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  • It is a disgrace millions of ££££££ already spent to create this mess all because the worlds greediest midget was showing the BRDC whos ... well the greediest midget in the world!

  • Its all so different now, its almost back to its best. To be honest Donny was in decline but that MCN video only shows the infield mud which really had nothing to do with the actual track condition.

  • its all changed now it looks quite good tbh

  • I'm probably going to be in an unpopular minority here, but I think the proposed development of Donington was a good thing. The design left the best of Donington - virtually the whole section from Redgate to Coppice exactly as it was. It changed the jerry built chicane into the Melbourne loop and added a new bit with intersting curves and steep gradients. What you see here is the result of financial bad luck and miss management.

  • I can't help thinking, if this had happened 2 years earlier, and all had been completed and Donington was what it could have been, we'd be talking differently. Some of the comments here suggest a great circuit has been destroyed forever. Sentimental nonsense. You're looking at a building site which has been abandoned. Silverstone would probably look worse if it's upgrade had suddenly been abandoned a third of the way in.

  • Typical MCN Bias, uninformed shit, they are to motorcycling as the news of the world is to serious journalism, if you twats keep followling the crap they pump out. Supposedly supporting motorcycling and motor sport, do me a favour download was great again 2010, the future of donnington thankfully dose not rest with them,otherwise they would swop it for a plastic toy with a gaudy paint job built in japan.

  • i was there for download this year and Donington is a shit hole. It's shocking to see how much of a mess they've turned donington into

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  • this is what happens when you try make classic tracks into todays f1 standards. ruins them!!

  • Touring Cars are there next weekend , SO happy it didnt end up in the hands of a property developer - The Wheatcroft Family deserve all the credit they get for keeping motorsport at this awesome venue

  • That just looks so pitiful. Hope it's all done soon! :)

  • Aren't they building an oval there for stock car racing? Would love to see the mighty brisca F1s there! Moto GP at silverstone this year was just a better expirience all round no sitting in the car park for 5 hours to get out took 45 mins!!!

  • lol, just keep the f1 at silverstone and turn donington into an off road complexlookin at that! shame really!

  • Booked on a trackday at Donny on 21st August.

    The best way to support it in my view.

  • its ready now so ha

  • @leon23021983>>>>and?

  • @12mozzofull and im the best and you lose. chump

  • @leon23021983 more like a prick!!!!!!>>U prick

  • @phantommark.......your right! only if they re routed the track onto east midlands airport to make 50 more turns and half mile straights to make it like the multi billion pound far east tracks would f1 go there,ITS NOT HAPPENING,donnington is a bike track. end of.

  • All repairable I hope :) , Very sad to see it all came to this.

    I always said Donny and F1 was a failure from the start sadly........Donny will never be a viable F1 venue IMHO because of the infrastructure its built around, location being one of the biggest hurdles, all in my limited opinion.

    Been to DP many times and love the place to bits, looks like things could still be put back to normal with some capital investment, fingers crossed it makes it back on the UK racing calender !!!

  • Look out for official press release from tomorrow afternoon Wednesday 26th May 2010.

  • This is what Bernie does, ride roughshod over people and passions to get what he wants... An utter disgrace to see this. A much much better track than Silverstone...

  • LATEST NEWS - I was there on the track last week. It is exactly as shown but the water has now gone. Talks are still ongoing and KW is doing his best for the track when he could have taken developer's money and run - give the guy some credit and respect! It will need £1m+ to put the track right including a new look Goddard's as the current one is not acceptable. The track will be back online soon (late summer) and when it is I hope that you will all support it as it gets back on its feet?

  • I can remeber going to watch the bikes at donington when i was a kid, i loved the dunlop bridge and i cant believe its gone.

    Its a tradgedy that this has happened cos donington was a miles better circuit than silverstone imo and it had a magic that you'll only find at places like monaco or monza.

  • Sad.....but not irretrievable.

    A lot of the best parts of the circuit seem to remain intact (Craner looks fine) with only a few strips missing here & there. A whole lot of groundwork for the new sections has been started and methinks, come the end of the recession, a shrewd investor could make a killing if they took it on and completed the development.

  • very sad to see, just looking at 1.05 & the standard of works around the flooded underpass....piled-up 1 tonne bags of sh*t isn't a recognised method of soil engineering or stabilisation....!?!

    they seem to have always been dogged by drainage/flooding issues, first job is always to get the drainage in & working then proceed. Any decent consultant & contractor knows this.....perhaps that was the problem here...?

    my thoughts go to poor Kevin Wheatcroft who has to somehow sort this out.........

  • this is absolutely tragic

    I never visited donington but have many friends that had visited

    what now for donington pak???????

  • It looks like sabotage to me, There was no need to dig up that much of the track at the phase of the refurb they had got to. Its does not look like they have done anyhinkg other than break the surface in some areas, no work has been carried out under the excavation. Shame really as its a great track, the place that got me into motorsport,.

  • what they should do is simple, put some grass seed down on the mud drain away the water and re-surface the track, forget that fool bernie eccelstone and his passion for bling facilities and get back to the racing events they had before motoGP was brilliant at Donnington F1 is brilliant at Silverstone

  • The reason that Donington is in such a state is because when they got offered the British F1 GP 2011 -onwards, massive refurbishment began on the track. It started but never really got working due to the lack of funds therefore it was written of as a potential venue.

  • Blasphamy and heracy, this is one of the best tracks in England, if my TAX money should go to anything its to restor this once beautiful track. D:

  • @leighbuss blasphemy and heresy? Do you even know what those words mean? What the hell does Donington have to do with the church?! And stop moaning about your taxes. All this needs is some tarmac and some grass seed. It's not THAT bad...cheer up people!

  • @ribenawrath hah i was only effin around just sad to see it get in that state, but if they hold the download festivle there its no surprise =/

  • biggest disappointment of the year is the state of Donington Park. it was a brilliant venue and they've got to sort it out to get back to racing there in 2011.

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  • It's in a better state than the road I live on

  • just some grass and tarmac to me

  • ??? i was at donno market just last weekend how did i miss this?! note. do not go to donington market if you remember this place as a sacred ground for glamour and automotive highlights as this perception will quickly disappear, i hope they make a good job of patching it up tho bcos hopefully i'll be driving the glanza round it in summer!

  • Why did they ever take away the big dunlop tire that went over the track?

    it was like a symbol of donington :(

  • RIP the hallowed ground.i saw the best racing here(in my life anyway)and now its been wrecked by greed.sad sad day.

  • It's not *that* bad... they filmed it on a really wet grey day, and put on that awful piano music.

  • @TheWakeUpCall yeah, most of its just for effect

  • @ferret123guy I was there that day in 1993 too - awesome race in the rain! Such a shame to see what's happened to place. I guess we'll just have to be patient!

  • Some would argue Brands was the home of British motorsport but for me Donnington had it all, especially the changes in elevation. Fair enough it needed a good modernisation but i hope they leave the basic track layout alone.

  • I want to throw a grown up tamtrum looking at this , i did not relase just how serious the damage was.

  • They should have bike races on that track now! Haha that would certainly make things a bit more interesting if they had races on it in that state. "And it's Rossi, he missed the traffic cones by a whisker there"

  • So bloody sad they've destroyed the Download Festival because of this shit.

    Fucking idiots.

  • Watch the shot at 0:42 seconds. Then watch AC/DC thunderstruck live at donington. same POV but i'd rather remember that shot. :)

  • this is sad

  • It dosent need to much work...

    Needs tiding up and abit of renovating

  • @36hunters thats my thougts too!

  • what actually happened?

  • I noticed that this video was taken on a dull rainy day, kind of thing where anything can look very bad. My opinion is that its not as bad as it loks. Okay it needs works, it wouldnt take long to do fix up.. Just hope they dont ever use cheap contracters like the ones who work on our roads!!!!..Hope to see it all back in shape oneday soon!

  • @Mozzofull I had to delete my old account..i kepy my name as close to my original one..I just wanna say, cheers for the thumbs up people!

  • @Mozzofull This is true. looks like all it needs is some people that are good with tar to lay down an EVEN coat over the torn up parts which isnt a lot. at the very MOST they just have to re-pave the whole track. That and some grass seed on the dirt and they would be good to go!

  • @DexterGoneWild cheers for agreeing with me!! :)

  • @Mozzofull except most days in Britian are dull rainy days

  • It was only a matter of time before thay put speed ramps on race tracks.

    Donny was my favorite circuit in my Superteen days. This is very sad indeed.

  • bernie ecclestone should put up the money to finish it

  • Sad and shocking. Never mind, plenty of funding for forign aid, athletics and immigrent projects. What a toilet this country has become.

  • Like Motorsport would ever be subsidised. Don't hold your breath.

  • shame to see a track in such a state!! thats where are money should be going not on imigrants!! shame the goverment cant get there act together and pull there fingers out of the asses and put som money into good hands what the whole of the country can enjoy not a shitty housing estate!! how castle combe dosn't tern this way and get riped down!

  • It is so unfortunate that one man can come in with a plan that was never going to work and single-handedly ruin a beautiful venue.

  • Shit......my uncle took me there to meet barry sheene when he raced trucks when I was about 10 years old....my cousin and I had vip passes somehow, and my defining memory of sheene was sitting a busty blonde on his knee in the vip room and signing her chest :) An amazing day at an amazing venue....such a terrible shame to see it go to shit

  • A national disgrace.

  • @crompton33 what exactly is going to happen with donington park, is the reconfiguration going to happen

  • @crompton33 How?

  • @crompton33 I blame Bernie Ecclestone.

  • lineswine

    Its no longer a conspiracy theory try looking into it before passing judgment

  • Its good to see someone with critical thinking. There are many who condemn without even looking into it.

  • :( i loved doni.

  • this is cause of MXoN

  • It's very sad to see such an amazing riders circuit get into such a state. I really hope somebody comes up with some money and returns this track back to the way it was. I used to love racing here Redgate corner is amazing, my favorite on the circuit.....

  • Look on the bright side, why not film mad max four here? or any part of third world Briton, as its all run down to fuck!

  • @SheepThatBleep Couldn't agree more. Everything here is run on a shoestring and never maintained to a decent standard for long.

  • Don't blame the country, blame the idiots in power, the "business men" and the so called elite.

  • better be ready for the time download comes around. shame to see a great track is such a shitty state.

  • a real shame, just another example of this crap countrys organisation-or lack of. start something and never finish it. prob the olympic 2012 build will go the same way lol. hopefully it will be open again some time....

  • @pigeonbreathhed - The stages only get set up a few days before the festival.

  • Damn, the track is in a state and its sad because you can see how much it was going to be improved by, which now won't happen because of the shoddy way the f1 was handled. Can they even afford the work now they've lost the motogp too?

    Also, 2.12 lap time? pathetic! :P

  • Looks like i should skip download this year.

    Let it get fixed.

    looks like the result of the 2006 download riots.

    lol

  • Download festival is not inside the track like it used to be. Its on one of the fields (to the south i think) But the sad thing is all Live Nation do is hire the grounds so the track gains little money from holding the festival. I'm still going becausr the mighty AC/DC are returning! :D

  • Gonna be in an even worse state once download festival rapes it in june.

  • I work for the company that did that , i was digging all that up , such a shame its a del boy who oned it . i got videos on fsce book of me tearing it up

  • Thank you for the conspiracy theory. Now can you get back to the subject of this video?

  • Eccleston should pay for Donington repair. If he hadn't messed around with Silverstone, Donington wouldn't have attempted to host the Grand Prix.

  • ='(

  • There is a trend in Britain of things not working and falling apart. This is by design. The culprits are organizations like common purpose and career politicians working on behalf of the EU and the globalists.

  • I was there at trucks last summer, so sad to see it now :(

  • Such a shame. Someone better rescue this track quickly.

  • That brings a tear to my eye!

    Something needs to be done.

    :-(

  • oh shit donny wtf

  • I am not much of a motersport fan apart from he F1 but it is so sad seeing it look this bad with living quite near there. Do hope whoever take it over gets it back to its old glory not just for the people around here but for it past glorys and get it back on the racing calander

  • Could you all start spelling it Donington?

  • Brings a tear to your eye.

    Almost as if a bomb as gone off in the place.

  • This really good

  • i dont want a fucking slingbox thankyou

  • Can somebody please stop this nonsense? Why does every great track get Tilkefied for formula pitstop? That man has never ever in his entire life created something raceable...

  • did the dig the tunnel out shown in this video for the F1 teams? I cant remember ever seeing it before in the all times ive been to Donnington!

  • They dug that last year, cut through the water main while they were at it but because everything was turned off no-one noticed.

  • fuck me a piece of history gone forever........Donny park

  • whats going to happen to this track? anyone

  • Tom Wheatcroft must be turning in his grave, it is so sad, the wife and I with our 2 boys spent so many happy days there, our son is now 43yrs old, so we started going to the circuit from the early days, it was such a brilliant circuit.

    We travelled up from South Wales usually on Fridays after work, and left Sunday night after the events. When we were feeling flush we stayed in Sandy-acre with the riders, including Kenny Roberts, Randy Mamola, etc, Its so sad to see the state now.

    Halcyon Days !

  • @willybizz im from stapleford,if you stayed in sandiacre you will know stapleford as its next door,just over the canal bridge.heard some promising things in the local press n im confident it will get sorted.you stay at novatel?

  • Hi

    Yes many times at the Novatel,, and at the Post house as it was , but also took a mobile home there for club races etc. And when we followed the transatlantic from Brands to Mallory then onward to Oulton Park, as I said earlier (Halcyon Days) The Barry Sheene , Steve Parish and Roger Marshall days, etc etc .

    All noted on up-coming news ! lets hope it is good. As it is too good a circuit to trash, though how they are ever going to get some of the races back now ?..... lets hope.

  • The infield lake is a nice feature.

  • The Download festival arena is now held outside the track and has done since 2008. It is now in the fields opposite the main building.

    As much as we (especially us older lot!) miss the inner track festival layout the new one is MUCH better plus the festival director Mr John Probyn has bought the outer shell of the Dunlop tyre and is going to use it as a feature at the Download festival (in some capacity) from this year onwards..

  • Simon Gillett your a bastard

  • what they acctualy doin to the track?

  • Dunno why everyone is saying things like RIP.

    Download Music festival is being held there in June and thats definatly going ahead as tickets are already on sale.

    I know that its a race track first and foremost but if the festival is defo going ahead there then it'll be fixed in time for that at the very least. So all will be well with Donnington in the end

    No need to worry

  • Only thing is it isn't really htere anymore, it's now moved a mile or so away.

  • it is the british race track for f1 this year

  • no its not :S

  • I haven't heard of this. what actually happened to donnington?

  • My god, they have trashed the place! Such a shame. I have good memories of seeing the F1 there in 93 and touring cars in 94 or 95. Hope they can find the money to restore it soon.

  • i am disgusted

  • I blame the banks, Labour, (Gov'ment), and Bernie Ecclestone. Very sad to see it end up like that; very sad.

  • RIP Donington Park... :o(

    Very sad

  • glitchertom- saying isn't doing though i'm afraid. hopefully someone will come and eject some money into donington and repair the mess the idiots that destroyed it made. fingers crossed (yn)

  • Yep! its sad - a bit more of true britain left to rot but the memories of heroes and great races at donington will live 4 ever

    kamrani1400 - fuck off

  • Let's hope a Pheonix can rise from these ashes.

  • Sad I guess,but i'll give you a curly wurly for it

  • I was at the save donington event, and Wheatcroft said they had narrowed the list of investers to just 3, and they are now deciding which of the 3 are best. He also said that donington will only ever be a race circuit, and the cost of repair is about £1.5mil, also he said that they believe that some events could actually happen by the end of this year.

  • @GlitcherTom check out full Kevin wheatcroft interview on my channel

  • And they gonna leave it just like that ??????? So sad!!!!!

  • "dont overreact" as said be for in the uk we are loseing every thing that made britain, great britain. i have be and watched race and bean round there on my motorbike, this is the home of motorsport. hopefully it will be again.

  • @motoxtbat

    Losing not loseing,been not bean. That's enough of the spelling lesson. A couple of pikeys with a lorry load of tarmac will have that fixed in half a day.

  • what a mess. fuck you simon gillett!

  • Where is the Great in our Great Britain.?

    Every other rich country has a super track. We Can't even manage one these days.

    Car insurance is through the roof, Car Tax is astranomical, British Steel is No more, what have we left.?

    Damn even our Great british Car companys are No More. People need to Wake Up, and look beyond there Eyephones, and Granit Work tops and Flash Lexus cars, to see how Shite this country Now is. Very Sad.

  • sad :(

  • obviously "kamrani1400" hasnt got a clue what he is on about you uneducated fool !

  • Was there any need to change anything in the first place, F1 at Silverstone all the bikes at Donington, Watching bikes at this place I think was absolutely magic. Hopefully it will be back as I am sure it will be

  • Well that explains why the Download festival was held in the Car Park last year!

  • THAT WAS IN 08 ACTUALLY...

  • No that was the year they held it out back were the sunday market usually takes place.

  • Who gives a fuck? It didn't happen here.

    (There! How's THAT for a yank attitude "returned to sender"?)

  • Lots of people give a fuck. Think about what's been justified globally since.

  • Obviously an educated response.

  • Comment removed

  • "Since years"?

    English motherfucker, do you speak it?

    (Jules Winfield, Pulp Fiction)

  • ...and they say a bit of burger fat from the (what WAS Monsters Of Rock) festival ruins the track!!!

  • It didn't happen here, so we don't give a toss.

    America has bombed the crap out of whole countries for 50 years & somehow managed to justify it. It seems "away games" are OK>

    You have ONE "home game" & you're still whining about it over 8 years later.

    Suck it up.

  • I'm not American. Surely you can see what's been justified globally since? And no I don't agree with the wars America has fought in the past. Like todays they were based on lies and were for control of resources.

  • Donnington was Bernies bargaining chip .. I don't think he ever really thought it would happen. Gillet has a lot to answer for .. he shouldnt have been able to start carving the place up without all the funding being in place.

  • as long as its the home of metal at Download fest each year, I dont care.

  • Dear Lordweedy

    You obviously have no idea, at all what you are talking about. Blame Bernie all you like - criminal I agree - but don't bring the BRDC into this. The idea that we (I'm a member) somehow pissed on Gillet's matches is ludicrous and FOM (i.e.Bernie) were not likely to impede the funding when they had awarded the contract! Let's have a debate based on some reality.....

  • shocking.

  • This is all Bernie's and Damon Hill's fault. Ever since Donington got the 17 years deal, FOM and BRDC impeded Donington's fund raising.

    I like Silverstone much more than donington, but mrPtholt is right, this is criminal. You can't ruin an historic venue like this based only on some mercantile ground

  • thats just criminal tbh

  • yeah simon gillet is just as bad as ken anderson and peter windsor. one of the best tracks on the planet slaughtered. Bernie has a lot to answer for as well. That old codger should be the one to buy it and sort it out. if he had carried out the correct due diligence then he would have seen their financing was shaky irrespective of the pending recession. truly heart breaking. silentnumbers idea is a corker!!!

  • It was never a place for Formula 1 unfortunately. Simon Gillet should be shot. Silverstone is Britain's track.

  • divide the tarmac into little plots and allow racing fans to buy a plot, and then have a show room showing pictures and certificates of fans who have bought a plot. SAVE DONNINGTON PARK PLEASE.

  • Developers should have the financials in place before they are allowed to proceed :0/

  • saaad times

  • It's Fucked....ooopps

  • Very sad sight. It was almost that bad at the Superleague Formula meeting last year, but not quite. At least the track surface was intact (aside from the subsidence problem at the tunnel rearing its head again). Jonathan Palmer should buy Donington. He's shown MSV really takes care with its circuits and spectator facilities. That knob-end Simon Gillett should fuck off and die.

  • nothing wrong with this track to begin with...why did they have to strike it off as a race circut

  • Simon Gillett you prick.

  • This place should not be allowed to die.

    Was there last sunday and the support shows people feel the same, someone save the place please.

  • Donnington is broken. Sad face :-(

  • :'( this must be sorted.

  • What a crying shame - I've been to Donny a few times, including getting a chance to drive it on a trackday shortly before it shut. It is/was a wonderfully characterful circuit - some legendary corners, quite challenging to get right especially with the gradient. I hope someone can bring it back from the brink; it doesn't look past saving just yet.

  • I'm no cycle man, cars all the way, but this just breaks my heart. I've raced many pc games at Donnington, and love it, such a shame it's been brought to this.