South West Bikers | Motorcycle Forum

Hello all,
have not posted for a while , been busy with the coast ride preps.
anyway i feel a rant on the way,
last weekend i decided to take the wife to donnington to watch the wsbk so she could cheer on toseland, turned up at 6pm on the friday night with no prebooked tickets but we did phone up donnington to check if it was ok to just turn up and get a camping pitch.
We were told on the phone that we could buy a weekend pass on the gate for £45 each and £20 each for the camping so i was i bit shocked when we got there and they charged us £180.00 for 2 days plus camping and we had to buy fridays practise day ticket in order to camp on site on the friday night even though we arrived after all the bikes had finished for the day.
In the evening there was nothing on all the circut was locked and the bar shut at 7pm only a little mobile bar that was charging £3.50 a pint was open and that was it, how do donnington justify charging this amount for a wsbk round and treating you like your something on the bottom of there boot. They have a lot to learn from brands hatch that lays on evening entertainment, plenty of toilets and showers.
Still we enjoyed the weeends racing but wont be going back to donnington again. Has anyone else been caught at donnington, or maybe it was my fault for turning up without prebooking.
cheers all,
ian.

Donnington has always been poor compared to other circuits standards. I refuse to go there again after BSB round two years ago and stories I've heard since. I also heard the security was so bad a couple of years ago at Brands and Silverstone that people were ransacking tents while the races were on, as security was watching the races?!

I always pre-book or get an email quote for prices if I'm getting them on the gate.

Anyhow, if you've been abroad to watch Bol D'or, 24 Le Mans, Moto GP in Europe, nothing else even goes near the experience.

My advice would be to write to MCN as they've probably got a hundred complaints such as yours that they'd love to publish.

hi,im a big fan off donny park and will support it all the time. ian as with all major sporting events/race meetings it pays to book up early,it sounds like you were given bad information about the pricing though,did you ring donington or ticketmaster as i know there was a few issues concerning the service given by ticketmaster. the high prices are down to having to pay the flammini group for the rights to hold the events,its not just given to donny/brands or silverstone they have to pay for it and obvioulsy we suffer then with higher ticket prices.

donny does need to improve its facilities and given a bit of time im sure the new onwers will get it right, theyre both very passionate about bike racing and want to improve the circuit and the reputation of the place. it does need to improve to catch up with brands and silverstone but apart from a few more toilet blocks it not that far behind.

im sure mcn will be full of people whinging about the carparking and time taken to leave the circuit but it took me less time to leave the carpark and get onto the main road than it used to get out of plymouth argyles carpark after a game with only 10000 people and not 50000,my worst bike queues have been brands wsbks but that never gets slagged off in mcn.

all circuits have their downfalls and all companies these days suffer from bad management of some sorts but it wont let me stop enjoying my bike racing.weve had tickets stolen from tents at brands but i still go back there.

it was the donnington ticket office that gave us the information on ticket prices and facilities are way behind brands. Still once bitten twice shy, wont be going again..

Afraid I have to agree with you mate. I've been to moto gp's and WSB all over Europe and the facilities at Donny are the worst/ most expensive I have used. I feel ripped off so much that I dont go anymore. Thats a shame cos I do like the track but hate feeling ripped off.

Compare the real price of riding to the Le Mans moto gp v's going to Donny. France wins every time.

I have not been to Donnington for over 5 years as I feel it's not worth the time or tyre wear !


Tom I dont quite agree with the Le mans Facilities ! You should be in the Paddock It's more than poor !!!

Age

i dont understand why people complain about donny and not the other circuits. ive been to lemans and it was just as bad as donny or brands

Gsxrage wrote:Tom I dont quite agree with the Le mans Facilities ! You should be in the Paddock It's more than poor !!!

deej wrote:i dont understand why people complain about donny and not the other circuits. ive been to lemans and it was just as bad as donny or brands

You're whinging about Le Mans now you should have tried it before the new pits/stand was built

I remember queuing in line to pay 20c for the privilege of crapping over a china hole in the floor and being given 2 squares of paper to wipe your a*se with

Also there when some Danes decided to ignite a large calor gas bottle inside the toilets in the Les Hunaudieres "campsite" area

TLS-Moose wrote:
I remember queuing in line to pay 20c for the privilege of crapping over a china hole in the floor and being given 2 squares of paper to wipe your a*se with

Also there when some Danes decided to ignite a large calor gas bottle inside the toilets in the Les Hunaudieres "campsite" area

Sounds like Mugello...

... The Italians are welding trumpbones to moped exhausts and riding them around the campsite, not to mention revving V8 engines with bigger instrument funnels spitting flames out the back

Bless their cotton socks I loved it. You can't get that at Donnington. Camping isn't the same unless you don't get any sleep the whole weekend and you fear for your life everytime you step into the tent - worth every penny.

Gsxrage wrote:
Tom I dont quite agree with the Le mans Facilities ! You should be in the Paddock It's more than poor !!!

Age

I'm only talking about the spectator facilities. Donnington is one of my favourite tracks to ride.

Sounds like Mugello...

... The Italians are welding trumpbones to moped exhausts and riding them around the campsite, not to mention revving V8 engines with bigger instrument funnels spitting flames out the back

Bless their cotton socks I loved it. You can't get that at Donnington. Camping isn't the same unless you don't get any sleep the whole weekend and you fear for your life everytime you step into the tent - worth every penny.[/quote]

And Jerez, and Barcelona, and Valencia. In fact, like every circuit I've been to on the continent and how Donny used to be before the H&S police stepped in. The party made it and if you didnt like that you had the choice to camp in the quiet area.
Its just a fekkin rip off now and you cant even off set that by having a wild time all weekend!

Ian, They are only after one thing. MONEY, Sod everything else, Us normal folk who go up year after year JUST HOPE IT GETS BETTER. Trouble is its not. . Cheers Dave

tomr6 wrote: Camping isn't the same unless you don't get any sleep the whole weekend and you fear for your life everytime you step into the tent !

Wahhay memories of Llandow last year...

I'm not drinking any more...... Just the same amount...

dave i think you'll find it is getting better up there

theres new owners who are motor racing fans, bikes especially and they are aiming to improve the place but cant do it overnight. they had tidied the place up a bit for wsbk and im sure they'll have done more by the time the gp's done. im up there in may and will let you know of any more improvements.

May give it a go again next year for BSB and see if they have improved on this year, shame because its a great track with some good racing its just the rest of it that lets it down..