Donington Park CEO Simon Gillett has outlined how the circuit plans to transform itself into the new home of the British Grand Prix from 2010 – a challenge he insists it will meet.
As the dust settles following last week’s shock announcement that the British round of the championship will switch from its traditional home at Silverstone to Donington in two years’ time, attention has now turned to how the Leicestershire track will carry out its promised £100 million revamp.
Joint CEO Gillett had already acknowledged that the 2.5-mile circuit would have to be altered to accommodate F1 cars, while also vowing to retain its iconic sections such as the Craner Curves.
Gillett has now revealed that the changes include the creation of a half-mile infield loop linking the Melbourne hairpin with the current start/finish straight to extend the lap.
“Off the Melbourne loop, instead of going around Goddards corner and 180 degrees onto the start/finish straight, you’ll go straight on and do a half-mile loop before going back onto the start/finish straight,” he told Autosportmagazine.
The magazine reports that the track changes, which will be overseen by F1’s resident designer Hermann Tilke, could also include the bypassing of the chicane at the end of the back straight to create a longer run to the tight Melbourne hairpin.
In addition, the pit and paddock complex – which in its present guise is too small to house modern-day F1 teams, trucks and equipment – would be moved and a new complex built on the inside of the back straight.
Another hurdle that will need to be cleared before the parkland circuit is ready to host the 2010 event is access to the venue, with just a single-lane road connecting it to the M1 motorway and the yearly MotoGP event already beset by heavy traffic jams
And while a Silverstone-style bypass has been mooted, Gillett says extensive park and ride schemes will be in operation to manage the traffic flow.
“We have acquired the right to a lot of new sites as well within walking distance, which means we don’t bring everyone into the Park,” he said.
“There’s going to be a lot of park-and-ride and park-and-walk so were not bringing them all into one place.”
While the proposals have yet to reach the planning officers at the local council, Gillett has said the track’s master plan will be unveiled soon and that work will start on the upgrades in the autumn.
“We close the circuit [every year] from October to March expect for testing, and we’re going to be doing the same this year,” he told the magazine.
“During that period we’re going to be doing all the works that need to be done to the track to bring us up to FIA standard.”
However uncertainly remains over how the ambitious project will be financed.
The circuit initially said in a statement last week that the funding would be led by a private investor, before Gillett suggested to ITV Sport over the British GP weekend that it would come from a debenture scheme, or long-term bond.
Gillet, though, insists that the transformation of Donington will come off as promised.
“You don’t enter a contract with Bernie Ecclestone without thinking about it long and hard,” he said.
“We are ready.” |
