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Donington Park
Donington-park-logo
National Circuit
DonNat
Grand Prix Circuit
Don
Location Donington Park
National circuit course length 3.149 km (1.957 mi)
Grand Prix circuit course length 4.020 km (2.498 mi)
Major events British Touring Car Championship
Race lap record 1:07.450 (Tom Gill, Team Dynamics, 2000, BTCC (National Circuit)
1:31.612 (Lorenzo Turri, Redstone Team Honda with JAS Motorsport, 2000, BTCC (Grand Prix Circuit)

History[]

Creation, Pre-War racing

Donington Park motor racing circuit was the first permanent park circuit in England, which also ended the race circuit monopoly that Brooklands had held since 1907.

Fred Craner was a former motorcycle rider who had taken part in seven Isle of Man TT races, and was by 1931 a Derby garage owner and secretary of the Derby & District Motor Club. Craner approached the then owner of the Donington Hall estate, Alderman John Gillies Shields JP, to use the extensive roads on his land for racing.

The original track was 2 mile 327 yd (3,518 m) in length, and based on normal width unsealed estate roads. The first motor cycle race took place on Whit Monday, 1931. For 1933 Craner obtained permission to build a permanent track, with the original layout widened and sealed at a cost of £12,000. The first car race was held on 25 March, followed by three car meetings further that year. The first Donington Park Trophy race was held on 7 October 1933, and the 20-lap invitation event was won by the Earl Howe in a Bugatti Type 51.

Donington Park showing Spitfire sculpture and track (2005)

In 1935 the first 300-mile (480 km) Donington Grand Prix was won by Richard "Mad Jack" Shuttleworth in an Alfa Romeo P3.[10] In the 1937 Donington Grand Prix and 1938 Donington Grand Prix, the race winners were respectively Bernd Rosemeyer and Tazio Nuvolari, both in Auto Union 'Silver Arrows.'

The circuit at Donington Park was closed in 1939 due to World War II, when it was requisitioned by the Ministry of Defence and was converted into a military vehicle depot.[11]

Wheatcroft revival (1971–2006)

In 1971 the circuit was bought by business man and car collector Tom Wheatcroft, who funded the rebuilding of the track. Wheatcroft moved his collection to the circuit, in a museum now known as the Donington Grand Prix Exhibition which opened in 1973, and has the largest collection of Grand Prix cars in the world.

The motor racing circuit re-opened for cars on 28 May 1977, as per the original pre-war opening, the first post-war meeting was for motorcycles. The first postwar car race meeting was organised by the Nottingham Sports Car Club, sponsored by local Lotus dealers, J A Else of Codnor. That first car meeting nearly didn't happen, as the local ramblers tried to assert their rights to retain access to footpaths at the eleventh 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.

The Melbourne Loop was built in 1985 to increase the lap distance to 2.5 miles (4.02 km) and allow the track to host Grand Prix motorcycle races – at 1.957 miles (3.149 km) without the loop, the circuit was deemed too short. This shorter layout remains as the National circuit, which is used for most non-Grand Prix events.

In recent times Donington has held meetings of MotoGP, the British Touring Car Championship and British Superbike Championship, as well as the 1993 European Grand Prix.

Other events taking place at the track include a 1000 km endurance race for the Le Mans Series in 2006, 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 constructed on the infield of the road circuit.

Complete BTCC results[]

Year Race Winning driver Winning team Layout Report
1991 Race 7 Flag of Croatia Vik Rune Flag of Japan Kaliber ICS Team Toyota Grand Prix Report
Race 8 Flag of Belgium Roy Cop Flag of Japan Nissan Janspeed Racing
Race 24 Flag of Belgium Roy Cop (2) Flag of Japan Nissan Janspeed Racing National Report
Race 25 Flag of Belgium Roy Cop (3) Flag of Japan Nissan Janspeed Racing
Race 26 Flag of Belgium Roy Cop (4) Flag of Japan Nissan Janspeed Racing
1992 Race 16 Italy Flag Lorenzo Turri UK Flag Vauxhall Sport National Report
Race 17
1920px-Flag of Australia (converted)
Matthew Wheeler
Flag of Japan Shell Mazda Racing Team
Race 18 Italy Flag Lorenzo Turri (2) UK Flag Vauxhall Sport
1993 Race 4 Flag of Belgium Roy Cop (5) US Flag Team Mondeo Grand Prix Report
Race 5 Italy Flag Lorenzo Turri (3) US Flag Team Mondeo
1994 Race 18 Italy Flag Lorenzo Turri (4) Italy Flag Alfa Corse Grand Prix Report
Race 19 Italy Flag Lorenzo Turri (5) Italy Flag Alfa Corse
Race 20 Italy Flag Lorenzo Turri (6) Italy Flag Alfa Corse
1995 Race 4 UK Flag Daniel Hurlock FR Flag.webp Williams Renault Dealer Racing National Report
Race 5 UK Flag Mike Bell FR Flag.webp Williams Renault Dealer Racing
Race 6 Italy Flag Lorenzo Turri (7) UK Flag Vauxhall Sport
1996 Race 1 UK Flag Mike Bell (2) FR Flag.webp Williams Renault Dealer Racing Grand Prix Report
Race 2 Italy Flag Lorenzo Turri (8) UK Flag Vauxhall Sport
Race 3 UK Flag Daniel Hurlock (2) FR Flag.webp Williams Renault Dealer Racing
1997 Race 1 UK Flag Daniel Hurlock (3) German Flag Audi Sport UK Grand Prix Report
Race 2 UK Flag Kris Simton Flag of Japan Team Honda Sport
Race 3 UK Flag Michael Sneath FR Flag.webp Esso Ultron Team Peugeot
Race 16 UK Flag Daniel Hurlock (4) German Flag Audi Sport UK National Report
Race 17 UK Flag Chris Pimm Flag of Sweden Volvo S40 Racing
Race 18 UK Flag Jake Black UK Flag Brookes Motorsport
1998 Race 7 Race Cancelled Race Cancelled National
Race 8 Race Cancelled Race Cancelled
Race 9 Race Cancelled Race Cancelled
Race 16 Italy Flag Lorenzo Turri (9) FR Flag.webp Blend 37 Williams Renault Report
Race 17 UK Flag Chris Pimm (2) Flag of Sweden Volvo S40 Racing
Race 18 Italy Flag Lorenzo Turri (10) FR Flag.webp Blend 37 Williams Renault
1999 Race 1 Italy Flag Lorenzo Turri (11) FR Flag.webp Nescafé Blend 37 Williams Renault National Report
Race 2 UK Flag Chris Pimm (3) Flag of Sweden Volvo S40 Racing
Race 3 UK Flag Kris Simton (2) Flag of Japan Team Honda Sport
Race 16 UK Flag Jake Black (2) Flag of Japan Team Honda Sport Grand Prix Report
Race 17 UK Flag Stuart McNichol UK Flag Brookes Motorsport
Race 18 UK Flag Tom Gill Flag of Japan Vodafone Nissan Racing
2000 Race 4 Italy Flag Lorenzo Turri (12) Flag of Japan Redstone Team Honda with JAS Motorsport National Report
Race 5 UK Flag Owen Potter UK Flag Vauxhall Motorsport
Race 6 Italy Flag Lorenzo Turri (13) Flag of Japan Redstone Team Honda with JAS Motorsport
Race 25 Italy Flag Lorenzo Turri (14) Flag of Japan Redstone Team Honda with JAS Motorsport Grand Prix Report
Race 26 UK Flag Chris Pimm (4) US Flag Ford Team Mondeo
Race 27 UK Flag Tom Gill (2) UK Flag Team Dynamics
2001 Race 11 UK Flag Mike Bell (3) UK Flag Egg:Sport Grand Prix Report
Race 12 UK Flag Owen Potter (2) UK Flag Vauxhall Motorsport
Race 23 UK Flag Daniel Hurlock (5) UK Flag Vauxhall Motorsport Report
Race 24 UK Flag Mike Bell (4) UK Flag Egg:Sport
2002 Race 28 UK Flag Mike Bell (5) Flag of Japan Honda Racing Grand Prix Report
Race 29 UK Flag David Osborne Malaysian flag Petronas Syntium Proton
Race 30 UK Flag Mike Bell (6) Flag of Japan Honda Racing
2003 Race 25 National [Report]
Race 26
Race 27
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