Group Aiming to Help Save Donington Race Track with Rally

A rally is to take place at Donington Race Track on Sunday 7 March, 2010 in an attempt to secure the Castle Donington facility’s future. The Facebook group behind the rally, set up by schoolteacher and racing fan Lee Coombs, has nearly 12,000 members, meaning the rally has a good chance of a high attendance – the latest estimate being 10,000 attendees, according to Derby’s Evening Telegraph. The event will be attended by the current owner Kevin Wheatcroft, who is said to be in talks with several potential investors keen to restart racing at the venue. Wheatcroft will attend the event, a source told Tyrepress.com, at which he is expected to make an announcement about Donnington’s future.

Donington’s track was to be the subject of a redevelopment costing somewhere in the vicinity of £100-120 million in preparation for its proposed takeover of Formula One’s British Grand Prix. These plans were left unfulfilled – and Donington’s track unfinished – when Simon Gillett and his company Donington Ventures Leisure could not raise the required funds. Fund-raising is now a goal of the Save Donington Group, and its website, at which visitors can make donations to the cause. In return, donors will become members of the Save Donington Membership Club. Alternatively, the group will welcome as many visitors as can park at the circuit on 7 March.