Qualla: Donington Park

Donington Park: Introduction

Wed, 27 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Brian Deegan, CC BY-SA 2.0. On 11 April 1993, in driving rain, Ayrton Senna started fourth at Donington and was leading by the end of the first lap. He won by more than a minute. AtlasF1 later called it the drive of the decade. The track on which he did it had been carved out of a country park between two world wars, abandoned to military trucks, and rescued by a builder who simply refused to let it stay derelict.

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Image: Brian Deegan | CC BY-SA 2.0

Donington Park: Before Silverstone, There Was Donington

Wed, 27 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Mariegriffiths at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0. Fred Craner had ridden seven Isle of Man TTs before he became the man who talked John Gillies Shields into opening up the roads of Donington Hall estate to motor sport. Donington Park became the first permanent park circuit in England, breaking the monopoly that Brooklands had he...

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Image: Mariegriffiths at English Wikipedia | CC BY-SA 3.0

Donington Park: Sleeping Under Tarpaulin

Wed, 27 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Steve Fareham, CC BY-SA 2.0. Donington's war was quiet and undignified. The Ministry of Defence requisitioned the circuit in 1940 and turned it into a military vehicle depot - trucks parked on the grid, infield grass churned to mud. The army left in 1956 but planning permission for racing was a different mat...

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Image: Steve Fareham | CC BY-SA 2.0

Donington Park: Bikes, Bands, and a Sopping Sunday in 1993

Wed, 27 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Andrew King, CC BY-SA 2.0. Wheatcroft's Donington Grand Prix Exhibition opened in 1973 and grew into the largest collection of Grand Prix cars in the world until it closed in 2018. The track itself found its identity in motorcycles. From 1987 to 2009 Donington was the home of the British round of the Grand...

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Image: Andrew King | CC BY-SA 2.0

Donington Park: The Deal That Wasn't

Wed, 27 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit ligreq, CC BY 2.0. In July 2008 Bernie Ecclestone announced that Donington had won the British Grand Prix from 2010 for seventeen years. Donington Ventures Leisure Limited would rebuild the circuit to a Hermann Tilke design, add an infield loop, and run spectators in by shuttle bus from East Midlan...

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Image: ligreq | CC BY 2.0

Donington Park: Where the Runway Meets the Hairpin

Wed, 27 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Graham Hogg, CC BY-SA 2.0. Stand at Coppice and you can hear East Midlands Airport. The western end of EMA's runway is only 400 yards from the eastern end of the track, which is how Donington became one of the few major motor-racing venues you can fly into directly. Donington Hall itself, the Grade II*-lis...

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Image: Graham Hogg | CC BY-SA 2.0