Earlybird tickets for the 2024 Donington Historic Festival (4/5 May) are now on sale, giving extra savings on discounted advance prices until 31 January. Tickets for this world-class, family-friendly historic motorsport event are the perfect Christmas gift for classic racing fans, with the Earlybird discount helping to relieve the stress on the festive budget!
With yet more grids to be announced, the racing line-up for DHF 2024 already promises a superb on-track spectacle, with further excitement coming from the fact that many of the races have the added challenge of pitstops and driver changes, meaning that the outcome is never a certainty!
Attracting the finest vintage out on track – some more than 100 years old – the ‘Mad Jack’ for Pre-War Sports Cars, which will see behemoth Bentleys wheel-to-wheel with powerful Bugattis, Aston Martins and Frazer-Nashes and giant-killing Morgans in a grid which echoes the very earliest days of racing at Donington Park.
Sportscar and GT speed and glamour is showcased in a number of races across the Festival weekend. The combined grid for the Royal Automobile Club Woodcote Trophy for pre-56 sportscars and Stirling Moss Trophy for pre-61 sports racers brings some of the most beautiful machines in motorsport history to Donington’s sweeping curves. Expect to see Jaguar D-types and Maserati 250S, Lotus XI and XVs, Lister Jaguar Knobblies, Lola Mk 1s, Austin-Healey 100Ms and Cooper T39 Bobtails.
The epic, three-hour Royal Automobile Club Pall Mall Cup features pre-’66 GT and Touring Cars, with categories for pre-’63GTs and pre ‘61 Sports Cars. With its unique format, including ‘in pit’ refuelling, this has become firmly established as a true challenge in historic racing, as everything from Jaguar E-types, Shelby Daytona Cobras, TVR Griffiths and Granturas battle it out with Lotus Elans, Ginetta G4s and MGBs.
The Superformance Ferrari Club Classic – the only classic Ferrari racing series in the world – returns to the Donington Historic Festival in 2024 for more wheel-to-wheel action and promises to provide thrills aplenty in three races across the weekend. Expect close racing across several classes for road-legal and modified Ferraris up to the era of the 355 Challenge, including 308, 328, 348, 355, 456, 550, Mondial and more!
The Donington Historic Festival is always a jamboree for Touring Car fans, and DHF 2024 will be no exception. The HRDC Jack Sears Trophy for 1958-1966 tin-tops evokes the formative years of Touring Car racing which evolved into the BTCC. Thundering V8 Falcons, Mustangs and Galaxies are harried by nimble Lotus Cortinas, Alfa GTAs and pesky Mini Coopers, and not to be ruled out are the evocative ‘50s racers, with powerful Austin Westminsters, racy Austin A35s and A40s plus a myriad of near-forgotten models such as Riley 1.5s and Standard Tens.
The combined HRDC Dunlop Allstars for pre-’66 Sports, GT & Touring Cars and HRDC Classic Alfa Challenge for 750-116 Alfa Romeos is always entertaining. Embodying the ethos of 1950s/60s Club ‘Allcomers’ races, the ‘Dunlop Allstars’ brings a great variety of marques, models and types together in a scratch-race format. The Classic Alfa Challenge celebrates the illustrious racing heritage of Alfa Romeo, as 1970s GTAm Touring Cars hustle against the younger Alfetta Gp.1 GTs and rapid but diminutive AlfaSud Ti racers. Pre-’66 Giulia Supers and GTs make up the historic class in this unique series.
Motor Racing Legends’ Historic Touring Car Trophy and Tony Dron Trophy with Sixties Touring Car Challenge with U2TC encompasses three decades of Touring Cars in one massive grid. Lotus Cortinas, Mini Coopers, Alfa Romeo GTAs, Rover SD1s and Ford Capris share the circuit with flame-spitting Sierra Cosworth RS500s, BMW E36 M3s and Nissan Skylines.
The HRDC Gerry Marshall Trophy for pre-’83 Gp.1 and Gp.1½ Touring Cars celebrates the intense battles of this era when the likes of Gerry Marshall, Tony Lanfranchi, Barrie Williams and a host of determined racers went head-to-head in the crowd-pleasing BTCC ‘Tin-Tops’ Series. Bellowing V8 Rovers stave off the 3-litre Capris, while Triumph Dolomites pitch battle with Ford Escorts, 1275GT Minis and rarities such as Opel Commodores.
With two days jam-packed with race action, track displays and parades, an open-access paddock and pitlane walks, a trade village, plus the presence of hundreds of cherished classic cars in displays staged by dozens of car clubs, the Donington Historic Festival has long been a ‘must do’ event in the historic motorsport calendar. The calibre of drivers matches that of the calibre of cars, with past and present-day BTCC and Le Mans names often seen on the entry lists.
Earlybird ticket prices start at just £23 for a one-day adult (16+) entry, with discounts for teens aged 13-15. Under 13s are admitted for free. For further information and to secure those Earlybird tickets please visit www.doningtonhistoric.com.
