From 2010 , the British round of the MotoGP Championship (6th June 2010 provisionally) will move to the Silverstone circuit from it’s long-time home at Donnington. Katie Tyler from Silverstone was interviewed by Julian Ryder & Toby Moody on British Eurosport during the Donnington MotoGP 125cc practice session. She certainly seemed to be plugged in to the needs of the corporates; noting several times that the facilities had to be worthy of the event. What there was very little mention of was what was going to be done to the circuit itself. There were the obvious and expected references to moving some of the barriers and improving rider safety which they have to do anyway, but nothing about improving the circuit for motorcycle racing.
Now Donnington has apalling access and some of pretty poor facilities, but you could almost live with that because of the racing. It’s a circuit like Mallory or Cadwell that’s ideal for bike racing. Silverstone on the other is not, despite its “history” and prior associations with the sport.
Apparently Jeremy Mcwilliams is “helping” with the circuit redesign, but with far less time available than Donnington have to accomodate its F1 duties, it can’t ammount to much. From their own press release.
“Alterations will be made to the circuit layout in order to comply with FIM regulations, while improvements to several spectator viewing areas are also planned. Full details of all track and venue changes will be announced in due course.”
Ryder commented aout Donnington that “The only bit we’ll miss is the first half of the lap”. Many will agree, including myself, but I don’t see how Silverstone circuit can offer racing that will be anywhere near as exciting as we’ve seen from Donnington. The lack of elevation doesn’t help, but Silverstone doesn’t flow.
I certainly don’t agree with the “very reassuring” summary from Julian Ryder on the move overall. We heard from Kate Tyler that “it’s not just about the racing”. I agree, but without sufficiently exciting racing you have no event, and the efforts spent on improving the facilities are ultimately pointless.
What I heard was akin to a verbal press release to appeal to events managers and corporate buyers, extoling the virtues of the current and to be delivered Silverstone facilities and infrastructure.
What’s doubly disappointing is that Donnington are making major improvements to accomodate F1, which aside from access and camping would go along way to improve the circuit for paying fans. The rework for the new Donnington circuit looks good for racing! The 2010 Donnington track map shows how they’re reengineering the whole “second half” of the track. Though it wouldn’t be hard to improve the circuit from Mclean’s; it looks like the penalty of the revised infield layout will be much more restricted movement for the public. Is it just me though that thinks that the first half of the lap will be alot less spectacular for the F1 cars than it is for bikes; with a single file procession through Craner and Starkey’s? Overall though Donnington look to be raising their game to meet the needs of their new arrivals, Silverstone is yet to put forward any clear plans.
I hope both circuits can pull it off. As it stands (as long as Donnington meets its deadlines) the future of F1 racing as an exciting spectacle looks more assured on British soil than the future of MotoGP.
