Donington Park Race Track

United Kingdom / England / Castle Donington /
 park, Formula One, horse racing track, motorcycle racing track
Donington Park is a site near Castle Donington in North West Leicestershire, United Kingdom, owned by Donington Ventures Leisure Ltd. It is used as a motor racing track, and for music festivals. The original Donington track was opened in 1931, and initially used for motorcycle races. In 1935 it saw Richard Shuttleworth win the Donington Grand Prix in an Alfa Romeo P3, in the 1937 British Grand Prix and 1938 British Grand Prix, the race winners were respectively Bernd Rosemeyer and Tazio Nuvolari, both in Auto Union 'Silver Arrows'.

The circuit was closed in 1939 due to World War II, when it became a military vehicle depot. In the early 1970s the circuit was bought by Tom Wheatcroft, who funded the rebuilding of the track, which was re-opened May 27, 1977. The first postwar race meeting was organized by the Nottingham Sports Car Club, but that nearly didn't happen, as the local ramblers tried to assert their rights to retain access to footpaths at the 11th hour. The meeting went ahead as a "Motor Trial", a legal loophole that curtailed the use of single seater racing cars for that opening meeting. The NSCC continued to run race meetings at Donington until the Donington Racing Club was formed and a licence to run race meetings obtained.

In recent times it has held meetings of the British Touring Car Championship, British Superbikes and MotoGP as well as, most famously, the 1993 European Grand Prix. This race, the one and only F1 race held at Donnington, was won by the late Ayrton Senna. There is a memorial to Senna in the grounds of the racetrack, outside a shop selling motorsports memorabilia.

Other events taking place at the track include the World Series by Renault and the Great and British Motorsport Festival. On 26 August 2007 the circuit hosted the British Motocross Grand Prix, with a purpose-built motocross circuit being built on the infield of the road circuit.

As featured in the 6th episode of the 18th series of Top Gear in the Track Day Car comparison.
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donington_Park
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   52°49'50"N   1°22'29"W

Comments

  • Venue of the British Grand Prix from 2010
  • I'm a HUGE F1 fan but I was wondering how other F1 fans feel about the move here from Silverstone? I know Jackie Stewart isn't real happy about it. What do you think? Or does it not matter?
  • I attended the Monsters of Rock 1990 concert here. It was an incredible show and venue in general. Aerosmith, Whitesnake, ChoirBoys, Thunder, among other acts. It was exciting when a concorde would take off from the nearby airport. Truly a time I will never forget. I still have the ticket stub from that show as well as the concert book.
  • Incredible track. I love it!
This article was last modified 7 years ago