| Donington Park | |
 | |
| Location | North West Leicestershire, England |
| Opened | 1931 |
| Website | http://www.donington-park.co.uk/ |
Donington Park is a motorsport circuit near Castle Donington in Leicestershire, England.
Originally part of the Donington Hall estate, it was created as a racing circuit during the pre-war period when the German Silver Arrows were battling for the European Championship. Used as a military vehicle storage depot during World War 2, it fell into disrepair until bought by local construction entrepreneur Tom Wheatcroft. Revived under his ownership in the 1970s, it hosted a single Formula One race, but became the favoured home of the British round of the Moto GP motorcycling championship. Leased by Donington Ventures Leisure Ltd in 2007 the hope that Formula One racing could return to the track, the incomplete venture failed to raise sufficient financial backing during the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis. DVLL consequently lost the rights to the British rounds of both Formula1 and MotoGP, and in its bankruptcy returned the track to the Wheatcroft family in December 2009. The only proposed race meeting that was announced prior to recent developments was the BTCC meeting. However in October 2010, it was confirmed that the UK round of the WTCC is to move from Brands Hatch to Donington for the 2011 season.[1]
Other events[]
Beside motorsports many other events are held at Donington including Music Festivals like the Download Festival, the Donington Park Sunday Sale and the Donington Grand Prix Museum exhibition.
Music festivals[]
Donington Park has a long history of holding rock concerts and festivals, having played host to the Monsters of Rock concerts from the early 80s to mid 90s, when groups such as AC/DC, Metallica and Iron Maiden performed there. More recently, it has played host to Stereophonics' A Day At The Races event in 2001, and the Ozzfest in 2002.
The Download Festival (owned and operated by Live Nation) began at the venue in 2003, headlined by Iron Maiden and Audioslave. The event has been held each summer since then. In 2010, it was headlined again by AC/DC leading this to be their fourth time playing at festivals at Donington. Three being during the Monsters of Rock Tour.
Both festivals took place within the circuit, until developments made in 2008 meant that this was no longer a suitable location. Download festival now situates in a location just south of the circuit.
Location[]
Donington Park lies south west of Nottingham, resides in Leicestershire and has a Derby postcode, it has a Derby telephone Area Code and East Midlands Airport is just a mile down the road.
Donington Park is located just off the M1 and is very close to East Midlands Airport, and aircraft taking off fly directly over the circuit at low altitude.
East Midlands Parkway railway station and Derby Midland Station are close by and the owners have expressed their desire for spectators to use these stations and coaches to the circuit.[2] The owners are also in support of any future light rail transport to East Midlands Airport itself.
References[]
External links[]
- Official Donington Park website
- Satellite picture by Google Maps
- Simulation of the new track layout by BBC News
- Free audio walkthrough of the track, for use with games
- Save Donington show of support
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This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Donington Park. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Less Than Jake Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License. |