The 2017 Donington Historic Festival is just days away
Just days now until Donington Park roars into life with the 2017 Donington Historic Festival, and we cannot wait.
Taking place at Donington Park from the 28 to 30 April 2017. The refreshed festival will feature a new ‘Get Involved’ theme, where visitors can enjoy attractions ranging from stunt driving to drift driving in Caterhams. The season opener has a new format, with qualifying for all grids taking place on Friday, allowing spectators to enjoy greater race action over the weekend. As a result, the festival has been able to attract its biggest line up of cars to date, featuring Pre-War grids through to cars from the early 1990s. Rounding off the first full day of racing will be the 1,000km series of races. The 90-minute endurance race for pre-73 prototype, Touring and GT cars is a must for all spectators. These powerful beasts will take to the track for qualifying on Friday, and will be battling it out for nearly two hours on Saturday afternoon. These sensational cars will take spectators back to the golden era of the World Sportscar Championship of the late 1960s and early 1970s, testing drivers, cars and pit crews alike. Cars to look out for include Lola T70s, Chevron B8s and Ford GT40s, which should provide plenty of closely-fought action.
Visitors will have the opportunity to get up close to the cars in the paddock and then see them at their best on the Derbyshire circuit’s sweeping curves. Richard Grafton, commercial director of Donington Historic Festival organisers Historic Promotions, commented: “The festival is right around the corner and, with the quality and prestige of cars we have attending and competing, we really believe this will be our best year yet. The new format allows spectators to view even more racing action and our ‘Get Involved’ theme will provide families and fans with the chance to experience a range of unique motorsport activities. We look forward to welcoming everyone to Donington in two weeks!”
The full list of grids comprises: ‘Mad Jack’ Pre-War Sports Cars; Historic Touring Car Challenge; U2TC, GT & Sports Car Cup; Stirling Moss Trophy; Royal Automobile Club Woodcote Trophy; HSCC Historic Formula 2 FIA International Race Series; HRDC ‘Touring Greats’; HRDC ‘Coys Trophy’; Jaguar Classic Challenge; 1000 Km; HSCC Super Touring Car Challenge and two Formula Junior grids, the FJHRA/HSCC ‘Silverline’ Championship Front Engined Formula Juniors and Rear-Engined Formula Juniors. The full timetable is available to view at: http://www.doningtonhistoric.com/the-races/.
Advance tickets for Donington Historic Festival 2017 range from £16 for a Friday pass, up to £48 for a three-day package that will give access to all the weekend’s racing and other attractions. Children under 16 can visit the event for free, provided they are accompanied by an adult. Tickets are available online at www.doningtonhistoric.com or on the 24-hour hotline on 0844 873 7355 (charged at 7p per minute plus your network access charge).
