Paul Jeffrey
Premium
RaceDepartment.com spent a couple of days at the iconic Donington Park Circuit over the bank holiday weekend, to take in the sights and smells of one of the UK's most impressive celebration's of historic motor racing.
With typical bank holiday winds and showers doing nothing to dampen the spirits of the hardy spectators and competitors alike, 2016's edition of the Historic Festival will go down in the record books as a highly successful event. Featuring hundreds of historically significant racing vehicles - ranging from spectacular examples of a Ford RS2000 and ex Carlos Sainz Ford Focus WRC gracing the newly relocated Historic Rally Register stage behind Redgate corner - to modern day Formula One machinery in the shape of the 2002 vintage Jordan Honda EJ12 of Takuma Sato, the Donington Historic Festival had a little something for everyone in 2016.
Attendance across the 3 days of racing looks to be slightly down on previous years, no doubt due to the predicted poor weather over the bank holiday weekend. Those hardy souls who did venture over to the self proclaimed Heart of British Motorsport, would be rewarded with some exceptional races over the course of the long weekend. Standout performance was from double BTCC Champion Colin Turkington on Sunday evening as he wrestled his 1990 vintage BMW E30 gamely onto the podium against stiff competition from former BTCC racer Patrick Watts in his Pegeout 406 and the ex Matt Neal Nissan Primera Team Dynamics car that took victory here at Donington back in 1999.
Other BTCC regulars competing over the weekend include Andrew Jordan with his father Mike driving their 1958 Austin A40 and fan favourite double BTCC champion John Cleland, at the wheel of the slightly older '54 edition A30. Cleland swapped his usual ex works Vectra from the 1998 season to try his hand at something slightly more sideways and in his usual style providing huge entertainment for the fans trackside. Drivers with the fan power of John Cleland come around rarely and despite advancing years, the "flying scotsman" shows he has lost none of his flair for speed and entertainment since hanging up his helmet at the end of the 90's SuperTouring heyday.
British female motoring presenter and racing driver Amanda Stretton enjoyed seat time in the BMW 1800ti performing strongly in a car far outclassed by some of its main rivals around the 1.979 mile Donington Park track. Stretton again cemented her reputation as a fast and clean driver with a near fault free weekend in the little BMW.
Other big name personalities involved in the weekends festivities included none other than rock legend and Highway to Hell signer Chris Rea driving his original Police liveried race converted Morris Minor. Rea continued to impress the crowds swapping his signature Fender guitar for the exquisite Morris in a selection of races throughout the event.
One of the stars of Saturday and Sunday came not in the form of competitive on track action, but in fact demonstrations over the lunch break hour here at Donington. With the track famous for its substantial Formula One car collection in the Grand Prix Museum, some of its exhibit pieces joined a selection of driver/owner vehicles to perform a number of high speed laps thrilling the fans trackside. Representing 4 decades of Grand Prix racing the youngest cars were the 2002 Jordan EJ12, 1992 Benetton B192 and the thrilling 1990 Camel Lotus Lamborghini as driven by British trio Derek Warwick/Martin Brundle and Johnny Herbert. The previous two decades were represented by the ex-Rupert Keegan 1977 Hesketh 308E, the 1983 Williams FW08 of Keke Rosberg, the ex-Jean Pierre Jarier Osella FA1-D and 1985 Toleman TG-185 of Teo Fabi fame.
Alongside the on track spectacle ran a number of car clubs located around the circuit perimeter, bringing enthusiasts closer to some very interesting and well presented road going machinery from a number of Marques. Notable mentions should be given to the Ford Capri brigade who presented a wide variety of exceptionally well prepared vehicles in a number of interesting and unusual configurations and having some of the friendliest and proud owners who always proved to be generous with their time when members of the public wished to discuss the cars in detail between the races.
Of course, no historic event is complete without a obligatory Royal Airforce flypast and this year fans were treated to a great display of low flying grace and control, as the spectacular Hawker Hurricane took to the skies above Donington on Sunday afternoon to wow the crowds across the midlands venue. Sadly inclement weather forced the cancellation of Mondays aerial display but the boys and girls over at RAF Coningsby continue to organise their wonderful vintage flypasts on a near daily basis. You can find out more info on where in the UK you can expect to see these fabulous planes in action via twitter #RAFBBMF - well worth a look to see if one of these wonders of the sky are due to come near your location (sorry, UK only).
With 17 races held over the course of the 3 day weekend amidst a variety of typical British weather the 2016 running of the Donington Historic Festival once again reassured its place as one of the key dates in the British Motoracing diary.
If you want to find out more about the events on offer at Donington throughout the remained of 201,6 please visit the Donington Park official website. Images and reports from the Donington Historic Festival can be found on the official Donington Historic website alongside a number of high quality images from each running of the event dating back to 2011.
I've always known motorsport as an outstanding industry full of wonderful cars and an illustrious history but it just takes an event like this to remind oneself that motoracing really is the best sport in the world.
Roll on 2017...
Image Credits: Image 1,2,4 Jakob Ebrey. Image 3 Matt Sayle
Full results from the 2016 Donington Historic Festival can be downloaded in PDF format here.
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