England’s legendary Donington Park will once again reverberate to the sounds of Formula One engines as historic F1 cars tackle the 2.5-mile circuit during the opening days of this year’s Donington Historic Festival, set for April 30 and May 1. The cars expected to be in action include the 1984 Toleman TG-184 with which Ayrton Senna made his first big F1 splash (above, Pete Austin Photo), an ex-Keke Rosberg/Jacques Laffite 1983 Williams FW08, a 1992 Benetton B192-Ford raced by Michael Schumacher and the 2002 Jordan EJ12 with which Takuma Sato made his F1 debut, and many others
Beyond F1, 17 exhilarating races will showcase some 400 world-class competition machines from the 1920s to the 1990s. The Festival will also pay tribute to earlier Grand Prix racing by celebrating the 80th anniversary of Richard Seaman and Hans Ruesch’s victory in the 1936 Donington Grand Prix with the HGPCA Nuvolari Trophy contest for a grid of iconic Grand Prix and Voiturette cars up until 1950.
Away from the competitive action, the ever-popular historic rally cars, including the mighty Group B machines and the cars of the Historic Rally Car Register, entertain the crowds. Historic karts will also return to Donington Park for the event, as will the dozens of car clubs gathered in the Club Village in the infield. The race and rally paddocks are both open-access and always draw big crowds. For complete information please visit www.doningtonhistoric.com
