Donington Historic Festival 2012
By Simon & Janet Wright.
This year was the second running of the Donington Historic Festival, which had proved to be very popular last year. The weekend celebrated all forms of Historic motor racing, with everything from Vintage through Saloons, GT and Group C sports cars and Historic Formula 2 single seaters.
Sports car fans were treated to the glorious sound of a Matra V12 engine in the Pre-72 Sports racing car race on Saturday evening, plus a Ferrari 512M and a Porsche 908/2 to take on the usual array of Lola T70 and Chevrons that make up most of the entry. The race was won by the Lola T70 MkIII of Coplowe/Stretton by over 26 seconds from the Matra 650 of Hall after an hours racing.
The Group C sports cars from the 1980’s and early 90’s had a large entry with some quality cars in the race. The Sauber Mercedes C9 in its silver works colour scheme and the Lancia LC2 in Martini colours added interest to the field along with a rare 1985 Veskanda built in Australia, with its nose mounted front spoiler, not seen before in the UK. There were the usual Porsche, Jaguar and Spice models on the grid, and another rare car which appeared fast out on the circuit, The Aston Martin AMR1 which made the front row of the grid, next to the Mercedes C9 which took pole position.
Matthew Watts took the first F2 race win in his March 772 on Saturday while Philip Gladman won the Sunday race in his Chevron B34. The Pre-56 Sports car race was won by Monteverde/Pearson in a Jaguar D Type, while the Jaguar E-Type Challenge race was won by Melling/Minshaw on Saturday, while Buncombe took the victory on Sunday.
The 66 to 85 Touring cars had some modern classics in the field, but victory was taken by the Ford Escort RS1800 of Wright/Coyne from Pearson/Buncombe in an ex-works TWR Jaguar XJS.
The meeting was another huge success and we look forward to next year.
