Donington Park – did you know…?
As a lot of people reading this will know United Washroom are very excited to be sponsoring Peter Evans and his team in the Porsche Boxster Championships this year. As the first race of the season is fast approaching, I have been taking a look at the tracks that Peter will be tackling this year and have found some really interesting things which I thought I would share with you.
The first race of the season is being held at the Donington Park Circuit on the 10th April, here are my Top Ten Donington Park facts:
FACT 1: The Gillies Shields family-owned Donington Park estate until the start of WWI, when it was seized by the government and used as a prisoner of war camp.
FACT 2: The Donnington Park Circuit was opened in 1931 and was England’s first permanent park circuit. Originally for motorcycle racing and then two years later for car racing too.
FACT 3: In 1931 the circuit was made up of the existing unsealed Donington Hall Estate roads. Ex-TT racer Fred Craner (of the dreaded Craner Curves) built the first permanent surfaced track in 1933 at 2.186 miles long.
FACT 4: In 1939 Donington Circuit was closed again due to WWII, when the area was taken over by the MoD and was used as a military vehicle depot.
FACT 5: The circuit then remained closed for motor racing until the 1970’s when the Donington Park Estate was bought by businessman, Tom Wheatcroft who paid to re-build the track and increased the size to 1.957 miles.
FACT 6: The Donington Grand Prix Exhibition is home to Wheatcrofts personal car collection along with the largest Grand Prix car collection in the world.
FACT 7: The Melbourne loop was added in 1985 to increase the circuit to 2.487 miles which allowed the track to host the Grand Prix motorcycle racing. The circuit is also used without the Melbourne loop for non-Grand Prix events.
FACT 8: It was during a very wet 1993 European Grand Prix that Ayrton Senna won what is considered one of the best races of his career at Donington. He progressed from 5th place up to 1st during the opening lap and finish a whopping 1 minute ahead of the runner up Damon Hill.
FACT 9: In 2017 the circuit business and a long term lease on the estate was purchased by MotorSport Vision who have since made improvements to both the venue and the race calendar by adding additional events.
FACT 10: Donington also plays host to numerous other events throughout the year which are not race-related including many Rock Festivals. Headline acts such as Iron Maiden, Metalica, AC/DC and Stereophonics have played events here!
Written by: Vicki Crawte, Managing Director
