melbourne Loop. At Club racing level we could probably manage without that. While the infield earthworks are very extensive, presumably they will now not be continued with. Minor reshaping and re topsoiling and seeding would soon get that back into a reueable condition. There will probably be some safety barrier replacement to do but other than that it looked to be mainly cosmetic. There was no evidence of the start/finish and pits/paddock area being changed at all. The nub of the whole exercise could be whether the circuit would be a viable commercial proposition for the Wheatcroft family with only club racing and none of the higher profile meetings such as the Moto GP, BTCC, Formula 3, GTs, British Superbikes, etc, if they can't be tempted back. We can but hope. Regards Dave McDonald Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dave McDonald Posted January 5, 2010 Report Share Posted January 5, 2010 There is a glimmer of hope. Todays' Motorsport News (5th Jan 2010) carries an article suggesting that the BARC is one of three parties who have expressed an interest in taking out a lease to operate Donington. The BARC do a god job at the circuits they already operate at, Thruxton, Mallory Park, Croft and Pembrey. We may yet get to race there again in the future. Dave McDonald Quote Link to post Share on other sites
john.r.davies Posted January 31, 2010 Report Share Posted January 31, 2010 In the bad old days of imminent bankruptcy, and amid fears that the only way forward was housing, a campaign was started to "Save Donington!" The principal idea was for as many as possible to turn up on a certain day, to demonstrate the size and enthusiasm of the Donington using population, in the hope of encouraging investment. Now those days are gone, and we are well assured - that the Wheatcroft family are back in control and intend to return the circuit to motorsport, the same is still true. The campaign continues and the appointed day is Sunday the 7th March. There is a website for the campaign at: http://www.savedonington.co.uk/ The website includes a list of car clubs that have offered their support. It includes an alarming number of Japanese names, plus Lotus and Mini. It would be good to have the TRR there too. JOhn Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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