Nine decades' worth of racers set for Donington Historic

| 5 Feb 2018

The grid line-up for this year's Donington Historic Festival has been announced, and it covers nine decades of motoring.

The annual motorsport extravaganza will feature everything from pre-war classics to 21st-century sports cars, with a total of 14 races taking place over its three days. 

One of the highlights will be the Stirling Moss Trophy, which will see Jaguars, Dinos 246s, Lotus 15s and other pre-1961 racers compete for the actual cup that Sir Stirling Moss won in the 1955 British GP.

A new entry for 2018 is the HSCC Derek Bell Trophy, in which Formula 5000 and Formula 2 single-seaters built and raced between 1967 and 1979 will take part, while two other single-seater races will also take place – both for Formula Juniors cars, one for front-engined and one for rear-engined models.

Fans of really old vehicles will be treated to the sight of 1920s and '30s Bentleys, Bugattis, Morgans and Austins in the Mad Jack Pre-War Sports Car Race, while the Royal Automobile Club Woodcote Trophy features the succeeding generation of D-type Jaguars, DB3/S Aston Martins and Austin-Healey 100Ms.

More Jags will be on show in the Jaguar Classic Challenge – C-types, D-types, E-types and other pre-66 vehicles among them – and if slightly more recent cars is your thing then you'll want to keep an eye on the Super Touring Car Challenge, in which the likes of Vauxhall Vectras, BMW 318s, Alfa 156s and Audi A4s will take part.

The Donington Historic Festival takes place on May 4-6, with qualifying on the first day and racing on the two subsequent days.

The full line-up of races announced so far is:

Mad Jack Pre-War Sports Cars (Sports cars built before 1941)

Historic Touring Car Challenge with Tony Dron Trophy (Pre-1991 British and European Touring Cars)

Stirling Moss Trophy (Pre-1961 sportscars)

Royal Automobile Club Woodcote Trophy (1950s road racers)

GT & Sports Car Cup (Pre-'66 GT cars and pre-'63 sports-racing cars)

FJHRA/HSCC Silverline Championship for front-engined Formula Juniors (Single-seater Formula Junior cars)

FJHRA/HSCC Silverline Championship for rear-engined Formula Juniors (Single-seater Formula Junior cars)

HRDC Touring Greats for pre-’60 Touring Cars with invited ‘TC63’ (Pre-1960 Touring Cars)

HRDC COYS Trophy celebrating the BTCC 1958-1966 (Pre-1966 Touring Cars) 

Super Touring Car Challenge (1990s Super Touring Cars, pre-1990 Group A cars, pre-2006 FIA S2000 and invited BTC cars)

Jaguar Classic Challenge (Pre-1966 Jaguars)

HSCC Derek Bell Trophy (Formula 5000 and Formula 2 single-seaters built and raced between 1967 and 1979)

Pre-'63 GT 

All pictures: Jakob Ebrey Photography