A quick report from Donington Park where we dropped in on the Masters Race Weekend. It called itself ‘weekend’ but it was only the Friday and Saturday of the Easter weekend. A Relatively small meeting compared to the Donington Festival which was to happen a few weeks later but a welcome return all the same to watching great racing in the sunshine after the winter months.
A tour around the paddock found Austin Healey’s, Lotus Cortina’s, TVR’s and the incredible GP cars of the 1950s & 60s racing with The Historic Grand Prix Cars Association. A highlight was seeing Tony Smith’s Ferrari 246 Dino, the very car that world champion Phil Hill won the Italian Grand Prix in, which is special enough but this is also the very last front engined racing car to win a Grand Prix. The car spent a period of its history in Australia where it acquired a V12 engine. Although sounding rather spectacular it was not historically correct so Tony took it back to its original V6 configuration which in turn removed its tendency to understeer improving its handling vastly. Sharing its pit with two examples of another Italian racing masterpiece, the Maserati 250F. These iconic machines rarely come out to race unless it’s a front engined only grid as no one wants to be humiliated by the rear engined tiddlers when driving your nearly priceless front engined machine!
We got up close and personal to the thunderous McLaren M1B and the Cooper Monaco King Cobra. The day finished with the tightly fought battles of the massive Gentlemen Drivers’ grid with the growling V8s of the TVR Griffiths and the elegant E Types at the front with the Lotus Elans snapping at their heels. There was also a Turner in the mix going indecently quickly. We left on the Friday evening so missed out on the Touring cars the following day but hopefully the video below will give you a taste of the meeting and may tempt you to visit one of the Masters meetings this season. Enjoy!
The Masters Race Weekend at Donington Park on April 7th 2023
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