BTCC Donington Park - 26 Sept

[SNH]

Anyone going?

[Phoenix1]

yeah - on my billy at moment - gutted. Will be up for F1 at 6am until 9am then down to donny prob in time for end of race one. Really want to see the masters though. If anyone fancys a meet up just message me! It's a busy day - when i get home it's champcar from the video as well!

[avro]

Totally pi*!ed off, drove up to Donnington this morning on M1, queued for an hour before reaching the services roundabout, by that time the first BTCC race was due to start, along with many others then turned round to watch last race on TV at home, yet again BTCC parking will not see me go for another few years, somebody at Donnington is going to get my tickets back for a refund !!!!, who else suffered ?.

[Craig]

Whattime did you leave home?

[PaulSands]

I left Grantham at 7:45 this morning and got into the circuit around 9:20..they were already queuing. By lunchtime it was close to Moto GP chaos as people were abandoning taxi trips and cars to leg it to the airport with their luggage...one very good reason why the British GP will NEVER be at Donington...personally I think it needs sorting. I know the market is their bread & butter but I really think for bigger meetings it ought to be suspended (as it was for MotoGP...so maybe it mnakes no difference as that was mental)

[avro]

I know we were late leaving at 7.30am but at 11.20 to still be sitting on the M1 slip road is out of order, I agree with Paul, people not going to the racing were running dragging luggage to try to get flights.

[Craig]

hmmm... it takes me 2.5 hours to reach that turning when we're on a Yorkshire run. And we would leave at 0430 or 0500hrs. And I am closer than Kent...

Sorry, but common sense suggests a big meeting like this will require additional journey time or an alternative route. Have you ever tried the M40/M42/A42 approach? Always seems a much much easier way to get to Donington when there's a bigger meeting on.

[avro]

The words 'teach your grandmother to suck eggs' come to mind, I do this journey twice a week, including tommorrow, it takes me 2.75 hours with out fail, when we race it only takes 3 hours towing a car.

Sorry but the standards set by UK organisers for big events stinks, why do you think Silverstone had to build a massive dual carridgway frmo both M1 and M40.

Event organisers in patricular BTCC struggle to satisfy the demands of spectators getting to events, in the 1990's we often spent 2 hours trying to exit Brands, Thruxton etc, hence why I haven't been to a BTCC meeting for 5 years.

If I had left at 6.00am and got to circuit for 9.00am then left at 7.00pm after racing, then 2.75 hours home, only to leave again at 5.50 am for work, then no thanks, I'll tune in to Motors TV and keep my money in my pocket.

Rant over

[TimD]

I think I arrived at Junction 23A just as the queue reached critical mass. 9.40 sailed happily off the sliproad, got caught 10 car-lengths from the roundabout and by the time I'd passed Donington Park services the queue was onto the motorway.

That being said, part of the problem was the temporary lights on that roundabout. They had a change sequence measured in seconds and they were going from "red" to "off" to "red" for traffic exiting the motorway. That's the police, not the organisers who need to address that. May not have been the whole problem by any stretch of the imagination, but it can't have helped.

Also, I noticed the queue in from the A453 eastbound seemed short and quick. Perhaps the A5 or M42 might be a good dodge for the future?

[rdjones]

I heard one or two people saying that they didn't arrive until nearly lunchtime. Even though I live just about an hour away from Donington I was away from here at about 6.45 and drove straight in to the track at just before 8am.

I have to say that I thought getting out of the track might be a bit of knightmare tonight, but I left the track at about 6.40 and I was home by 8pm.

[Alfaholic]

Donington's problem seems to be the lack of a dual carriageway frm the M1 to the circuit, combined with the East Midlands Airport traffic.

Silverstone used to be horrendous at the end of a busy meeting, now it's superb.

Once the racing finished today I sat in the car reading Autosport and watching the traffic not moving. Why do people think that they'll get out faster if they start a new queue if the one they're in isn't moving?

[Carrie]

As I get to Donington off the A50, I go through Donington village which was no problem and I got to the circuit at 10:00. It seemed that the main road was already a problem by then, don't know if anything had happened, but when I got to the circuit, there was nothing coming along the main road from the motorway direction.

As for getting out, stayed to chat for a while and then there was a bit of a queue, but nothing to write home about.

[PaulSands]

Of course one point is that despite us regulars knowing some of the back routes (regardless of me being a dork and assuming the main route would be clear when I got there) that can never be the answer, we cant expect the surrounding villages to put up with the volume of traffic they would see if more people took those routes.

[SNH]

Left home at 10, got to the circuit at 10.45, up the A38, which is always quieter. Left straight after the Masters race & was home in 35 mins.
The BTCC races were superb

[SNH]

btw, I live near Lichfield, so it isn't that far.

[andy97]

I live in Castle Donington and so am very familiar with the traffic problems around the area when there are "big" meetings on at DP. I am afraid that the limited infrastructure directly around DP, combined with the fact that the relative closeness of the M1 and M42, means that a high volume of traffic can arrive in the area quicker than it can be fed into the circuit. The simple fact is that DP cannot cope and will not be able to in the forseable future. I have plenty of sympathy for people stuck in traffic jams but no answers, I am afraid. All I can suggest is that for future big meetings that spectators come down the night before and camp or B & B in the area and then walk/ cycle to the track!!
As an aside, believe it or not, Leics Police have stated that traffic management around DP is not their problem - DP has to employ a contractor to try and smooth traffic flow!

[TimD]

That's a worrying attitude on the part of Leicestershire Constabulary. I wonder what their excuse will be the day someone in an artic smacks into the back of an event tailback on the M1...

[MikeHoyer]

Glad I stayed the night at the track! Got there midday Saturday, had a great day, and a fun night, and walked straight into the track at 9am the next day.

Of course not everybody can or will want to camp at a circuit, so there still needs to be provisions for those who only want to go for race day. This was my first visit to Donington (well, I went to a music festival in 2002), and it seemed lacking in major roads in the area, particularly as it is next to a busy airport (which can't help!). I know when I went in 2002, about 40,000 people went to this festival, and we were in a coach that had to go very slowly through narrow lanes and through a village. So I'm glad we had the foresight to camp there, particularly as some of the roads on the way up had roadworks and things, so we were a little later than anticipated.

What's it like for smaller meetings? I was going to say Donny should have experience of handling big meetings, like the bikes, but evidently they have trouble there aswell...

[andy97]

Donington has trouble with traffic at all the "big" meetings - touring cars, Brit Superbikes, Moto GP etc. The airport traffic and the sunday market do not help. As for the smaller meetings, traffic is not really a problem as the sad fact is that more people attend the sunday market than attend Brit F3/GT or any club meeting.

As an aside, the Sunday Market was stopped for the Moto GP but not for anything else. A one way system was also introduced. Nevertheless, Traffic was so bad that 7 hour tailbacks were heard of and numerous (non race going) people missed flights from East Mids Airport. Some flights had to be cancelled because the aircrew and ground staff could not get in. If these problems are not sorted then motor sport will get a bad name and the airport/ airlines will start asking for major meetings at DP to be cancelled. I wonder what the legal position should an airline request compensation for loss of revenue as a result of traffic problems caused by a race meeting at DP.

[Phoenix1]

I have to say getting out of car park was okay but then again I was right next to the exit! Averaged 30miles an hour until the motorway and only averaged 65mph all the way home- heading North as it was massivly busy.

I doubt you could sue Donny for the delays as it is the UK goverment who makes the roads or the private contractor also the defence would argue they should of known as it happens most years as with a market (saw signs for it anyway?) on as well common sense should of made the airlines ask aircrew and staff to leave home early!

[Stevespurr]

Im not quite sure what time we left the circuit about 18:00 I think we got back to Lincoln about 19:45 The sister in law was back in Exeter at 22:40 which I didnt think was bad. The traffic control was well organised I thought we where never at a complete standstill unless we where at trafic lights. Asfor geting there we had no problem seeing as the wife,son and daughter where marshaling and had to be there for 07:45. So no complaints from this house.

[bella]

on sunday, i used the cut through castle donington, didn't sit in traffic and parked right opposite the main gate. at 9am.

traffic is going to happen, it's a big event. the best thing people can do is leave their departure till later or arrive early.

as for the airport, if they're expanding the place they should expand the road too. it's not much smaller than stansted and they have dual carriageways the whole way to the door.