There is an element of European grant money, the british government have commited to £30m towards access improvements but the vast majority of the money is coming from private investment.
You can say it as politely as you like but at present there are no figures to prove it either way... I can clearly see that opinions are skewed here, I am confident this will go ahead, the buzz in the construction industry down here is that work will be starting very soon. We will see soon enough.
If it was in China, India etc, then I could see it happening pretty damn quick. But it isnt. Its in Wales. There are a whole itinerary of hoops for it to go through and there is no detailed design yet on the table. Its one thing tarmacing a track, but its another thing getting all the facilities through all the legislatory requirements and finalizing detailed design. Not to mention infrastructure etc. If the timescales were a year longer then perhaps, but it will take at least a year to get through regs, planning etc and for the full design to be signed off. All that before a spade is in the ground. Besides its in the worng place. With the greatest respect to Wales, no-one would be interested in going there for the shopping multiplex's, retail etc. Furthermore should they be built, where does that leave the retail etc in Newport? A place in dire need of investment. There are more important things required in wales for the people there. I'm not sure if a race track is one of them.
Detail design is not complete, and I would not expect it to be. Planning design is and addendum's. Planning documents | Circuit of Wales Planning documents | Circuit of Wales It seems to me that if it is not London centric people on here have no wish for it to be a success. There is a lot of noise from people on this forum who rarely (if ever!) visit a race circuit.
maybe more does need to be done in wales, so wouldn't a world class race track help promote the country.
Donnington is a first class circuit, with good spectator vantage points. Its in a central location with good access by road (from all directions) and rail, and the airport is next door. Its in a relatively sparsely populated location which does not suffer huge noise restrictions. And it already exists. That sounds like the perfect combo, to me. This new circuit is out on a limb and has access limited to the eastern side only. Zillions of pounds need to be spent to create it, and the associated infrastructure. And its always raining in wales. Ok, you could perhaps argue that Europe, rather than ourselves, will be footing much of the bill, but that kind of blinkered, self-centered approach to public finances is childish. And surely, even the "private" finance (no doubt with many behind the scenes scams) would be better invested in a sensible project like redeveloping Donny. Sheer madness, in my opinion.
Theres a lot of 'hot air' from people who think they know better because they go to a race track more often than others. They are as entitled to their opinions as are others. But some of us refrain from going 'blah blah blah' and enter a view rather than irrelevant bluster.
These grand "Haussmann" type plans are seductive and intoxicating, aren't they? I can just picture a dozen guys sitting round a table in Merthyr all thinking to themselves - Wouldn't it be great? If only... what if ... Yes, why don't we just throw it up in the air and see what happens. The plans include everything anyone could think of except a monorail - yes, let's include a monorail, that sounds futuristic ... boyo ...
Here's an interview with Michael Carrick, the Circuit of Wales Chief Executive..... makes it all sound very plausible.... Circuit of Wales Boss Q&A | Bike Social
Sounds more like he has no idea how or where the money is coming from to fund it for me. He can't start building anything until he has money in place to start it. I appreciate you need a high profile event like Motogp to push for that funding first, but any investor will want a return on his/her money and i just cannot see how they will make this work financially when Donington could not get the funding for a far bigger event in F1. By all means i hope he proves me wrong and it would be great to have a UK track world class facilities, something lacking now, but when you also have to build the whole infrastructure as well i.e. roads, hotels, restaurants etc it is a huge task and in little more than a year, i just cannot see it happening.
Whilst I hope it works, I can't see it. By 2016 they'll be lucky to have the track and some temporary stands. If it all starts to fall apart and Dorna pull out, where does that leave them? I think this will stutter along for a while then stall. Ever since I heard about it, it just seemed a bit 'pie in the sky'.
