Ducati Sporting Club UK > General > Idle Chat > Donington Lose MotoGP to Silverstone in 2010

[Ray]

Neither Silverstone or Donnington are up to the mark IMHO.

Silverstone is 3 miles wide and the speccys are so far back they ought to provide binoculars.

Donnington is better viewingwise but the facilities such as the loos and access are dark age stuff.

If I had to I'd choose Donnington every day of the week for motoGP.......and watch it on TV at home where the facilities are better

Now WSBK has been canned at Brands I won't be going to watch any world championship stuff live in the UK this year.

Ray.

[mat2hew]

I love donington, Donington is one of the best tracks in the country, I even like the soon to be gone melbourn bit, I did a couple of track days there last year and I love the place, like brands hatch It's a riders track, It doesn't matter to me if its pouring down with rain and i'm standing up to my knees in mud, or if I have to walk 2 miles to the toilets, if I can see the racing, it's always good racing at donington!, If you were to go back to the good old days of racing all tracks were like that, families went and took packed lunches and had a good day out, I think people expect too much these days.

[phillc]

Having ridden both tracks I can say that Silverstone is flat and a bit dull. Donington has some great elevation changes.

From a spectator view point, I've never been to watch anything at Silverstone, and can only imagine that it's only possible to see one little part of the track from each vantage point.

Stand under the Spitfire at Donington and you have a great view of a lot of track! Although, all that might change with the all the upgrade works going on. I don't know enough about them to comment.

[skidlids]

I have only been to Donington for the GP once and wasn't that impressed. I have a lot better memories of Silverstone having watched Sheene Vs Roberts, Fast Freddie on the 250 and 500, Anton Mang and Quite a few others at the Northants circuit.

For the past few years we have started our season at Silverstone with a early trackday to blow the cob webs out before the DD series gets under way and this year is no different as I have just booked 4 places for Sunday March the 1st

[Jools]

Originally Posted by mat2hew

If you were to go back to the good old days of racing all tracks were like that, families went and took packed lunches and had a good day out, I think people expect too much these days.

That is indeed true. By the same token the whole family in those days wouldn't have had to fork out £45 for anybody over 12 years old, and they'd probably have had enough space to sit on the grass for their picnic instead of spending the day trying to stop themselves from sliding down the bank at the Foggy Esses.

I must be getting old, but for £45 I want to be able to sit somewhere reasonably comfortable, I want a burger van and a bar within an easy stroll instead of fighting my way through crowds and I want toilets where I'm not up to my knees in ****.

Silverstone has got that sorted much better than Donington, but as others have said it's not such a good circuit for actually seeing the action.

It's a shame. Let's hope that the improvements at Donington bring it up to scratch - all they need to do at the Foggy Esses is get a JCB to cut some terraces in the bank...can't be that hard

[NBs996]

Foggy Esses are gone Jools! It's going to be a straight line all the way from Coppice to Melbourne Hairpin, with hardstanding for scaffold seating from where the Esses were all the way down the loop.
At least it'll be flat so you don't slide down the bank!

[antonye]

Big changes ahead at Donington, so it makes you wonder how much of it you will still see once it's complete:
http://www.donington-park.co.uk/file...aster_plan.pdf

[WeeJohnyB]

Ah well, that's the last MotoGP I'll be going to for a while. I've ridden Silverstone many a time and although too wide and too flat, it's a great circuit - fast and flowing apart from the Mickey mouse chicane (do you think MotoGP will stand for this crappy corner- I suspect they will do the old circuit) and I don't think they let us mere mortals use the full Abbey corner (could have the name wrong) as it's very fast knee down on a bike - awesome. I much prefer Donny as a riders track and it's a favourite of Rossi and many others (in the dry that is).

However, we all know Silverstone is dreadful for watching - just too far from the action. In saying that, it's a great atmosphere if you are in the section from Bridge as you get to see one of the best bits of the track for overtaking and it's close to the end of the lap and it's a bit lieka football/rugby crowd atmosphere, bit like Brands, just a bit too far away to see the bikes close up. I like some others, respect families and campers want different things to me, but I want to 'see' the racing, smell the bikes, hear the engines, see the slides etc - watching Shakey on the 'Prilla' at Foggy Esses as he wrestled with that machine was a sight to be seen -you could see him twist the throttle, change his feet position, change gear, come out of the corner still lent over but on one wheel leaving a darkie and hear the 'boom' as he changed gear, utterly awesome every time he came around - at Silverstone, you'd be lucky to tell if the rider is on a Honda or Suzuki. And to top it all, I'll have to watch it on the BBC with their second rate commentary.

Ah well, that's progress

WeeJohnyB

[Steve B]

Silverstone - paid to watch racing there once, never again. Nothing to do with the dismal weather at the Bike GP in 86 when Garner won in fine style, its just flat and boring.
Donington used be OK (Transatlantic '86+'87, and early years of WSB, when you could sit on the concrete walls almost at trackside) then H&S went barmy and the fences moved back far enough to require the purchase of a 2x converter for my zoom lens.
Living only 70miles from Donington we used to set off at 6 and be at trackside for 7, watch the full program, chill out till the queues and plod had dispersed then ride carefully home on clear roads.
Only been once in recent years, to see and hear the first visit of the desmosedici.

All our Motorcycle World Championship rounds should be at Brands, or back on the Isle of Man.

[NBs996]

Originally Posted by WeeJohnyB

...I don't think they let us mere mortals use the full Abbey corner (could have the name wrong) as it's very fast knee down on a bike - awesome.

Blimey, really?
Abbey, flat out left before Bridge, used that bit the one and only time I've ridden Silverston back in 2004... loved it, one of only two good corners on the whole gp track imho. Shame if it's had a nasty h&s sticker planted on it.