Kevin Boothby remains confident of Towcester re-opening in April despite recent weather setbacks and some unwelcome surprises as they dug up the old circuit.
The old and new drainage pipes
The track work is being overseen by brother Dave who has been left in no doubt as to why the racing circuit was so difficult to maintain.
He said: “As a base they had 1,000 lorry loads of builders waste, on top of which was the wrong hardcore, a thin membrane and the wrong sand. But the big issue was undoubtedly the pipework. They were all four inch diameter pipes and were absolutely silted up solid.
“There was nowhere for the water to drain away to. It would have been absolutely saturated. We are installing six inch piping and the water will run directly back to the lake.”
The hare is back in operation and work is about to start staking out the new circuit which will be reduced on the bend from 9.7 metres to either 4.5 metres or 5.2 metres.
Clogged
Kevin Boothby said: “Gordon Bissett has done such a huge amount of work on track shapes and surfaces over many years and it would be ridiculous not to take his advice. We have a little bit of flexibility in the wide, depending how well the dogs run it.”
The new circuit has been provisionally measured up to somewhere between 497 and 502 metres but will run from the old 480 metre start. Starting from the old 500 metre boxes would take the standard distance up to an unviable 520 metres (approx).
Dave Boothby said: “It will take us a few days to peg up and board the outside of the circuit but we should get the sand on in a couple of days. We have pretty much unlimited heavy equipment for the job. We will also be erecting all the advertising boards which will provide great protection from the wind along the backstraight.”
1,000 tons of top grade silica sand on site and waiting to be laid
Dogs already on site in the converted stables
Meanwhile the stadium already has its first dogs in situ with 80 of Frank Gray’s greyhounds already on site.
Tony Tuffin is also completing his kennels all of which come with kitchen, treatment rooms, isolation kennels and staff facilities.
They are housed in the racing stables, which just like everything else on the site were built with no cost spared.
There are undercover paddocks, acres of grass walks and work will soon be completed on a 280 metre sand gallop which is using sand from the old racing circuit.
The gallop
The plan is for there to be somewhere between 250-300 greyhounds on site when the project is completed.
Undercover paddocks
Meanwhile, there is plenty going in relation to other business, notably with Silverstone planning to utilise the site for Team Mercedes during the British Grand Prix with imported accommodation and amenities for 2,000 VIPs.
There have also been a number of positive developments on the greyhound operation which will become apparent within the next couple of months.
One idea that can be unveiled is for a planned Night of Stars in October with a series of £10,000 open races. Work is also underway to determine the capability and race readiness of the stadium’s satellite broadcasting equipment.
