Gav80

Lol - and with the price of petrol, it'd double the price you paid for the ticket too! I know what you're saying about Silverstone, but as I said, they are meant to be building a new pit & paddock complex and have planning already approved (something that Donington, worryingly, does not) - whether or not they bother if they're not going to be hosting the GP is anyone's guess though. But the point is that that would fix the worst of the problems with Silverstone. If they then just spent a bit more on building some new (permanent!!) grandstands and paving over the grass banks (which I can assure you from personal experience get very muddy and slippery when it's wet) then the place really would be top notch. And at less than half of the cost of Donington is planning. The nice thing about Donington on a bike though is if you're parked on the infield and have to go through the tunnel under the back straight - don't know if you've ever done that, but when it's packed out wall to wall with bikes the noise is great! Although the heat and the fumes can get a bit overpowering... Lol

Okay, I stand corrected on the circuit lengths, but I still think that there's no way Donington can play host to F1. I hear they've promised a £100million revamp for the track, but is that really feasible? Why not redo Silverstone, which would cost a fraction of the amount - and bear in mind that Silverstone already has planning permission for a new pit and paddock complex between the Club and Abbey corners, has all the space the teams need, and has the traffic and parking issues solved. I agree the BRDC have been a pain and have frequently promised upgrades that haven't appeared, but all it needs is a new promoter for the race. The BRDC say F1 was bankrupting them anyway, so I'm sure they'd agree to lease the circuit (which they own) to another company who could stage the event. I'm not saying the race should be left in the hands of the BRDC, I'm saying Silverstone is far and away the best race circuit in the UK when it comes to staging an F1 race. Donington just can't compete - which is why they've had to promise such a major overhaul of the track and facilities. How are they going to make that work though? This is a private enterprise, so they're in it to make a profit. Silverstone couldn't do it even without a £100million refurb, so how are Donington going to do the revamp and still turn a profit? Just how much are F1 tickets going to be for the fans?? They're obscenely expensive even now! And as for Canada... fun track, maybe, but any circuit where the road falls apart during the course of a GP weekend (as at the Casino hairpin this year) should never be allowed to stage a major motor-racing event, never mind Formula 1. For all Silverstone gets slated, it's actually by no means the worst track on the F1 calendar - Montreal and Interlagos spring instantly to mind as being far worse, as does the Hungaroring and Monaco, and the recently-axed Indianapolis and Imola. Monza and Spa aren't much better either. I still think it's a game by Bernie to squeeze more money out of the British GP - they currently pay one of the lowest fees to stage the race. In 1999, Brands Hatch was announced as "the new home of the British GP" from 2002 onwards, with a contract signed and everything, and we know what happened there.

Donington is just too small for F1 cars. I like the circuit and it's great for bikes and touring cars (which can handle a bit of contact when they try to overtake), but F1 cars simply won't have room to pass each other anywhere there, even with the Melbourne Loop section of the track. "Races" would be even more processional than Monaco or Hungary. The track is also too short (2.5 miles, inc Melbourne Loop - the only other F1 track shorter than 3 miles is Monaco) so a lap there is going to be very quick, meaning lots of issues with lapped traffic. The paddock at Donington (newly refurbished) is too small for F1 teams with the vast amount of equipment they bring to a race. Traffic getting into the circuit is a nightmare - last time I was at Donington was for a Renault World Series race in September last year and it took over two hours to do the last ten miles into the track. Compare that with Silverstone (often slated for its parking and traffic problems) - I've been at the GP this weekend, and the longest we queued on any of the three days was about ten mins. Silverstone is a great place to race at - very fast and challenging, with several places to overtake - and the circuit is twice the size of Donington with more facilities and better traffic links... The Renault World Series moved to Silverstone this year, away from Donington, for precisely those reasons. Donington, much as I like it, just won't be able to host modern F1. I suspect it's all a ploy by Bernie Ecclestone to make Silverstone cough up more money to keep the race once the current deal expires at the end of next year. I know "a contract has been signed" with Donington, but no-one knows what that contract actually says, and let's not forget that Russia, India, Mexico etc all have contracts to stage F1 races... but none of them actually do!

To make a more positive contribution to solving the global vodka surplus problem, which is becoming more critical than ever before...

In no particular order: - Top Gear - Have I Got News For You - Spooks - 24

Now you mention it, it could have been something like that... I wasn't really listening to be honest - I never bother once she starts talking!

So is this what you meant by "with benefits"...? And you said it was special, not me... I thought it was all very run of the mill really, but there you go.... *ducks* EDIT: Thinking about it, if he's paying for a trip to Spa, can I come too...? Err... you are talking about the motor-racing circuit in Belgium, right...?

Hang on, you're dating Rabbi now? What about me? I thought what we had was special?? [/trying to turn this into an "I'm Spartacus" thread]

I can believe it's the most over-used word of the year, yeah!

Ciao!!! (Let's see how many Eddie Izzard fans are here to understand that one...)

I was playing with a 280-tonne one the other day. That had counterweights on separate lorries too. It was only lifting about 10 tonnes, but it was a very long radius!!

I think we should all get to drive cranes around - then you can just pick up the traffic in front of you and move it out of your way! What size is that, Tinker? 50 tonne? 80? Somewhere there anyway, I presume, since it's on three axles...

... Err... Why am I being attributed to that post? I never said that - it was xG5kdo who said that in the post above mine...

I didn't bother teaching you about football (the real kind - known to you as "soccer"), because it's a pointless game that should be left to the girls! Real men play rugby... There... That should be enough to light a pretty big fire!! Lol

This weekend, I'll actually be driving a Ferrari 360... And last week, I drove an Aston Martin DB9... And sometime next year I have a voucher to use to spend a day driving a Ferrari F430, Porsche 911 Turbo, Subaru Impreza WRX, and Lotus Exige too... :D