The race of Donington's life

On the face of it, the news that Donington Park has signed a 10-year contract to stage the British Grand Prix is something that should have business and political leaders around here doing a Lewis Hamilton with the Champagne.
But before they start spraying the bubbly, a word or three of caution.
Donington’s plans apparently hinge on two things: a mad dash to pretty much rebuild an entire circuit and its facilities, and large-scale fundraising from the public. Neither are impossible, both are very difficult.
There is also the festering sore of the road network around Donington, a problem which nearly cost Silverstone the race a few years back.
I’d also like to see the small print on that contract they’ve signed with Bernie Ecclestone, the billionaire commercial ringmaster of Formula One.
You can bet it contains clauses which mean the race will go ahead only if key financial and construction landmarks are met.
Sunday’s Grand Prix proved yet again that Formula One is capable of delivering some of the most exciting feats of sportsmanship.
But off the track, it is a hard-nosed international business which has a long history of walking away from deals it doesn’t like, or signing up to a more lucrative offer.
Indeed, some say the fastest-moving people in Formula One are actually its lawyers.
F1 is all about big money, corporate prestige and brinkmanship, and if you want to get some idea of the scale of the challenge Donington has taken on look not at Silverstone, but at tracks like Shanghai and Bahrain – sporting monuments funded by the world’s fastest-growing economy and oil billions, respectively.
Bernie Ecclestone has very little time for some of the British motorsport establishment figures at the British Racing Drivers Club, which runs Silverstone.
He probably likes the cut of Donington Ventures' jib. It’s a sporting business run by two people (Simon Gillett and Lee Gill) rather than a long-established club that harks back to the days of gentlemen racers.
But unless the Donington duo can deliver something that far exceeds what Silverstone serves up, Ecclestone will take his race elsewhere – may be even back to Silverstone.
Two years is no time at all in a world as commercially fast-moving as Formula One. For Donington, the race of its life has just started.