All Systems Go For Donington Historic 2021
The Motor Racing Legends Season gets underway at Donington Park on 1st and 2nd May.
The 2021 season is here at last! With both Motorsport UK’s recent pronouncement and confirmation from circuit owners MSV that planned track activities are to resume, the green light is very much ON for the Donington Historic Festival on 1-2 May.
Entries for Motor Racing Legends’ grids have been open for a while now, and the level of support is looking fantastic. The current level of entries is significantly higher than at this point last year, with the Royal Automobile Club Pall Mall Cup in particular well on the way to a full grid.
The DHF will of course have to comply with whatever restrictions are in place at the time. Specific details for the event will crystalise as the date approaches, but for now we can safely assume that social distancing rules will be firmly in place – as they were for our events last year. MSV have announced that spectators will be allowed at the event, adding hugely to the atmosphere. However, the public will not be permitted into ‘working areas’ such as the race paddock. See the full MSV announcement here.
The one outstanding ‘grey area’ is that of overnight accommodation. Hotel accommodation is permitted for anyone whose stay is ‘work related’. If you’re not comfortable declaring your stay in this way then the rules clearly state that self-catered accommodation is fine; so motorhomes and camping in the paddock are perfectly okay, as is the use of local self-catered rented accommodation such as ‘Airbnb’.
The DHF race timetable is still a little flexible at this time, but we can confirm which races will run on which days. Furthermore, we have deliberately scheduled qualifying to be on the same day as the race for each grid to help minimise the need for overnight stays for those more local.
Eight Motor Racing Legends series are represented at the meeting, including the Jaguar Classic Challenge and our newly announced Amon Cup for GT40s, alongside our well-established grids.
The outline programme includes (NOT in race order):
Saturday May 1st
- Royal Automobile Club Woodcote Trophy & Stirling Moss Trophy 60 mins
- Jaguar Classic Challenge 60 mins
- Amon Cup for Ford GT40s 80 mins
Sunday May 2nd
- ‘Mad Jack’ Pre-War Sports Cars 40 mins
- Royal Automobile Club Pall Mall Cup 180 mins
- HTCC with Tony Dron Trophy and Sixties Touring Car Challenge with U2TC 60 mins
Please note that there is a small chance the Pre-War Sports Cars may have to move to Saturday. This will hopefully be confirmed either way shortly.
And don’t forget – enter ahead of the 5 April deadline for the discounted entry fee.
Go to www.motorracinglegends.com and click on the relevant series under the ‘RACE SERIES’ drop down.
Click on the red ‘Enter Online’ button for our straight-forward on-line entry form or to download the PDFs.
I’m sure you all join us in looking forward to seeing each other once again in the paddock at Donington.
Best regards
Duncan Wiltshire
Photos: Jeff Bloxham and John Retter
