donington owner

Bart · Post by **Bart** » Thu Nov 05, 2009 11:31 pm

the owner of donington park tom wheatcroft passed away on sunday morning age'd 87

not sure what this means for the circuit now as its currently looking like this and simon gilette who leases the grounds apparently has no money.

this is the state of donington park
http://www.sutton-images.com/searchresu ... 323&page=1

i have a mate who works there and they have no bookings for next year so the donington leisure industries ltd may go bust.

RIP Tom thanks for a great track

pablo · Post by **pablo** » Fri Nov 06, 2009 6:54 am

What a joke this whole Grand Prix saga has been:mad:. Can't believe we might loose our playground. Have they dug up any of the track apart from the melbourne loop.

Safety_James · Post by **Safety_James** » Fri Nov 06, 2009 9:45 am

This is a disaster for motorsport in the UK and extremely frustrating for thousands of spectators, competetors and the locals of Donnington.

Having failed to raise the

chrislandy · Post by **chrislandy** » Fri Nov 06, 2009 10:01 am

Such a shame, I loved Donnington

stockcar · Post by **stockcar** » Fri Nov 06, 2009 10:39 am

fairly certain the owners of Di=onnington (mr. Wheatcroft RIP and family) are very financially sound - however the Gillett chap has turned into a muppet and no doubt caused a lot of damage, etc. to both the reputation and infrastructure of the track..........

no doubt a legal action will ennsue to repair the "wilful damage" ow whatever legal jargon it is when a tenant acts irresponsibly

Bart · Post by **Bart** » Fri Nov 06, 2009 10:59 am

Pablo the track has been taken up in small places from coppice (blind right) all the way down to the essis before start finish straight

james alot of people have said it may be JP but the wispers are at donington is that it may be a certian MR BE for F1 reasons and he has always wanted his own track in the uk, watch this space.

me and the guy from work recons it'll take about

Gerry H · Post by **Gerry H** » Fri Nov 06, 2009 11:41 am

I don't have a clue about the finances of the Wheatcroft family but by the time Gordon Bennet and his Little Darlin' hit them for death duties and inheritance tax they'll be a darn sight poorer.

Interesting to think that BE could step in as the saviour of Donnington and the British GP having engineered the financialy crippling contest in the first place. Just why does BE have such a downer on Silverstone? Does he have no consideration for motor sport heritage? If the governing body is looking to cut team budgets and operational costs what's the sense in not having this local derby? Most of the teams are UK based so the British GP must seem a cheap weekend for them.

Safety_James · Post by **Safety_James** » Fri Nov 06, 2009 12:08 pm

Well said Gerry, it does make more sense with outline budget costs for 2010, 2011 and so on, and with Bernie wanting to run 20 GP races in a year as stated yesterday, having a round here seems essential.

Much cheaper travel costs, accommodation, haulage and so on.

I don't think the issue between BE and Silverstone lies with the circuit itself more failing to come to an agreement with the operators at the BRDC and BE requirements.

For Donny, whatever happens, whoever owns it, we will get Donnington Back i believe.

Post by **Stuart** » Fri Nov 06, 2009 6:00 pm

James_s wrote: we will get Donnington Back

I bloody hope you're right mate. For a facility such as that to be put in jeopardy is quite awful. As long as the spectators and drivers are given equal priority alongside the money, I couldn't give a monkeys who buys it, as long as it's not McAlpine or Wimpey sodding homes.

Mr Fletcher · Post by **Mr Fletcher** » Wed Feb 03, 2010 7:28 am

http://savedonington.co.uk/