Further evidence of the strength of the Historic Racing movement in the UK was to be found at the Masters Festival held at Donington Park recently. Simon Hildrew was on hand armed with cameras and lenses………..
John Brooks August 2015
Christopher Tate and his crew have done a marvelous job of restoring Donington Park to its former glory, after the vandalism perpetrated by the wannabee Formel One fantasists some five or so years ago.
One of the highlights of the season is the Historic Festival which has become one of the must-do events on the calender……….
At the Festival there was a tribute to John Surtees, uniquely a World Champion on both two and four wheels. 50 years on from his Driver’s Championship year he remains a popular figure.
Simon Hildrew was on hand to bring us these fantastic images………….
John Brooks, May 2014
The Porsche 956/962 is one of the truly great cars in motorsport history. Even when Group C and IMSA were assassinated by the forces of darkness it continued as the platform for such evolutions as the Kremer K8. However eventually all things must pass and so on July 18th 1999, the last international race for the K8 took place at Donington, the fifth round of the Sports Racing World Cup. A double Dutch pairing of Bert Ploeg and Remco Papenberg in the former’s car finished 15th, some 14 laps down on the winning DAMS Lola. The final curtain……………..17 years after Jürgen Barth rolled out 956/001 at Weissach, amazing.
John Brooks, November 2013
1995 and one of McLaren’s golden years. Winning the Le Mans 24 Hours at the first attempt and trouncing the opposition in the BPR Global GT Endurance Series with their fabulous McLaren F1 GTR. OK they had a crap season in F1, but regular readers (both of you) will know that such matters are regarded as a mere trifle on this blog.
In the run up to La Sarthe the pack headed to Donington and once again it was a McLaren fest. The above GTC Competition example did not fare so well as the others, being delayed with a broken gear linkage and so relegated Championship contenders Ray Bellm and Maurizio Sandro Sala to 15th place, out of the points. A rare slip from Woking’s finest.
John Brooks, December 2012
Today’s trawl into the past features a race I had forgotten that I had even attended. Back in July 1980 the organisers of the recently revived Donington Park came up with the cunning plan of getting the fabulous DRM series to cross the North Sea and entertain the masses. Like many cunning plans this did not take into account that the preceding round of the DRM was at Norisring, and even by that track’s standards it was something of a crash-fest.
Still Zakspeed brought over three examples of their Ford Capri Turbo and we were all mightily impressed. The winner that day was a man I still bump into at the races, Klaus Ludwig. A three time winner of both the Le Mans and Nürburgring 24 races and a multiple Touring Car Champion, he was one of the top drivers in the latter part of the last century.
Apologies for the poor quality of the photo, some things never change, I believe it was the wrong kind of beer.
John Brooks, December 2012