Win a pair of tickets to the 2019 Donington Historic Festival
Competition time, yes again. This time we are offering 3 readers the chance to win a pair of three-day weekend tickets to the 2019 Donington Historic Festival, one of the UKs premier classic motorsport events. How cool is that!
The Donington Historic Festival is a must attend event for any classic motorsport fan. You’ll see wonderful racing cars from many eras, from the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s and be able to get up close to the cars and drivers, in a very relaxed environment. It’s very cool.
Whether you’re a long-time enthusiast or have never seen a historic racing car in action before, you’ll find plenty to entertain you at the Donington Historic Festival. After six very successful years the event is firmly established as a major fixture on the international historic racing calendar, attracting many thousands of spectators, hundreds of world-class historic racing cars and huge numbers of classic car club displays.
Donington Park has a fabulous history, from the days of the pre-War Silver Arrows GP cars right through to modern times, and the Festival calls upon all that history, creating a fantastic atmosphere at what is arguably the best spectator circuit in the country.
As well as watching such iconic machines fighting it out on track, spectators can wander round the race paddocks, enjoying free access and getting up close to the cars and stars. And there are always plenty of off-track attractions and live action – including legendary Group B rally cars, autojumble and memorabilia stalls, cafés, bars and food outlets – and extensive club displays of classic cars from the dozens of car clubs that create a ‘living motoring museum’ right in the heart of the infield.
To be in with a chance of winning a pair of tickets, simply tell us what is your favourite racing car and why. The more you tell us the more likely you are to win, that’s how it works…good luck.
If you do not want to miss out on our regular complimentary ticket competitions, then feel free to take a moment to subscribe to our regular newsletter or like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter or follow us on Instagram and be kept up to date with our posts. Good luck.
Read more on
Leave a Reply
8 comments on "Win a pair of tickets to the 2019 Donington Historic Festival"
Have a Competition you’d like to advertise on My Car Heaven?
Get in touch and we can make that happen for you.
Find Out MoreRelated Stories
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
It is very difficult to pick a favourite Racing Car, because when you have a passion for the rich history of motorsport throughout the decades, many of which took place prior to me even being born in 1974, there are so many to choose from, some of which were before my time, and I have never had the pleasure to witness them driven in anger, but their existence and place in history are the thing of legend.
I have always had a thing for the great all round drivers of years gone by, which sadly in today’s motorsport climate seems to be a thing of the past, drivers that raced in many different disciplines throughout their careers and often different disciplines from one weekend to the next. Great drivers such as Mario Andretti, Parnelli Jones, Dan Gurney, The Unsers, A J Foyt, Vic Elford, Brian Redman. But a personal favourite was Mark Donohue who raced Sports cars, F1, Trans Am, Can Am, so the cars that he drove are of great interest to me, even though he died a year after I was born and I never saw him race.
There is one such car that Mark Donohue drove that pretty much is the definitive race car and the ultimate race car whenever you think of Mark Donohue, the 1973 Porsche 917/30.
The car that took Mark Donohue to the 1973 Can Am Championship, with 6 straight wins from 8 races. Wins at Watkins Glen, Mid Ohio, Road America, Edmonton, Laguna Seca and Riverside.
The Porsche 917K is a relatively small car, but the 917/30 variant is large by comparison, it’s a brute of a machine but with very elegant lines that simply look stunning in the Sunoco blue and bright yellow colour scheme. The polished aluminium panels on the lower sides add contrast to the overall appearance of the car.
Only 6 examples of the 917/30 were ever built and only 3 of the chassis actually raced. It was fitted with a 5.4 litre flat 12 Porsche engine, fitted with twin turbo chargers. At 1.3 Bar the engines power output was a around 1100 hp which was the regular race trim setting, but turn the boost pressure up to 2 bar and the engine put out a staggering 1500 hp, which could be used briefly in qualifying. Bare in mind that the car weighted 850kg, so that is an incredible power to weight ratio. The delivered approximately 2 miles per gallon fuel economy. It was an absolute beast of a car in every way. The car was capable of 0 to 200 mph in 13.4 seconds and shortly before his untimely death Donohue set a closed course speed record of 238 mph in a 917/30 at Talladega Speedway in Alabama.
Fellow Lancastrian Brian Redman was given the opportunity by Roger Penske to race the Sunoco 917/30 in Can Am at Mid-Ohio in 1974 and last year I got the opportunity to question him about what the car was like to drive in anger, and he gave a detailed account of the handling characteristics of the car which was fascinating to listen to.
So although I never saw the car race, the Sunoco Porsche 917/30 is one of my all time favourite racing cars, the last one that went to auction, a chassis that had never even raced, went for over $4 million, so I guess I need to start buying lottery tickets again.
Tricky to choose just one classic racing car but the AC Cobra (Shelby Cobra) stands out as a classic for me. Love it’s speed and classic design shape.
The Porsche 956 would be my pick because of its design, iconic liveries, racing record and the longevity of the chassis.
With success in the World Sportscar Championship, and in IMSA with the 962 variant, particular highlights include 4 back-to-back Le Mans 24 wins for the 956 (and a further 2 back-to-back wins after this for the 962 variant) with drivers including Jacky Ickx, Derek Bell and Henri Pescarolo; the car was dominant in the 1980s.
If wins at Le Mans between 1982-87 weren’t evidence enough of the car’s long-standing dominance, its lap record at the Nürburgring must be! The time of 6:11.13 set by Stefan Bellof at the 1983 1000km of Nürburgring stood until last year when Porsche ran an unrestricted 919 LMP1 car around the track.
Compared to the current era of Le Mans, where factory LMP1 cars are both complex and expensive to run, meaning they cannot be sold to customer teams and have a relatively short lifespan, being replaced each season, it is a testament to the 956 how long it remained in operation and by the number of customers, such as Joest Racing and Kremer Racing, who raced and ran the cars successfully.
Rally cars were my favourite type of racing car.
Many stand out the 6r4 the RS2000 but above all the Audi Quattro was immense and the likes of Hannu Mikkola were my favourite.
Sad to see Audi pull out of rallying in about 86 due to a fatality.
Many a time I have been crouched in the forest in Wales watching the Lombard Rally.
It would be awesome to see the group B’s once again.
Thank you for the opportunity
Mark
I have a real soft spot for McLaren MP4/8. With a cruddy old Ford V8 strapped in the back, it was the total underdog for 1993, but Senna still managed 5 wins including, obviously, that drizzly day at Donington. Such a simple, pretty design, I can still draw it from memory.
Favourite race car was Emerson Fittipaldi’s F1 JPS Lotus. Such a great looking car, driver and team driven by the unique Colin Chapman
Favorite racing car has to be a Lotus Cortina, watching the old footage of Clark cocking a wheel as he cornered at Brands Hatch to them watching them for real at the Silverstone classic or Goodwood Revival being expertly drifted around the turns by BTCC stars is just a sight to behold! Then there is the sound of the perfectly tuned Lotus Twin cam engine barking through the twin weber carbs!
My cousin’s old banger. You can do anything with it cos he just doesn’t care what it looks like as long as it still drives!