The results of a poll carried out on the British Racing Drivers' Club (BRDC) Members Forum, clearly demonstrate that all is not well within the Silverstone circuit's marvellous clubhouse.

The poll is the brainchild of John Fitzpatrick, a past Director of the BRDC and Silverstone Circuits Ltd, who was also the Club's membership Secretary for many years, and follows the announcement that the legendary Northamptonshire track is to lose the British Grand Prix to Donington from 2010.

Fitzpatrick recently wrote to members in an attempt to garner opinion as to where the BRDC goes from here, with particular reference to the current Board.

As previously reported, the BRDC membership was already divided over the whole issue of the Grand Prix and the ambitious redevelopment plans aimed at retaining it. However, since the Donington announcement there has been serious talk of mutiny, with many members feeling "totally exasperated".

The poll consisted of three questions, and the reaction was quite astounding.

Asked if they were happy with the way the Board have conducted the Grand Prix Contract and planning applications, 96.77% of those that voted said no.

Asked if they thought the Board should resign over the recent loss of the Grand Prix contract/ planning and whether the Board had breached the member’s mandate, as well as the unlikely outcome of the enablement brief now being approved, 96.10% said yes.

Finally, asked if the Board should be asked to resign should they fail to do so themselves, 95.45% said yes.

Reacting to the poll results, Fitzpatrick told fellow members: "I have presided over a good number of voting issues through the years; I have never seen a result like this before that is so emphatic and resounding in its outcome. It does prove one other side issue too, that being that if the members are given an anonymous vote, they are more likely to come out in their numbers in serious situations or circumstances. It may well have something to do with the current regime's recent policy of persecuting those members who have had the guts to speak out in the face of their membership's being threatened or withdrawn.

"The Board should now be fully aware of the depth of feeling within our Club and should not ignore the voice from within that has spoken in such an emphatic way these past 10 days. However one may wish to interpret this result, it signifies that some radical changes need to be made to our Club's administration. Nobody in their right mind can now say that the Board has fulfilled the membership's wishes or has accomplished anything that we can be proud of or satisfied with. Worse than that, the Board has gone against the "No high-risk strategy" mandate we empowered them with and instead, embarked on an highly expensive planning process which has, in most members eyes, now failed!"

In what might be seen as a classic case of 'divide and conquer', Robert Brooks, Chairman of the BRDC Board, has written to members, and in addition to claiming that everything is fairly rosy, despite the loss of the GP, has announced a special members forum to be held at Silverstone on September 4. Subsequently, when it was revealed that not all members might be able to attend the Silverstone meeting, Brooks announced an alternative forum at Bonhams - what one might call home soil - on September 1.