Donington museum to close.
Discussion
Coppice, yes a bit of follow up reading on the TNF the memorabilia and the signage points have been raised.
Eric, some of the cars did not belong to the museum and apparently some have been sold off already. But I do know that they had a lot more cars than were on display.
I also read that Dr Palmer was supposed to take over the museum at the end of the year, wonder if that will still happen or has Kevin fallen out with him or vise versa?
Eric, some of the cars did not belong to the museum and apparently some have been sold off already. But I do know that they had a lot more cars than were on display.
I also read that Dr Palmer was supposed to take over the museum at the end of the year, wonder if that will still happen or has Kevin fallen out with him or vise versa?
The Donington Collection
“We’ll take control of the race car collection at the end of this year. It’s bigger at present than we’d want, and we have some head-scratching to do, but we definitely want to keep it as one of our unique attractions.”
JP quote from the autocar.
I live close and visit it a fair bit with my boys. Its felt unloved for quite some time. Last time we visited the cafe and shop was shut. And yet more army stuff. Boxes and boxes of something, rows and rows of semingly identical army green motorbikes where there was once the bugatti royale. But then it was no longer an F1 museum, just "the donington colection". I cannot think of a more confused museum
So much potential. I hope they do the right thing. Cars you simply cannot see anywhere else.
“We’ll take control of the race car collection at the end of this year. It’s bigger at present than we’d want, and we have some head-scratching to do, but we definitely want to keep it as one of our unique attractions.”
JP quote from the autocar.
I live close and visit it a fair bit with my boys. Its felt unloved for quite some time. Last time we visited the cafe and shop was shut. And yet more army stuff. Boxes and boxes of something, rows and rows of semingly identical army green motorbikes where there was once the bugatti royale. But then it was no longer an F1 museum, just "the donington colection". I cannot think of a more confused museum
So much potential. I hope they do the right thing. Cars you simply cannot see anywhere else.
The WWII stuff is interesting, restored to an incredible standard and only a small part of the Wheatcroft collection. I beleive a lot of the rare vehicles and artefacts actually sit in a warehouse unit near Leicester that all deserves to be on display somwhere. As for the cars, I hope they go on display in a dedicated car or motorsport museum.
davebem said:
The WWII stuff is interesting, restored to an incredible standard and only a small part of the Wheatcroft collection. I beleive a lot of the rare vehicles and artefacts actually sit in a warehouse unit near Leicester that all deserves to be on display somwhere. As for the cars, I hope they go on display in a dedicated car or motorsport museum.
What, like an f1 museum at a racing circuit??? Why not move the army tat out?? It was a racing circuit before it was a store for ex army vehiclesHe won't keep it, he is a money man, if he was keeon on keeping it he would keep the museum open, read between the lines. Most of the stuff in there is probably loaned.
Kevin isn't interested really hence why he is offloading it all onto Palmer, never has been, wants to spend his life chasing Nazi stuff, some of the articles I have read about his exploits are rather unsavoury.
But it's his money, and Palmer is not running MSV for prosperity, he runs it to make money, so I would guess the museum will be bulldozed and something new built perhaps a new pit lane or something. A lot of the cars have gong back to owners and are running, and I expect a few of them are owned, so perhaps loaned to other museums etc.
Kevin isn't interested really hence why he is offloading it all onto Palmer, never has been, wants to spend his life chasing Nazi stuff, some of the articles I have read about his exploits are rather unsavoury.
But it's his money, and Palmer is not running MSV for prosperity, he runs it to make money, so I would guess the museum will be bulldozed and something new built perhaps a new pit lane or something. A lot of the cars have gong back to owners and are running, and I expect a few of them are owned, so perhaps loaned to other museums etc.
williamp said:
The Donington Collection
“We’ll take control of the race car collection at the end of this year. It’s bigger at present than we’d want, and we have some head-scratching to do, but we definitely want to keep it as one of our unique attractions.”
JP quote from the autocar.
.
Is that a recent quote?“We’ll take control of the race car collection at the end of this year. It’s bigger at present than we’d want, and we have some head-scratching to do, but we definitely want to keep it as one of our unique attractions.”
JP quote from the autocar.
.
andy97 said:
williamp said:
The Donington Collection
“We’ll take control of the race car collection at the end of this year. It’s bigger at present than we’d want, and we have some head-scratching to do, but we definitely want to keep it as one of our unique attractions.”
JP quote from the autocar.
.
Is that a recent quote?“We’ll take control of the race car collection at the end of this year. It’s bigger at present than we’d want, and we have some head-scratching to do, but we definitely want to keep it as one of our unique attractions.”
JP quote from the autocar.
.
Not sure I believe some of this, surely Palmer is only promoting at Donington, does he own the land, the track? If he does, then this might be why it is being closed so he can do something with the land, or expand the track or something, he does not own a track that has the potential to host GP or F1, Donington is that venue, so this might be something huge.
I would think Wheatcroft owns a lot of the cars as part of his inheritanceand won' t simply had them over to Palmer, unless that is part of some agreement his father left, meaning that he cannot profit from selling them, but that would make no sense, surely Tom knew they would become very valuable.
I would think Wheatcroft owns a lot of the cars as part of his inheritanceand won' t simply had them over to Palmer, unless that is part of some agreement his father left, meaning that he cannot profit from selling them, but that would make no sense, surely Tom knew they would become very valuable.
Unless you want to extend the track from Coppice then JP isn't extending the track through the museum. The agriultural auction is also in those buildings. Spectator access is limited past that point as the track is too close to the circuit boundary wall (the museum is outside it, though still on the circuit estate). The exhibition centre goes right up to the circuit boundary/crash barrier with fire exits opening on to it so unless that's moved then that part of the circuit is staying pretty much as is.
the in field is only just back to fully useable so i don't expect JP to want to try rebuild the track. If he wants the F1 he'll need deep and stupid pockets.
the in field is only just back to fully useable so i don't expect JP to want to try rebuild the track. If he wants the F1 he'll need deep and stupid pockets.
chunder27 said:
Not sure I believe some of this, surely Palmer is only promoting at Donington, does he own the land, the track? If he does, then this might be why it is being closed so he can do something with the land, or expand the track or something, he does not own a track that has the potential to host GP or F1, Donington is that venue, so this might be something huge.
I would think Wheatcroft owns a lot of the cars as part of his inheritanceand won' t simply had them over to Palmer, unless that is part of some agreement his father left, meaning that he cannot profit from selling them, but that would make no sense, surely Tom knew they would become very valuable.
Wheatcroft owns the land; MSVR have the operating lease for the whole of the site (with the exception of the museum) for, I think, 21 Years.I would think Wheatcroft owns a lot of the cars as part of his inheritanceand won' t simply had them over to Palmer, unless that is part of some agreement his father left, meaning that he cannot profit from selling them, but that would make no sense, surely Tom knew they would become very valuable.
Some of the exhibits at the museum were Tom Wheatcroft's personal collection but many of the Mclarens, Williams etc were on loan from their factories and some other exhibits were also loaned cars. Previously Prodrive had its collection of cars on display at Donington whilst their own HQ was being moved. Hopefully JP will see the value in acquiring the Wheatcroft owned cars, and add them to his small collection of his own cars and still display them somewhere on the site.
Hopefully the loaned cars will be placed at other museums such as Coventry, Gaydon, Sparkford or Beaulieu etc so that they are still accessible to enthusiasts. In an ideal world those exhibits might be moved around those museums every 2 years or so, to freshen things up and make them accessible to different geographic groups of people.
The military vehicles at Donington are all Kevin Wheatcrofts and he has others in a large shed at his home/ base in Leicestershire.
The Donington Collection has been a great collection but it has not moved on, and people expect so much more these days. There is nothing interactive about it, and that would require investment. Maybe there should have been links to the local engineering Universities and historic racing companies, too, to make things a "living museum" but too late now. Quite simply, I expect that there are very few visitors each week and the ones that there are wont pay the staff wages, electricity etc. Kevin Wheatcroft has never been a motorsport fan and he probably views the museum as a drain on resources as he is subsidizing it.
The museum is also, now, in the wrong location on the site. JP has moved the entrance and the focus of the site to the Paddock/ Melbourne end of the site so race team and spectators don't see the museum without a hike. If the museum was smaller, and not so expensive, and occupied one of the buildings originally built for Formula E (if any are still available) then it might get some footfall.
As for the military vehicles, some would argue that they are not in keeping with the site, but Donington has a military heritage. There is also the Aeropark nearby and its a pity that those two enterprises could not be combined for those interested in such things.
Edited by andy97 on Thursday 11th October 12:41
andy97 said:
The museum is also, now, in the wrong location on the site. JP has moved the entrance and the focus of the site to the Paddock/ Melbourne end of the site so race team and spectators don't see the museum without a hike. If the museum was smaller, and not so expensive, and occupied one of the buildings originally built for Formula E (if any are still available) then it might get some footfall.
That happened pre-JP/MSV, since at least its reopening about 4/5 years ago. In fact its only since JP that the entire road between the paddock entrance and museum has been tarmaced. JP has gone further in making the paddock gate look better than previous.Edited by andy97 on Thursday 11th October 12:41
mcdjl said:
andy97 said:
The museum is also, now, in the wrong location on the site. JP has moved the entrance and the focus of the site to the Paddock/ Melbourne end of the site so race team and spectators don't see the museum without a hike. If the museum was smaller, and not so expensive, and occupied one of the buildings originally built for Formula E (if any are still available) then it might get some footfall.
That happened pre-JP/MSV, since at least its reopening about 4/5 years ago. In fact its only since JP that the entire road between the paddock entrance and museum has been tarmaced. JP has gone further in making the paddock gate look better than previous.Edited by andy97 on Thursday 11th October 12:41
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