Shame, but as you say not surprising MrP - was amazed last weekend to see no visible improvements seemed to have been carried out… but you trackday people probably saw more out there on the circuit?
This is not a surprise to me as I am intending to rent the circuit for a weekend in September for a mojor promoted race meeting and I am therefore pretty much “in the loop”. However I probably know more than makes the headlines or than Bernie is prepared to ‘come clean’ on. The dispute is brought abour by another wrangle that is NOT being reported. Tom Wheatcroft is a great bloke and a cunning old B (read his book “Thunder in the Park” to find out more). I heard an intersersting quote from him very recently that basically sums up the mistrust that can be built up between two businessmen on a determined course.
On a slightly different tack, I was assured in writing on Tuesday of this week that the FIA, MSA and the contractors, Tilke, were now all working in unison to solve the track licence problem. This is a different issue to BGP but I’d bet my house that there will be racing at Donington in 2010 even if it does not host the BGP.
All IMHO of course.
Unfortunately Mr Ecclestone has been trying to get rid of the UK GP for ages, I’m reliably informed. I’m sure this is part of a master plan!
Mark
[quote=MarkPH]Unfortunately Mr Ecclestone has been trying to get rid of the UK GP for ages, Mark
[/quote]
That’s not quite right Mark. he’s been trying to take the GP off the BRDC and Silverstone for years. Long before the Donington agreement he offered it to BH but they simply couldn’t get planning permission.
The spat with the BRDC goes back to the days when JYS was president - Ecclestone and Stewart hate each other. Ecclestone always considered the BRDC to be a bunch of bearded and blazered anoraks - and still does. The final straw came when BE moved the BGP into the early part of the season and, surprise, surprise it was wet and foggy. BE’s pilot had to land his helicopter outside of the circuit and, as BE didn’t have the right passes he couldn’t get into the circuit for some time. He never forgave them for that.
Bernie beleived that Octogan, who owned most of the British circuits in the early noughties (and were subject of Competition Commission Enquiry), would sort out Silvertsone and bring it into the 21st cenury, but they pulled out when they realised that Bernie pocketed all the money. They left $20million in the pot that rebuilt the roads around the circuit - the other $40m had come from the BRDC and Bernie’s FOA (Formula One Administration) company.
In many ways he is quite philanthropic these days and, for example, gives 4% of his total income to Ferrari to keep them on the grid. He is currently offering to back 3 new teams into F1 when (if) the �30million annual budget limit per team comes into force. One of them is Aston Martin. Pity he didn’t feel he same about Lotus. But that’s the problem with philanthropists - they call the tune and if your face doesn’t fit…
No, Bernie is not against the BGP, he is simply against the BRDC and Silverstone. I belive that Bernie genuinely does want Donington to succeed and I belive that there is little chance of it going back to Silverstone without some very heavy smoking of the peace pipe.
Let’s hope that you are right - there’s more & more talk of no British GP at the moment.
What if none of the banks back Donington???
Cheers for the info - a good read.
Mark