Martin Galpin | Racing Driver | number66.net

The 2010 British Grand Prix isn’t going to happen and somebody has to say it. The sooner we realise this the better we will all be. The 2010 season will go down in history as a dark year for the British as the once epicentre of world motorsport loses its Grand Prix after 62 years.

Let’s hope that my prophecy is wrong. Maybe Simon Gillett and his team will emerge as the saviours of the British Grand Prix. Maybe, but I don’t think so and this is why.

1. TunnelGate

Have you ever looked back with the benefit of hindsight and thought to yourself that something that happened along the way should have warned you of the outcome? Well, I have and I think this is good example of another.

Construction work on the tunnel between McLean’s and Coppice began on the weekend of February 7th and 8th. The rationale was simple: to stop construction traffic crossing the circuit and to keep the circuit operational whilst the extensive and elaborate circuit modifications were completed.

Copyright © Malcom Edeson.

Copyright © al_green.

The only problem was, nobody thought it through. Every single kid in the world knows how much easier it is to take something apart than it is to put it back together again.  And that was the problem. When they had finished constructing the tunnel, they neglected to reinstate the run-off, instead placing the barriers (also now part of the structural integrity of the tunnel) quite literally feet from the track.

Copyright © al_green.

It was the following weekend that I first had an opportunity to drive the new section of track. It took just one pass for me and my colleagues to know it wasn’t safe. Ultimately, I guess that what’s most disturbing about this whole episode. It is the fact that nobody involved in the construction, the circuit management, architects and builders thought so too.

Unsurprisingly, the Motor Sports Association (MSA) refused to grant Donington Park a license for 2009 on safety grounds until modifications were made to rectify the problem. This caused the first major casualty of the works and the British Formula Three and British GT meeting was postened until July.

None the less, by the time the British Tourng Car Championship round in May came around, the track was ammended and the MSA granted Donington Park the necessary permit for racing.

2. TunnelGate Returns

The most recent episode in the TunnelGate fiasco occurred last weekend when I was at the circuit for the BRSCC Midland South Formula Ford 1600 championship. It was raining, heavily, but not severely. I have raced in worse and what’s more, I have also worked at Donington Park in conditions just as bad.

The problems started around midday when track activities were postponed whilst the MSA Clerks assessed the flooding of the circuit between McLean’s and Coppice (the location of the new tunnel). The area of new track had become a large, two inch deep puddle. The organising club and the MSA officials did everything they could to get track activities resumed but after bringing in a pump to remove the standing water, the (reinstated) run-off subsided and the Clerks finally relented and cancelled the meeting.

The official line printed in Autosport magazine was that the build up of water was caused by a drainage pipe that had been crushed during the earlier construction works. Plausible, but I don’t think that’s the whole truth. Sources at the meeting hinted that the new surface was absolutely flat with no crown (and therefore provided no natural drainage) and that the tarmac used was of an unusually poor quality.

3. The Recession and an Ambiguous Business Model

Pitpass has published a series of great articles on the business of chief executive Simon Gillett and his company, Donington Ventures Leisure Ltd. (DVL). Upon it’s announcement, the £100 million redevelopment was to be funded by an anonymous, private investor. It later emerged that a proposed deal with sports marketing giant IMG and investment bank Goldman Sachs was withdrawn when the bank was unable to justify the £100 million investment in the current economic climate – despite Gilletts optmisitic projections of a £175 million return over 10 years.

Since that time Gillett claims he has another individual debenture scheme with predictions worth £140 million. The bottom line is that if Gillett and DVL can’t raise the necessary funds within the next month, construction work will cease and ultimately, the British Grand Prix will be lost.

4. Welsh Local Motorsport Centre of Excellence

Simon Gillett’s previous venture was an attempt to establish a Local Motorsport Centre of Excellence in South Wales on disused mining land around Garn-yr-Erw. The “world class” facility would have created around 200 local jobs and included a 60-room hotel, conference centre and off-road facilities.

However, after his Innovate Motorsport (note that this company is now in liquidation) failed to secure the necessary planning permission (sound familiar?), Gillett vowed to move the programme to a site in the Midlands (Donington Park) with £30 million of investment. A year later and six months after Gillett sold his share in the company Innovate Motorsport went bust owing £200,000 to its creditors.

My own sources close to event security firm Mckenzie Arnold, who recently pulled their staff from operating at the facility, confirm allegations of unpaid bills related back as far as 2008. Taken in the context of fresh BBC allegations that contract catering firm Eclipse Catering are currently owed £46,000 by DVL (having been involved with Donington Park for almost eight years) and rent arrears with the landowners,  it does little to calm fears that Donington Ventures Leisure wont share the same fate as its predecessor.

5. Local Infrastructure

In 2002, a £56 million pound investment was made to improve the main arterial route to Silverstone – the A43. With four lanes of dual carriage-way traffic leading to its gate, Silverstone is better equipped than any other circuit in the country to deal with the influx of traffic that a Grand Prix creates.

Donington Park on the other hand, is not. Whilst DVL will tell you Donington Park lies central between the M1, A42, A50 and not far from the M42, the fact remains that it requires miles of single carriage way road to reach the circuits gate.

Should Gillett and his team defy the odds and the 2010 British Grand Prix actually goes ahead,  it could well be 2011 before anybody actually gets out.

6. Timescales

Even if the required investment is made in time for construction to begin, my final reservations lie in whether or not there is in fact enough time for construction to be completed before the Grand Prix in twelve months time. Bernie Ecclestone recently imposed a September deadline for the inspection of progress and as somebody who visits Donington Park regularly, with the exception of the new Tunnel and the removal of the iconic Dunlop bridge, nothing much has changed. And given the FIA deadline for track inspection of April 1st, necessary to grant Donington Park the type of license required to host a Grand Prix, the chances of completing the elaborate redevelopments seems increasingly slim.

Time until FIA Donington Park Deadline:
in 17 days, 9 hours, 53 minutes, 45 seconds

The Bottom Line

Honestly, I hope I am wrong. If Gillett and his team deliver on their promises then the British Grand Prix will continue to prosper for years to come. However, the alternative is bleak and I fear that in out manoeuvring Silverstone and the BRDC, Mr Ecclestone may well inadvertantly deprive Britain of our blue ribband event and ultimately damage the motorsport industry.

Motor sport contributes an estimated £5 billion annually to the UK economy and much of that depends on the Formula One teams and ancillary suppliers which are based here. Without a Grand Prix and despite the potential of two different British World Champions in succession, it seems unlikely that Britain can sustain its position as the centre of motor sports technology, innovation and culture.

Related posts:

1. The Donington Park Farce
2. In an alternate reality, would we still have Lewis Hamilton?
3. Where does all the money go?
4. London 2012: How much funding should Olympic sports receive?
5. Vote for me in the Grand Prix Shootout!