No cars allowed at British Grand Prix
Discussion
cj_eds said:
Out of interest do Nottingham, Leicester or Derby have decent Park and Ride sites?
Its the way Knockhill has operated for many years - parking a field 10 minutes from the circuit and bussing everyone into the circuit in Fife's finest 30 year old school busses.
Silverstone do the park and ride as much as possible with lots of busses- it works well.Its the way Knockhill has operated for many years - parking a field 10 minutes from the circuit and bussing everyone into the circuit in Fife's finest 30 year old school busses.
You can get enough busses. Plus there's a new railway station giving a very short journry to the track/airport 9so all you from london who think "its too far" will only be 1 hr 15 away.
Also, you should be able to land at the airport and get a shuttle transfer from there
Oh, and it will get planning prmission. The problem will be funding...
YOU MANIACS! YOU BLEW IT UP! OH, DAMN YOU! GODDAMN YOU ALL TO HELL!
I don't want to have to take 3 different tubes from my house to the train station, then a train up northish, then have to wait in a crowd of 100,000 people for a bus, then be crushed in a bus traffic jam all the way to the track - i would much rather sit in my own car for 8 hours, air con on, radio on, than spend 4 hours on public transport.
Monza is NOT the same, you have the option to Park & Ride, but there is loads of parking around the circuit, i parked less than a minute from the entrance in 2006.
Looks like i should save my ticket money and buy a better TV for the 2010 season.
I don't want to have to take 3 different tubes from my house to the train station, then a train up northish, then have to wait in a crowd of 100,000 people for a bus, then be crushed in a bus traffic jam all the way to the track - i would much rather sit in my own car for 8 hours, air con on, radio on, than spend 4 hours on public transport.
Monza is NOT the same, you have the option to Park & Ride, but there is loads of parking around the circuit, i parked less than a minute from the entrance in 2006.
Looks like i should save my ticket money and buy a better TV for the 2010 season.
Edited by Gillet on Thursday 27th November 09:58
British Grand PrixBalmoral Green said:
This is obviously just recognition and acceptance that the roads infrastructure around there simply won't be able to cope. It's a reality check, that's all.
It's an admission that the track & infrastucture are not up to the job and aren't likely to be any time soon.It's all well & good for "locals" to use public transport, but for anyone further afield it's a non-starter. The thought of leaving my car in the Donington car-parks sends me into a cold sweat never mind leaving it anywhere else to use a park & ride or similar.
Edited by MonkeyHanger on Thursday 27th November 16:26
I dont know what to say...except...
LMAOROFLCOPTER!!!!!!
Oh the irony....no cars allowed at Motorsport event!
Seriously though, if you dont have the facilities to host an event....DONT BLOODY HOST IT!!
You wouldn't see the IOC saying stuff like this. In football, if people couldn't ge to the event they'd move it elsewhere. Now ok, with football there are a lot more stadiums to choose from, but come on.....you tell people they can't drive to the race track, and you still expect them to come? I dont think so!
LMAOROFLCOPTER!!!!!!
Oh the irony....no cars allowed at Motorsport event!
Seriously though, if you dont have the facilities to host an event....DONT BLOODY HOST IT!!
You wouldn't see the IOC saying stuff like this. In football, if people couldn't ge to the event they'd move it elsewhere. Now ok, with football there are a lot more stadiums to choose from, but come on.....you tell people they can't drive to the race track, and you still expect them to come? I dont think so!
Wasn't issues surrounding access to Silverstone one of the reason Bernie threatened to pull the GP a few years back?
Resulting in MAJOR expenditure on the A43.
So he now takes the race away from a circuit that was a bit of a PITA to get to but is not OK and gives it to a circuit that is Fooking impossible to get too!
feckwit!
Resulting in MAJOR expenditure on the A43.
So he now takes the race away from a circuit that was a bit of a PITA to get to but is not OK and gives it to a circuit that is Fooking impossible to get too!
feckwit!
Well this will at least mean they don't need to construct any new stands for spectators. Because there won't be any.
Fing stupid idea, I assume only put forward to appease the planners. Maybe they are hoping to re-introduce a new car parking addition once the basic circuit plans are passed/construction is underway.
Fing stupid idea, I assume only put forward to appease the planners. Maybe they are hoping to re-introduce a new car parking addition once the basic circuit plans are passed/construction is underway.
Easiest way to get to Donington without a car is to fly
There just isnt the facility to have that many cars at Donington, especially with the airport next door. People trying to get flights would never make them, and it's mostly Ryanair and BMI short haul flights with 20 minute turnarounds
There's no direct train station at Donington, nearest is Long Eaton about 3 miles away
And as for parking in Nottingham, they hate cars more than Oxford!
There just isnt the facility to have that many cars at Donington, especially with the airport next door. People trying to get flights would never make them, and it's mostly Ryanair and BMI short haul flights with 20 minute turnarounds
There's no direct train station at Donington, nearest is Long Eaton about 3 miles away
And as for parking in Nottingham, they hate cars more than Oxford!
I am a pretty hardcore F1 fan and I will be going to Silverstone again next year (which will be 4 or 5 years in a row) but I won't bother with Donnington. I have a feeling it is going to be a nightmare to get in and out of plus it is just as easy for me to go to one of the Euro GP's from the south coast.
Balmoral Green said:
This is obviously just recognition and acceptance that the roads infrastructure around there simply won't be able to cope. It's a reality check, that's all.
Given the speed at which local planning and political in-fighting run in the UK I think you are spot on BG. 2010 is unlikely to see much access infrastructure change, despite Darling Brown promising to spend some of our newly snatched tax money on roads and the great need of the area (M1 bottleneck) to see some improvements.However, future years may see a different story and there are 10 years of contract to consider if the UK economy lasts that long.
For those who are not too familiar with the area and what it COULD offer, suggest to me another track in the UK that is more or less surrounded by Motorways or dual carriageways, is next to an airport, will have a rail station within about 4 miles (by March 2009 according to the current plan) and has 3 major cities (Leicester, Derby, Nottingham) all with 15 miles (less for Derby) complete with mainline rail services and establish coach links. Add in Loughborough and Burton On Trent for further rail access. And places like Tamworth. Birmingham is about 30 miles, Coventry about the same. Both have airports with good access to the M42, especially Brum.
There is potentially a whole load of parking around Donington Park and for longer lasting event it really should be a manageable problem if things are organised correctly. The last Renault event was a challenge - but then the weather was good, it was FREE and a LOT of people turned up. Being as it was FREE most of them were probably not that used to the process of getting into and out of such an event nor would they have planned to spread the load on the roads. Compound that with some rather poor traffic management (I have no idea where they got the kids from but I doubt many of them had any prior experience of driving let alone traffic management) and the chaos can be easily explained.
It has been years sionce the Police used to run things and learned how not to cock it up (eventually).
At the likely ticket prices I can't imagine that the crowd would be bigger than the Renault event crowd - but I guess as a new F1 venue it just might be.
If they want people to leave their cars at home, which seems to be the drift of the article, then I am sure there could be some benefits to that. For a start the avoidance of the drive and the queuing. I could imagine that it would be possible for many to group together and hire a luxury coach for the trip rather than take 15 or 20 cars. Breakfast on the way there. Drink as much as you like during the day - no need to drive later - and eat on the way back. Sounds OK to me.
Something similar would be possible by train of course.
Given the limit of local accommodation many people making an extended visit - weekending or a long weekend - would likely be staying some distance away anyway - Nottingham and Leicester offering the most accomodation though locations down to Birmingham could also be attractive. Leave the car at the hotel and take a shuttle to the circuit - much the same benefits in doing that as there would be for day trippers.
Yep, I agree that it all sounds a little bizarre at first presentation and seems to offer few benefits BUT IF the idea can be developed fully there is probably more potential for it to work at Donington than anywhere else in the country (Unless someone develops a street circuit at the NEC ...)
Bear in mind that the locals will have (assuming the MOTOGP stays around) a major motor sport event for 3 consecutive months in the year AND, presumably, the Download festival week.
On the other hand consider that Fridays are very often horrendous on the M1 J24 and anything up to 20 miles either side of it and that spills over into the village as people try to bypass the A42/M1/A50 problems. In the medium term I could see a great case for the road infrastructure improvements that could readily reduce such issues throughout the year, not just during the big meeting weekends. Justification for the total solution for the benefit of everyone travelling through the area all year round might be more forthcoming with a headline location pushing the need.
Which of course makes the current proposal rather dangerous. If it works then the infrastructure development need would clearly be eliminated. Hmm. Food for thought.
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