Donington GP

Donington’s a cracking circuit, but it’s let down badly by its stone-age facilities. The ticket situation was a farce. Despite being promised that the tickets had been sent out recorded delivery and taking two half days off work to catch the postie, I was then told: ‘sorry – the tickets weren’t in the post, collect them at the circuit’. Who’s going to reimburse me for the postage I paid for and the two half days lost?

We arrived on Wednesday evening, no probs getting in and a prompt shuttle service to get us and our camping gear to the site was really appreciated. I’m amazed though that there seems to have been no investment whatsoever in decent toilets/showers. The portaloos are fine for fairgrounds, but are they really up to standard for a circuit hosting such major events? No.

Worse though, were the dirty ba….ds who thought it was fine to leave sh*t and vomit all over the seats and doors (you know who you are – shame on you!).

The weather wasn’t great, but hey – it’s England, it’s expected. You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to come prepared with wet weather gear. Though the management should have listened to the farmer who offered to put down straw BEFORE it got so muddy – hope they learn a lesson there!

The food was fine – if you want gourmet, go to a restaurant – and there was plenty of it. The racing was excellent, enjoyed every single second of it. The atmosphere was brilliant, everyone was in a great mood and I’ll definitely come again.

No probs leaving the circuit, lots of help offered to get all the camping gear back to the car, and when we left at around 7pm there was no queue to leave. Please though, would the management invest in good facilities? Compared to many of the other circuits hosting MotoGP, Donington is a joke.

Making investments in the circuit will benefit management in the long term. I also wonder what Health and Safety would think of the ducktape holding parts of the uncovered grandstand together – perhaps it should just be called ‘stand’ as it wasn’t at all ‘grand’.

Finally, a big thanks to all the riders for helping with the auction for ‘Riders’ and to James Toseland for being so patient after hundreds of requests for autographs and pictures – really appreciated!