Some really good news regarding Donington. I have approached Robert Fearnall this morning with a view of seeking a reduction in the hire fee for our meeting to reflect the unfortunate scenario of the yellow flags that we all now know about.

Robert on behalf of Donington Park responded promptly and has offered a reduction which with the addition from the Clubs funds will allow us to give a refund of 10% of each of our Clubs members entry fees. You will appreciate that the circuit hire costs are only a part of the total cost of the meeting since all the support facilities such as Breakdown,doctors,Timekeepers etc still have to be paid for in full so the DPL concession does represent a substantial sum.

We are appreciative of the gesture by DPL today and I would be grateful if you have the opportunity to broadcast this to competitors.

In order to minimise the admin we would like to suggest a voucher system for refund to be utilised against next entry………..any that are never to darken our door etc can of course request a cash refund,………….but not tomorrow please……..we will be very busy.!

I would also be appreciative if you would advise drivers that we are required to brief every driver prior to each race. In order to undertake this sensibly each race will be briefed separately and the timetable will be given to every driver at signing on. It is mandatory that they attend…….no excuses. It is also mandatory that we ensure they comply with the restrictions that are placed upon us. We will have some three MSA Stewards present tomorrow and they have instructions to withdraw the permit if they feel that we are not able to control the driving in the construction area. As a matter of interest no overtaking areas are certainly not unknown, one of the high profile races in the far east has a non overtaking area exactly the same!

I also have to mention that we are perhaps as a result of some of the adverse publicity we are very short of marshals If anybody can assist please make yourselves known early tomorrow at Donington………we are VERY short……….help

Best regards

Ron Gammons

Looking at the email traffic that’s now flying around its difficult to remember why one does this.As you may imagine the Donington saga has taken up a very considerable amount of time for those involved. The situation boiled down to late Tuesday afternoon before we were advised by Donington that a temporary licence would be issued for both our own and the HSCC meeting due there on the Sunday. The decision may well have been influenced by the motorcycle meeting that had taken place last weekend without incident.

Donington advised that there would be “yellow flag procedures” between MacLean’s out and Coppice in when the licence was issued. Both Grahame White of HSCC and the MGCC accepted that that particular section of track was not a normal overtaking point and that the flags would probably have little effect.

In view of the time element a immediate decision needed to be taken as to whether to go ahead or not since there was insufficient time to go out to everybody and get a meaningful response back. In truth we were already very late. We decided that we would proceed. Whatever we had done we would have been criticized so the emails were probably to be expected but unwelcome for all of that.

We have still yet to see the licence that will be issued to Donington.

I must however correct part of Pam’s email in that she stated that I had said that the only way the Donington modifications could proceed was by the monies from MGCC and HSCC. I did not make that statement. Certainly the monies must be important but personally I have no knowledge of the financial situation at Donington.

As for the statement on the marshals website about toilets I am advised by Donington that it is not correct. During the winter the water is turned off for obvious reasons and has now been turned back on. Di Hardy of Donington is currently talking to maintenance to get the toilets checked and if required will ask for a portable one to be installed. Its important that this misconception is stemmed since we are already short of marshals and any loss will probably cause a serious problem……..either a late start or even no start at all

One or two Coordinators have suggested that there should be a reduction in the entry fee. We understand your comments and are raising the subject with Donington, any reduction that we may obtain will be passed on. Should any competitors feel unable to accept the situation they are of course able to withdraw under the normal entry fee conditions and we will be as sympathetic as we can.

This is not a situation that we envisaged when we asked for and obtained a date at Donington and the situation is not of our making, but we still anticipate a good day of racing and even better the weather forecast looks pretty good!

In view of the circulation of the previous emails I would be obliged for the prompt circulation of this to your competitors.

I and the rest of the race organising team hope to see you all on Saturday

Ron Gammons