East Midlands Airport and Donington Race Circuit

[silverelise]

Not sure if this is the correct forum for this question but I'll ask anyway. Being a bit of a petrol head I've done a lot of laps around Donington over the years. Whenever I'm there, I always hear mention in the pitlane of the myth/rumour/known fact that "the aircraft from east midlands dump fuel which is why there's less grip at the top of the circuit".

It's true that McLeans and Coppice are pretty much directly under the departure path, and the aircraft are fairly low overhead, but is it feasible that they are spraying fuel over the circuit? Clearly we are not talking gallons and gallons, but I was just wondering if there were circumstances (eg. a hot day) whereby the fuel vents off on climb out and the vapour could fall to the earth/tarmac underneath?

[Rainboe]

No chance. If any fuel is leaked out of the vent system, it would be such a small quantity as to be irrelevant. Maybe it is the parafin 'dust' from the exhaust? I don't know exactly what it was, but when I used to leave my car under the approach path at Heathrow, after a few days it would be coated in a fine dust. Maybe that is enough to make the track a little more critical?