Donington Hall, the former desirable residence of bankrupt and disgraced Norton Motorcycles supremo Stuart Garner, is to become the centre of a luxury hotel complex servicing upmarket track-day visitors on the Donington Park race circuit.
This stately home is now owned by ex-F1 driver Jonathan Palmer’s Motorsport Vision group (MSV), promoter of the British Superbike Championship and operator of six racing venues — Brands Hatch, Oulton Park, Snetterton, Cadwell Park and Bedford Autodrome, besides Donington Park.
MSV has applied for planning permission to convert Donington Hall itself, plus adjacent Hastings House offices and Lansdowne workshops into a sumptuous 44-bed destination. According to Palmer, it will attract wealthy petrolheads, who can have their weapons of choice stored and maintained at Donington, fly into nearby East Midlands Airport and be out thrashing them on track after breakfast the next morning.
In his application, Palmer says: “Since purchasing the site, MSV has spent considerable time and resources in developing proposals to bring this nationally significant heritage asset into a viable use that would both enable sensitive restoration and secure its future in the long term.”