And what an experience it was. Following weeks of cold miserable and generally damp weather, I could scarcely believe my luck that the sun shone almost all day, to the extent that I went home mildly red of face. But far better than that was the event itself, which was just excellent. There was so much to see that, and so many places to see it from, that it would be hard to get bored, or feel cheated. And with Car Club ticket prices making entry effectively £9 a head, it was a veritable bargain. Here are some of the highlights of the day:
CAR CLUB DISPLAYS
With over 50 Car Clubs registered and in excess of 1000 cars on show, there was an event in itself just with the infield displays.
ABARTH
I knew exactly what to expect in the Abarth area, as I had done all the organisation and liaison with Donington. We had a great parking spot, very close to the infield tunnel, and right by one of the grandstands. Turning round, we could see the other side of the track on the distance, too. 13 Abarthisti cars came along, with a mixture of 500s, 500Cs, Grande Puntos and the real star of the day, Mike Foster’s fabulous 1000TC which really did draw the crowds.
AC were parked next to the Abarths. Their display included not just the expected Cobras but a lovely Daytona replica and one of the very rare ME3000s, as well as an Aceca.
As well as several of the most recent models, there were some lovely older cars including the DB5, DB6, DBS and V8 models.
Audi Owners Club had a rather meagre display of just 4 cars, with a Coupe quattro being the most unusual model, along with an 80 Cabrio, an A4 Avant and the current model S4.
| AUSTIN A late model Seven  |
AUSTIN-HEALEY
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A lone SM turned up in the middle of the day.
There were several of the SP250 “Dart” sports cars, a model not particularly well regarded when new but with its own devoted following these days.
Strong showing of Ferrari, most of which were different from the specific carsseen at Brooklands the previous day.
An early car, the Gilbern GT
This G11 is one of just 4 such cars built, and believed to be the only one currently on the road. These days it sports a rather potent Ford V8 engine which makes it rather faster than when it was powered by the 1798cc B Series MGB engine.
Seeing one of these cars is a rare enough thing, but I was very surprised when a second one pulled up as well. Just 99 of these elegant tourers were built in the early 1960s, though the survival rate is particularly high, but even so, you don’t see one very often.
There was quite a row of the three wheeled Scorpion models on display.
An early Imp, complete with the “bow-legged” camber, Compare the angles on front and back wheels!
There were a large number of Jaguars assembled in the middle of the infield, and a few others dotted around the rest of the Car Club display area.
A very varied group of Lotus cars were parked up right alongside the track. Sadly, this was such a good vantage point that the cars were mobbed by spectators most of the day, so getting decent photos of them was difficult.
There were a number of MGs at the event, in keeping with the sports car theme of the day.
A small selection of Classic Minis, including a rare Clubman Estate.
No question, Porsche had more cars in their display than anyone else. Thanks to the need to replan where all the Club Displays would be located, forced on the organisers thanks to the continued inclement weather and soggy underfoot conditions, the allocated space soon filled up, which meant that we were able to get a good view of many of the cars as they arrived and waited to be parked up.
Couple of Renault-Alpines to enjoy as a prelude to what should be a much bigger display of these, in honour of the 50th anniversary of the brand, at Prescott
RMA
There were quite a number of these grand looking machines, with plenty of variety ranging from recent Silver Shadows back through a 4 door Silver Cloud Flying Spur to models from the 1930s.
A late model SD1 Vitesse
Probably the rarest car of the day was this fabulous Sonnet. This is one of the first generation models, rarely seen, and sports a 3 cylinder 2 stroke engine. The proud owner was very happy to show it off and to tell us about the car, which he has owned for about 6 years, bringing it over from Sweden. I was surprised to find it is not a hatchback, but has a boot lid more like a tray so although there is plenty of space, getting stuff in and out is not easy!
Not as many Tigers as last year, but still a worthwhile showing of these lovely sports cars with their rumbling V8 Ford engines.
This Doretti was parked up in among the Triumph TRs, and from the back looked like a sort of XK Jaguar that had been squeezed. Closer investigation revealed it to be the TR3-based Swallow Doretti.
A strong showing from the TR Register meant that the large number of cars attending were parked up in close formation. Great to see so many TR4s, TR5s and TR6s.
I only found the TVR Car Club display late in the day, as they were tucked away right at the end of the area allocated to Car Clubs, but I am glad I did, as there were representatives of almost all model types, from a very early Grantura to one of the last Sagaris made.
An example of the Rolls-Royce engined Princess 4 litre R, a luxury saloon based on the Austin Westminster that sold in small quantities in the early 1960s.
Some lovely historic cars, including one of the long tailed DB4s.
A lovely RS2 was parked up in the Paddock, well hidden among the transporters.
This is the 1929 single seater 4.5 litre supercharged Bentley in which Tim Birkin shattered the Outer Circuit lap record at Brooklands in 1931
We last saw this impeccably restored 1940 Dodge at Race Retro 2011. In its early life, it carried bomber crews around an airfield, and then after the cessation of hostilities, it was used by Dennis Poores to transport his race cars to British Hillclimbing venues. It ended up at Donington, and for a time was displayed in the museum. The current owner, Richard Jones, acquired it, in a very tatty state in the mid 1990s and has undertaken a painstaking restoration.
Not one, but four 250 GTs were competing. One of these, an early aluminium bodied competition car was making its racing debut, driven by former Formula One driver Jackie Oliver and Rohan Fernando. It was joined by three other cars, including the last SEFAC car built which was taken to victory by Ricardo and Pedro Rodriguez in the 1961 Paris 1000km race.
This is the very C Type Jaguar driven by Sir Stirling Moss to win the 1952 Rheims Grand Prix exactly 60 years ago. It was also notable that this was the first disc braked car to win a Grand Prix. It competed in a number of other events in 1952, such as Boreham and Turnberry and took a second place at Goodwood, as well as running as a factory entrant in the 1953 Mille Miglia, and it is still used for historic racing events even now. The heat was so intense at that Rheims Grand Prix, and the event so tiring that Sir Stirling had to have buckets of water poured over him whilst the National Anthem was played in hoour of his victory. Although I did not see it, Sir Stirling was scheduled to take the car out on the track to commemorate his historic association with this splendid vehicle.
This is one of the 2 Lola T70s that competed in the pre-1972 Historic Sports car race. The other car was driven by Frank Sytner, exactly one year after he suffered a heart attack at this very event. No such problems for him this year, though.
Tucked away at one end of the paddock, where few people probably came across it, was this McLaren SLR
One of the rarest cars competing was this 1962 Porsche Abarth Carrera GTL. Just 21 were built. This car travelled over from New Zealand to take part in the event.
| RENAULT
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TURNER
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This diminutive Tuscan was lurking in among the massive transporters in the paddock.
A highlight for me, and indeed for many people, was the chance to see and hear a wide variety of the famous Group C cars. These were a real focus in the early 1980s, and although Porsche dominated so often with the 956 and 962s, there was plenty of competition both from other manufacturers and a whole array of specialist constructors. Ultimately, the manufacturers with the deepest pockets were the most successful, but the others did not give up. The lineup at Donington reflected the great variety of different constructors, with examples not just of the Porsche 956 in action, but also three Lancia LC2s, the Jaguar XJR5B, the Aston-martin AMR1, three Spices (SE86, 88 and 89), the Argo JM19, Tiga GT2, a couple of Nissans and the Peugeot 905. They were all there and mighty impressive they were too. Just look at the complexity of the Nissan to realise what an engineering tour de force they were 25 years ago.
This car looked familiar, and I recalled that it was on display at the Season Finale at Prescott in October 2011. It is called the Old Yeller II, and was based on a Buick Special. It was built by Max and Ina Balchoswsky at the Hollywood Motors in October 1959, featuring many innovative new ideas. The car was driven by legendary drivers including Dan Gurney, Carroll Shelby, Bobby Drake, Bob Bondurant, Billy Krause and Paul O’Shea. It features a 6571cc engine installed in a custom chrome tubed chassis, with all around drum brakes.
Donington is renowned for being a great spectator circuit, as the undulating countryside in which it is situated means that you can see action at various points around the track without even having to move. Coupled with unhindered access to all the grandstands, we were able to enjoy numerous vantage points to see what was going on. And with a full program of practices and races, there almost always was something going on.
