Donington unveals upgrade plans

[WhiteBlue]

We all know the evil ways of Mr. E. That is nothing new. Those who constantly complain about Mr. E's business ethics forget that F1 races have their own market place. I do not know any business that would refuse to take money which they can take legitimely. CVC is not a charity but a business in the private equity sector. Those guys typically go for 25 to 25,000% of profit taking. So those are the realities and moaning about it will not change anything.

Things being as they are one has to ask what should be done. My opinion is that Britain needs that Grand Prix and more than Australia needs one. They have a leadership in a high tech manufacturing industry to loose and Britain doesn't have an awefull lot of those. Unfortunately the BRDC has screwed up for 20 years and will not be given another chance. The government and the British based teams would probably do good to sort this out somehow.

[Ciro Pabón]

Inspired by more pragmatic posts (hi, WB!) I dared to post something I posted at other sites where I have less responsibilities. I edited heavily the post, because Tomba could fire me... [-o<

New venue for F1 Racing to be considered instead of Donington

By Ciro "Sparrow" Pabón, forum surrealist annoyance

Bernie Ecclestone tried to take us to his office today, but we resisted. We know the kind of friends this guy has.

However, we couldn't avoid to be handled a press release that informs the world that Mr. Midget is in talks with a Somali warlord who promised to pay 15.000.000 dollars in small bills plus a whole unopened container cargo and 10.000 tons of crude oil, still aboard a ship, for a race in Mogadishu. Ecklestone commented: "If this deal doesn't give Stewart a heart attack, nothing will do".

Somali authorities think this race will bring in more revenue, as some boats might be attracted to the country coastline. Mr. Ecclestone said: "Everything went fine. I feel like twin souls with those guys. They are not afraid to negotiate with a hard hand".

[xpensive]

After seeing those empty stands, where around the track there were any stands, in the desert yesterday, anything goes.

[WhiteBlue]

"Everything went fine. I feel like twin souls with those guys. They are not afraid to negotiate with a hard hand".

Excellent, Ciro!! The old pirate would run a race in Antarctica with 2 million penguins as spectators if someone had a mind to build a track and pay him 60 mil $ for it.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogqRK6Esn3g[/youtube]

Just to show how absurd things can get, have a look at the snow demo in Dubai. This happened under the shadow of the worlds tallest Building Burj Dubai (840 m). Money talks.

More on topic I just read that Donnington is in trouble even deeper as they are in danger to loose planning permission. Apparently they have not prepared a trafic management plan in time as they are obliged by the deal with the counsil.

Further update about Bernie in the Times:

There were renewed doubts about the future of the British Grand Prix this weekend when it emerged that the track operator at Donington Park, which is supposed to host the race from next year, is being sued for unpaid rent by the owner. Until now, Ecclestone has been adamant that he will never return to Silverstone, which stages this year's race, if Donington is not ready.

However, the billionaire told The Times that he will talk to Silverstone again if the circuit can show that it can upgrade its facilities. “If they were to do what they should have done, and what we've been asking them to do for five years, we'd have to have a look at it,” he said. “We've got nothing against Silverstone.”

This is substancially different to what was said before. Unless I'm mistaken the BRDC was to implement the update plan and have received planning permission from both counsils for the work. I wonder what is the status of this.

[Scuderia_Russ]

Donington really is falling to bits, not only in respect to the architecture but the complete management structure by the looks of things. At a race last week in the Radical UK Championship a car that was on fire pulled up at a marshals post because but they didn't have any fire extinguishers! The car was gutted apparently.