Donington re-opens!

Donington Park has re-opened after extensive track re-building – and is better than ever, according to MCN Senior Road Tester Adam Child.

MCN was given exclusive access to ride the first laps of the newly-completed track this morning (Friday). 

The East Midlands circuit has been repaired and remodelled  following Simon Gillett’s failed bid to reinvent it as a F1 venue left the track scarred and unusable.

The first race meeting at the circuit in well over a year takes place this weekend with the Classic Racing Motorcycle Club.

So far only the short circuit version of the track, excluding the Melbourne Loop, is complete.

Adam, who rode his Yamaha R1 for 3 laps around the re-opened circuit, said: “It’s fantastic, better than ever!

“Much of the circuit has been resurfaced and all of the kerbing is new but the biggest change is they’ve moved the old Foggy Esses further up Starkey’s Straight towards where the Dunlop Bridge used to be.”

Adam said the new Esses is approximately 80m nearer Coppice and the shape of the right/left chicane different, too.

“It’s still tight going in but it opens up on the way out and rises slightly making the pit straight much faster.”

Lookout for Adam’s on-board video of the new circuit and his full report in next week’s MCN.