As reliably as the turning of the calendar, the Motor Racing Legends Donington Historic Festival returned on the 1st of May for its fifteenth running. It effectively fires the starting gun on the historic motorsport season, and this year delivered three full days of qualifying and racing across eighteen grids. Each edition seems to outdo the last. Several favourites, including the Historic Touring Car Challenge and the Mad Jack for Pre‑War Sports Cars, ran as double‑headers, adding even more action to an already packed programme.

2 May:

I was unable to attend on the Friday so I missed the Formula Juniors (qualifying and races) and the first race for the HMRN Pre 63 GTs. Also on Friday there was free practice for the HGPCA pre 66 Grand Prix cars and qualifying for the Royal Automobile Pall Mall Cup, the GT3 Legends and the Generations Trophy.

So, my weekend started early on a sunny Saturday morning with signing on at the Media Centre then a double espresso from Garage 39 (the paddock cafe) before heading out to the circuit. Some photographers like to use the mornings for snapping pit and paddock action. But since I was the only representative from Tripos, I thought it better to snap as much track action as possible.

Race 13 – Royal Automobile Club Woodcote Trophy & Stirling Moss Trophy – Qualifying

First up was qualifying for the 29 entries in the Royal Automobile Club Woodcote Trophy & Stirling Moss Trophy. The thirty minute session saw the Pearson/Brundle Lister Jaguar Knobbly take pole position ahead of the Crosthwaite/Finburgh Cooper Monaco T49 and in third the Tilley/Glaesel Lotus 15.

Race 4 – ‘Mad Jack’ for Pre-War Sports Cars

The Royal Automobile Club Woodcote Trophy & Stirling Moss Trophy qualifying was followed swiftly by Race 4, the 30 minute ‘Mad Jack’ for Pre-War Sports Cars. The smell of Castrol R is all pervading in this race as one hundred year old engines power spindly chassis on, effectively, oversized crossply bicycle tyres. The Beebee Frazer Nash “Chain Gang” TT Replica (it was built around 1926) started on pole ahead of the BMW 328 of Mallya/Blakeney-Edwards, followed by Rudi Friedrichs in his Alvis Firefly Special. By the final lap (19), Friedrichs had overhauled the Beebee Frazer Nash to win with the Louis Fox Bentley 3/4½ Litre in third.

Race 5 – GT3 Legends

Who can resist the howl of a race prepared V12 at full chat? There were three Aston Martin V12 Vantages setting the aural tone for this race. But they were challenged in terms of pace by a variety of supercars from the late “noughties” and that second decade with no nickname. The challengers included a mix of Audi R8, Mercedes Benz SLS, BMW Z4 GT3, a pair of Nissan GTRs, Lamborghini Galardos, A McLaren MP4 12C etc. In otherwords a colourfully diverse and noisy grid, phew! This was a 50 minute 1 or 2 driver race with a mandatory pit stop.

Jonathan Mitchell’s Aston Martin V12 Vantage started from pole and held the advantage throughout the race, it was no cake-walk though because the similarly mounted Graham Davidson who qualified second, came home around 20secs behind, they were followed home by Richard Neary’s Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 who qualified 8th.

Race 6 – Generations Trophy

The entry could be confused for a dinner party guest list

This all MGB affair had its inaugural race at the Motor Racing Legends Silverstone event in October 2025 where 20 cars qualified. Since then things have expanded and 36 cars qualified. October’s winners were the Willmotts who qualified in 9th on this occasion. Pole position went to the Mc Brien family, followed by the Warhursts and the Whales, (sounds like a dinner party invite list). The latter were retirees last time out. According to Harry Whale, the engine blew.

On pole for this race were the Mc Briens followed by the Warhursts and then the Whales. This was a hard fought race which provided entertainment throughout. Moving up from a starting position of 11th Rod Adlington out braked Aimee Watts, and very nearly himself, at the chicane to take a second place the team would keep to the end. Thus the result was the Whales, followed by the Adlingtons and the Watts. Now, who’s got that gravy?

Race 7 – HMRN Pre ’63 GT (Race 2)

The lunchbreak brought the club and supercar parades, but the track was soon returned to its normal duties for the second race for the Pre ’63 GTs. 14 cars qualified for race 1 but by race two, only 13 would start. Starting from pole position the Pearson Jaguar E Type lead the way but unfortunatley it would get no futher than lap 15 (of 18).

This left the Jaguar E Type of Soper/Patridge to lead home the Lotus Elite of Alexander/Fores followed in third by Alistair Dyson’s E Type.

Race 8 – HGPCA Pre ’66 grand Prix Cars

Tom Waterfield set the qualifying pace with a 1:16.067 time, but he was closely followed by Rudi Friedrichs 1:16.143 and Tim Child 1:16.246. In fact Will Nuthall in fourth also broke into the 1:16 zone. Child leapt into the lead on the first lap and held off Waterfield until lap 9. From then Child chased home Waterfield in a close fought battle to finish just 0.775 behind. Nuthall claimed third ahead of Freidrichs.

Race 9 – Historic Touring Cars

A slight change of name for this one which reflects the changing nature of the series. Gone is the Tony Dron Trophy for Group 1 Cars which ran as a separate class. In fact there was one representative of that class of car driven by Mike Whittaker in his Rover SD1 which finished 13th ahead of a group 2 Escort and Capri.

The Middlehurst Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R, together with the similar Nissan Skyline GTR of Simmo Arthur took the front row in Qualifying on the Friday. By the end of Lap 1 the Middlehurst car was in the pits with a puncture, never to be seen again.

The race settled down with the Julian Thomas Sierra Cosworth leading, followed by the Arthur Nissan and the Victor Cullen BMW E30 M3, a situation that continued for 7 laps when a Safety Car appeared for one lap. After the Safety Car, Darren Fielding’s BMW passed the Nissan for second. Between laps eleven and 14 the pitstops happened. After that on lap 15 the top order was Thomas, Fielding, and the Muldoon/Kellett BMW.

Thomas lost the lead on lap 23 falling to 5th, he would eventually finish 6th. The final result was Muldoon/Kellett, Fielding followed by the TWR Jaguar of Meins/Huff which started 9th.

Race 10 – The Royal Automobile Club Pall Mall Cup

Saturday wasn’t over yet! We settled down to the 2 hour Royal Automobile Pall Mall Cup with a grid full of MGBs, Cobras, Austin Healeys, Lotus Elan 26Rs etc.

Qualifying on the Saturday saw the Jordan/Tordoff Lotus Elan 26R setting 1:19.654 for pole and the Jarvis/ Malvern example just 0.201 secs behind. The Ginetta G4R of Ward S/Ward C a further 0.645 back in third. With such a long race anything can happen and by the end of the first hour the lleading three were Graf Von Wedel L/ Graf Von Ledel A; Lotus Elan 26R, Gomm/Keith-Lucas; Jaguar E-Type Low Drag and Osborne/Ward; Jaguar E-Type Semi Lightweight which pitted on this lap. At the finish, after two hours and 83 laps the top three were Halusa/Ames in 1st, Kay/Mooney (26R) 2nd followed by the 26R of Tilley/Albrecht.

And that was it for what was a gloriously sunny Saturday. Perfect conditions for racing. Sunday was however, looking less perfect.

3 May:

I looked out of the window onto the Premier Inn car park and noted that my car, which had been caked in dust the previous day, was clean. It was raining.

I arrived at Coppice corner and parked, I decided to spend the morning at this end of the circuit, moving to Redgate Kraner for the afternoon activities.

RACE 14 – HRDC Gerry Marshall Trophy – Qualifying

The HRDC has taken over the mantle for Group 1.5 Touring cars with The Gerry Marshall Trophy which also caters for a “Willhire” class, refering to the category of production saloons that graced the Snetterton Willhire 24 hrs races between 1980 and 1990. This allows cars homologated after the Group 1 cut off date to race, thus we see MG Metros and Maestros chasing Alfa Romeo GTV6 etc.

On a damp but drying track the Capri Mk3 of Waterfield/Mitchell claimed pole position folowed by the Spiers/Greensall Mkii Capri and in third Mike Whitaker’s Rover SD1. The lead car in the Willhire class was the Margalies/Margalies Alfa Romeo GTV6 in a creditable fourth place.

RACE 11 – The “Mad Jack” Pre War Sports Cars (Race 2)

Rudi Friedrichs stared this one from pole in his Alvis Firefly Special, ahead of the Beebee Frazer Nash in second with the Morley C/Morley J Bentley 3/4 ¹/₂ in third. This would remain unchanged throughout the race. Of note was the progress of Sue Darbyshire in her Morgan Aero 3 wheeler, starting 20th and finishing 5th. Also worth a mention was Paul Pochciol in his Bentley 3/4 ¹/₂ having a good run.

Race 18 – HRDC Dunlop Allstars and Classic Alfa Challenge – Qualifying

The pair of TVR Griffiths locked out the front row; that of Mike Whitaker beating John Spiers by 0.070 secs! On the next row were the two Lotus Elans of Jamieson and Cahill. Then came the Alfa Romeo GTV6 of Jake Margalies (driving solo).

Race 12 – HGPCA Pre ’66 Grand Prix Cars – (Race 2).

That quartet of Waterfield, Friedrichs, Child and Nuthall took the first four places on the grid for this second 30 minutes blast. Ultimately both Friedrichs and Nuthall would retire on laps 16 and 12 respectively. This left a battle between Waterfield and Child who was subsequently overtaken by Michael Gans for second place. Friedrichs had the consolation of class 7b fastest lap.

Of course those were the rear engined cars. The Front engined cars included the pretty Ferrari 246 Dino of Richard Wilson who won the class (7a). The Maserati 250f driven by Elliott Han which also won it’s class (6) but was second of the front engined group, and Ian Nuthall’s Cooper Bristol Mk 2 was the third front engined car home.

Race 14 – HRDC “Top Hat” Pre ’66 Touring Cars – Qualifying

Formerly the “Jack Sears” Trophy, now renamed “Top Hat Pre ’66 Touring Cars”, a hat tip to a previous incarnation that morphed into the Transatlantic Trophy under the Masters Historic Racing banner.

The Ford Mustang of Spiers/Greensall took pole position 0.6 secs ahead of the Ruddell/Ingram version. Guy Smith pedalled his Lotus Cortina into thrid place ahead of the fourth and fifth placed Mustangs of Whitaker and Johnson/Ross respectively.

Race 13 – Royal Automobile Club Woodcote Trophy & Stirling Moss Trophy

And then we were back to racing. Twenty cars finished this one hour race and, barring pit stops, the pole position Lister Jaguar Knobbly of Pearson/Brundle led from lights to flag. This was followed home by Lukas Halusa in his solo driven Jaguar D-Type Shortnose and Spencer Shinner in his solo driven Lotus 11 S2 Le Mans.

Race 14 – HRDC Gerry Marshall Trophy

Last year the Connew Jaguar XJ-S won this race having got to second place and benefitted from a 5 sec penalty applied to the leader, Michael Whitaker in his Rover SD1. This year the Jaguar hounded race leader Whitaker for two laps, finally overtaking him on lap 19 only to lose a wheel on lap 20! Whitaker lost a position at the lights but recovered from 7th on lap 2 to lead by lap 17 and apart from that spat with the Jaguar, he ran out the winner on lap 32, followed home by Mike Whitaker’s SD1 and Adam Brindle’s similar Rover.

Race 15 – GT3 Legends (Race 2)

Jonathan Mitchell’s pole position Aston Martin V12 Vantage held the lead from lights to flag, except for lap 30 when Jeff Smith Audi R8 LMS Ultra took the place. Smith was soon displaced by Mitchell who stayed out in front for the balance of the 45 laps. Behind him Davidson’s Aston Martin had held second until Lap 38 when Danny Winstanley’s Audi R8 LMS Ultra, starting from third, displaced him.

Race 16 Top Hat Pre ’66 Touring Cars

From his position of 8th on the grid, Tom Sharp leapt up to second on lap one, a position he held for 5 laps. The battle for second was close between Sharp’s Falcon and the Mustang of Ruddell/Ingram and the Cortina of Guy Smith. Then it rained. Ultimatety The leading Spiers/Greensall Mustang was untroubled and it finished ahead of the Ruddell/Ingram Mustang and Guy Smith’s Cortina. Tom Sharp had provided the hardest challenge but he faded with car trouble and stopped on lap 21.

Race 17 – Historic Touring Cars – (Race 2).

A wet start to this second HTC race favoured the Middlehurst Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R. running relaibly, with no punctures, car No. 7 had a comfotable lead of 45 seconds at the flag. The wet weather “ace” Darren Fielding brought his BMW E30 M3 home second, ahead of the similar BMW of Ash Muldoon. A stirring drive by Rob Huff took the XJS from 7th to 4th on lap 2, but ultimately he finished 7th. The Jaguar represented Group A from pre 1985 and was the oldest Group A car in the race.

Race 18 – HRDC ‘Allstars’ with ‘Classic Alfa Challenge’

I don’t know who said “rain is a great leveller” but it certainly worked for this last race of the weekend. It started wet and continued that way. Having locked out the front row the TVR Griffiths of Mike Whitaker and John Spiers were mugged by Andrew Jamieson’s Lotus Elan starting from 3rd, the Margalies Alfa Romeo GTV6 jumped from 5th to second although at the end it was third. Eventually, Ben Colburn’s Alfa Romeo Alfasud Sprint starting 8th leapt up to first and the James Colburn Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint started 9th and finished second.

A great race to end a spectacular weekend of historic racing. And I’m told there are many improvements in the pipeline.

Next:

There’s more to come at Brands Hatch 19 to 21 June when the London Historic Trophy will grace the Kent countryside.

Speaking of “The Hatch”.

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Thanks to MSVR and Tripos Media for accreditation.

Event Images Here