MSV Acquires Donington Hall Estate
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MotorSport Vision (MSV) has purchased the freehold of the Donington Hall Estate comprising Donington Hall itself, former office building Hastings House and the Lansdowne workshops building. The estate is set in 28 acres of grounds next to the MSV operated Donington Park race circuit in the East Midlands.
A magnificent 18th century mansion house with historical ties to the adjacent racing circuit, which is within the estate’s original grounds, MSV plans to develop the Grade II listed Donington Hall into a 40-bedroom hotel with a range of accommodation. The hotel is planned to open for the 2023 season.
Hastings House was built in 1990 as the main administrative headquarters for the British Midland International airline. MSV plans to transform the 45,000 square foot building into the state of the art Donington Hall Motorhouse, a storage facility for supercars, classic road and racing cars and motorcycles.
The Lansdowne workshops, totalling 18,000 square feet, will be available to let for high-end motor engineering businesses that support the preparation and maintenance of vehicles kept at the Donington Hall Motorhouse and used on the race circuit. Both the Hall and Motorhouse will benefit from a direct route to the circuit paddock areas, in addition to direct access from the Hall to the circuit by the original Starkey’s bridge. This will allow race cars to be driven directly to Donington Hall for awards presentations and special events.
MSV Chief Executive Jonathan Palmer said, “We will be creating an extraordinary and unique facility. Car owners will be able to fly directly into East Midlands airport, view their cars within 10 minutes of landing before settling into, for example, the Rosemeyer Suite at the hotel. Their car will be prepared and warmed up, waiting outside the front of the Hall after breakfast, from where they can drive it up the original carriage drive and directly into the Donington Park circuit. After a day’s circuit driving or racing, our team will return the car to the workshops for cleaning and a check over before returning it to storage, while our visitors are on their way home.”
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