With all of the criticism this year about the British GP track at Matterley Basin, the dust and riders unable to pass on what is usually one of their favourite tracks on the calendar, we spoke to Steve Dixon to get his side of the story from an organisational perspective and to learn the context of the situation as well as everything else that goes into making the British GP happen.
And as we found out, it is not an easy job at all!
Steve told us: “We cleared the grass and that off because every year it’s seeded back and then put back to grass, we only use it that once a year. So, yeah, we just basically, because we moved the date to June, we had to get extra planning because it’s in bird nesting season. And because Boomtown, which is the big festival next to us, was increasing their crowd by 10,000, there was a massive environmental survey. So we had to wait for that, which actually made us, we actually never got permission until the Friday beforehand. There had to be like all mitigation for all the bird nesting, which was fine. It just meant that the grass and everything didn’t get cut until later on, which was pretty much Sunday.
“That was fine because, you know, structurally, you know, we’re all pretty prepared and work within front, work well together. It was just the, yeah, the weather, we used 2.6 million liters of water. You can’t water many days before, even one day before, it’s too soon. With the heat that we were having, it would just evaporate. You might as well just chuck the water down the drain because, yeah, the reason it runs well in the summer and can take so much rain, like in the Nations, is because the chalk absorbs so much.
So the decision was made to sort of water Friday night, which was fine. And then, unfortunately, our brand new tractor, the gearbox went on it. You know, it was electronics. I mean, it was brand new from our sponsor. And, yeah, that sort of messed us right up for three hours. So we got through Saturday, and then, because there was a bit of dust on TV and stuff like that, they called for watering. And, yeah, they just basically over-watered it. Didn’t quite listen to me because we know the I mean, it wasn’t so much Infront. It was just timing on the watering team. So it didn’t ride as good as it normally would. But it was exceptionally dry weather. And, you know, now, even still, that area is under a water drought. So we’re not allowed to use hose pipes or anything like that. So, yeah, it was difficult.
Originally when we did the planning, our traditional event date was sort of August. And then it started to clash because Boomtown got bigger and bigger. So then it was decided to sort of move forward. Then we had the few in, you know, February and March. Some went well. You know, we even had to water in February. But it was always risky because of the cold and everything. And, yeah, so then because of the original planning, which was in 2010, since then, it changed from an area of natural outstander beauty to a national park. So with that comes a lot more planning changes. So they’re not strict, they’re just correct and we have to adhere to it.
We’ve had eight changes to the 16 years of GPs we’ve run, so it’s not a problem. It was just the fact that Boomtown were having a big change in their planning. So, yeah, that’s all. And then we have to run at the highest standard regarding security and everything, you know, like because we have big festivals there. And I’d say we’re sort of a few leagues above everything else. We had to have welfare officers 24 hours a day, you know, just in case of vulnerable children, adults, etc. So, yeah, it’s quite strict, but that’s the way it’s going. A lot of it comes from Martin’s Law, which was from the Manchester bombing. And a lot will come into place next year. We had to have drug dogs and terrorist dogs searching the area for two hours before the event opened because of terrorism, all that sort of threat is big in the UK now…well, everywhere. So we’re on a high priority list that we have to adhere to.
Get the full interview below as we discuss with Steve running a British GP and some of his previous riders, including the voice of MXGP, Paul Malin!
