Thursday 18th March 2004

Donington Resurfaced

Smoothly does it...

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Donington Park race track has benefited from a complete resurfacing over the winter with Tarmac completing a totally new top surface across the 4km Grand Prix circuit.

The Leicestershire track was the site of the first ever British Grand Prix in the 1930s and remains one of UK’s premier circuits.  Its challenging corners are legendary for their speed, with Craner Curves - a series of bends leading up to one of the fastest hairpins competitors can experience - regarded as being among the best corners of any circuit.  

Donington Park regularly hosts an impressive spectrum of motorsport events – from the British Motorcycle Grand Prix and the British Touring Car Championship to the British Superbikes, World GT Endurance and historic Thoroughbred Formula One races.  

Before it was awarded the contract, Tarmac’s National Contracting division underwent a competitive tender, presentation and interview process.  “We knew that we could do a fantastic job for Donington Park – just as we’ve done for other race circuits such as Brands Hatch,” explains Tarmac’s Geoff Varney.

“We had to satisfy the stringent requirements of Donington Park, its consulting engineers, Clark Smith Partnership and quantity surveyor and cost controller Stace by demonstrating high capability in terms of planning and staffing, as well as providing a guarantee that the work would be finished on time and to the highest standards. In addition to the circuit resurfacing, our tender also covered innovative cost-saving approaches to work on fencing redesign, track edge detail and other associated civil engineering work .” 

With the contract completed on time, despite challenging weather conditions, the Donington Park track is now faster than ever.  Robert Fearnall, Donington Park’s chief executive, said: “With a whole season of prestigious motorsport events ahead of us, it was absolutely critical that the contract was finished right first time - and on time.  Tarmac achieved this and the great results we’ve got are testament to their professionalism and experience .” 

[mrmaggit]

So I take it the bumps at Macleans have gone, then?

[telecat]

Hasn't a racer already complained the surface is rubbish!

[den]

I was there a couple of weeks ago in the Chimaera.. in damp conditions.. I have to say the level of grip on line was excellent, but where the surface is so new ( I assume) the off line areas were very slippery.

I'm back there tomorrow in the Mighty Mini.. I'll have a look at the surface towards McLeans.

Den

[m-five]

In the wet there is still standing water at the bottom of Craner's - good grip though and it's nowhere near as greasy at Old Hairpin (flightpath) as it was!

[matrs]

Did a track day last week on it way slippy in the wet