Executives at the Donington motor racing circuit have started the engine on their extravagant scheme to spend £100 million to stage Formula One’s British Grand Prix. But even as plans were being sent for approval with local authorities, there were signs that the wheels might be coming off the venture before it got into first gear.

It was disclosed yesterday that Lee Gill, the chief operating officer and one of the front men behind the plan to snatch the grand prix from Silverstone, had left the business 24 hours before the planning application to transform the rundown Leicestershire circuit was scheduled to be lodged.

There were also doubts about the future of Peter Edwards, the finance director, while Sidhu & Simon, the City public-relations company that handled the announcement of the contract to run the British Grand Prix, also left the project yesterday. Meanwhile, officials at East Midlands airport have complained about the potential for interference from mobile-phone masts at Donington with the electrical systems on board holiday jets as they fly over the circuit.

The price of failure at Donington would be fearsome for British motor racing. Bernie Ecclestone, Formula One’s nononsense commercial entrepreneur, has given warning that if Donington misses the deadline to be ready for the 2010 British Grand Prix, Britain will lose the race.

Simon Gillett, the chief executive of Donington, has started a public-relations campaign to allay fears that the circuit will not be ready to stage Britain’s showpiece motor race in less than two years. He dismissed fears that Gill had walked out in a disagreement over the direction of the project and accusations from one source that plans were being devised “on the back of a fag packet”.

Ecclestone said: “We’ve a contract with them, which I hope they honour. I’m not even considering there won’t be a race there.”

Gillett, in moving to offer reassurances, said: “Everything is on track, as our plans will show when they are released for scrutiny. There are no daggers in backs and no disagreements. We have been through phase one of this project and now we are in a new phase that demands changes. Lee was part of my team as we crossed the line on this one, but he has now decided to go his own way and we wish him luck.”

But Gill’s mysterious departure at such a crucial time was bound to cast a pall over a scheme that had its share of doubters before Gillett left Silverstone in July clutching his controversial contract with Ecclestone.

Silverstone had been battling Ecclestone’s insistence that the historic circuit be upgraded immediately to the standards seen around the world at new race tracks. While the costs of building most new circuits are underwritten by foreign governments, Silverstone was being forced to find private money to redevelop.

Silverstone’s plans were laid, but Ecclestone ran out of patience and was lured by Gillett and Gill’s ambitious plans to transform Donington, 60 miles north of Silverstone. Whereas Silverstone is a leading international circuit with planning approvals in place, Donington is starting from square one. With little more than 20 months until the likely British Grand Prix date in the 2010 Formula One calendar, Donington has to win planning approval, rebuild the circuit, finance the job and have everything polished and ready to receive the glossiest sport on the planet.

Gillett met local parish council officials and residents this week, telling them that he was aiming to create the best motor-racing facility in the world. The planning authorities are anxious to push through the scheme, but it is thought that any approval could take up to four months, squeezing potential building deadlines nearer the crucial 2010 date. It is also thought that little can be done in the short term to improve the roads around Donington.

The project seems dogged at every turn: a hearing into Donington’s entertainment and liquor licence a week ago ordered a tightening of safety procedures after officials from East Midlands airport complained that they had to close a section of runway during the MotoGP motorcycle grand prix in June. They also raised fears over the extra mobile phone masts being erected near the airport.

Given that Silverstone is reckoned to be the world’s busiest airport on the race day of the British Grand Prix, with thousands of helicopter flights, Donington may yet have to win over its neighbours as well as winning the planning approval that will sanction the go-ahead for, arguably, the most ambitious project in the history of British motor racing.



Long and winding road

Dec 2004 Silverstone officials rescue last-minute contract to hold British Grand Prix until 2009
Aug 2007 Silverstone announces £25 million redevelopment plans to fall into line with Bernie Ecclestone's demands for significant improvements
Feb 2008 Talks over a new contract stumble, with Ecclestone unhappy with progress on rebuilding circuit
June 2008 The Times reports that Donington Park has made a bid for the British Grand Prix
July 2008 Silverstone officials make final appeal for financial help from Government to Gerry Sutcliffe, the Sports Minister, but come away from Westminster empty-handed
July 3, 2008 Ecclestone signs contract to take British Grand Prix to Donington Park in Leicestershire from 2010 for ten years
Sep 5, 2008 Donington says plans for £100 million redevelopment of circuit and surroundings ready to be submitted for approval