Creation and pre-war racing Donington Park motor racing circuit was the first permanent
park circuit in England, which also ended the race circuit
monopoly that
Brooklands had held since 1907. Fred Craner was a former
motorcycle rider who had taken part in seven
Isle of Man TT races, Craner approached John Gillies Shields, the owner of the
Donington Hall estate, to use the extensive roads on his land for racing. In 1935 the first
Donington Grand Prix was won by
Richard "Mad Jack" Shuttleworth in an
Alfa Romeo P3. In the
1937 Donington Grand Prix and 1938
Donington Grand Prix, the race winners were respectively
Bernd Rosemeyer and
Tazio Nuvolari, both in
Auto Union '
Silver Arrows.' The circuit at Donington Park was closed in 1940 due to
World War II, when it was requisitioned by the
Ministry of Defence and was converted into a military vehicle depot. It was "derequisitioned" in 1956 and approved for racing by local planning authorities in 1957.
Wheatcroft revival (1971–2006) In 1971 the park was bought by business man and car collector
Tom Wheatcroft, who funded the rebuilding of the track. Wheatcroft moved his collection to a museum known as the
Donington Grand Prix Exhibition which opened in 1973, and had the largest collection of Grand Prix cars in the world until its closure in 2018. Wheatcroft had to battle against
Leicestershire County Council, which had refused to allow planning consent for a return to racing, but Wheatcroft successfully appealed and had laid out the track by early 1976. The first postwar race meeting was for motorcycles held on Sunday, 15 May 1977, organised by The Pathfinders and Derby Motor Club. The motor racing circuit re-opened for cars on Saturday 28 May 1977. The first postwar car race meeting was organised by the Nottingham Sports Car Club, sponsored by local Lotus dealers, J A Else of Codnor. That first car meeting nearly did not happen, as the local
ramblers tried to assert their rights to retain access to footpaths at the eleventh hour. The meeting went ahead as a "Motor Trial", a legal loophole that curtailed the use of single seater racing cars for that opening meeting. The NSCC continued to run race meetings at Donington until the Donington Racing Club was formed and a licence to run race meetings obtained. The Melbourne Loop was built in 1985 to increase the lap distance to and allow the track to host Grand Prix motorcycle races. At the previously the circuit was deemed too short. The shorter layout remains as the "National" circuit, which is used for most non-Grand Prix events. Near the end of the 20th century Donington has held meetings of
MotoGP, the
British Touring Car Championship and
British Superbike Championship, as well as the
1993 European Grand Prix. Other events taking place at the track include a 1000 km
endurance race for the
Le Mans Series in 2006, the
World Series by Renault and the
Great and British Motorsport Festival. On 26 August 2007, the circuit hosted the British
Motocross Grand Prix, with a purpose-built motocross circuit constructed on the infield of the road circuit. at the
2009 British motorcycle Grand Prix.
Donington Ventures Leisure (2007–2009) In 2007, Wheatcroft via the holding company Wheatcroft & Son Ltd, sold a 150-year
lease on the land on which the track and museum are located to
Donington Ventures Leisure Ltd (DVLL). In July 2008, it was announced that DVLL had won the rights to the
British Grand Prix for 17 years from July 2010, with
North West Leicestershire council approving plans for the required track and facility rebuilt design by
Hermann Tilke to be constructed from January 2009. On 27 and 28 September 2008, the
Motocross des Nations, the biggest and longest running event in World Championship Motocross, was at Donington Park. It soon became clear that DVLL, led by Simon Gillett, was in serious financial difficulty. Chris Sylt, a respected journalist specialising in the financial side of Formula One, questioned Simon Gillett's track record, citing an earlier failure of his company Innovation Motorsport, owing £200,000, and his apparent lack of experience. In April 2009, Wheatcroft & Son Ltd took legal action against DVLL in Derby County Court, seeking £2.47m in rent arrears, as well as forfeiture of the lease. The legal action put the future of the British Grand Prix in doubt, with
Bernie Ecclestone restating that if Donington did not meet required standards to host the event, there will be no British Grand Prix from 2010. On 5 June 2009, it was announced that an out of court settlement had been reached between Wheatcroft & Son Ltd and DVLL. On 24 October 2009, media sources reported that Donington had failed to raise the £135 million needed to stage a British Grand Prix. The BBC commented in its coverage that: "Donington's bid looks over, and that Ecclestone has offered the race to
Silverstone." Although DVLL gave further
public relations assurance that it would be able to raise the required finance and host the Grand Prix, on 29 October 2009, Ecclestone confirmed that the British Grand Prix would not be held at Donington. On 18 November 2009, the company went into
administration with debts to contractors and suppliers approaching £4 million and a secured loan of £14 million with Anglo Irish Bank, according to the Administrator's report. Acting chairman Mr Price said: "This need not be the end of Formula One racing at Donington. It still remains a fantastic location. It needs people of vision to get the dream to the starting grid. We are certainly hopeful that a 2011 Grand Prix could take place at the site." On 7 December 2009, Formula One Management announced that Silverstone had been awarded a 17-year contract to hold the British Grand Prix from 2010 until 2026. On 11 December 2009, it was announced that DVLL had lost the rights to hold the
British Superbike Championship race due to be held on 10–12 September 2010. These dates will now be used for a race at
Croft.
Return to Wheatcroft family (2009–2017) On 24 December 2009 it was announced that a buyer for Donington Ventures Leisure had not been found, which thus meant that the 150-year lease given by Wheatcroft & Son Ltd to Donington Ventures Leisure was terminated. The ownership immediately reverted to Wheatcroft & Son Ltd, now led by
Kevin Wheatcroft in light of the death of his father in 2009. Wheatcroft vowed to re-open Donington Park as soon as possible. There were hopes to re-open the circuit in August 2010, and this was accomplished with the Donington Revival meeting. On 26 May 2010 Wheatcroft announced that the lease for Donington Park had been sold (Subject To Contract) to
Worcestershire-based
Adroit Group. Adroit proceeded to resurrect the circuit, not only rebuilding the removed track sections, but also renewing infrastructure. This included the re-alignment of Foggy's bend, but not the old
Dunlop Bridge due to new built MSA/FIA regulations. As a result of a series of inspections, the circuit successfully regained its ACU, MSA and FIA Grade 2 licences. However, Wheatcrofts and Adroit failed to agree terms of a final lease contract, and hence terminated their outline agreement. The Wheatcroft-owned company Donington Park Racing took control of the circuit in late 2010, gaining events from both World Touring Cars and the World Superbikes, plus the inaugural Donington Historic Festival. 60 race days are held each year, including events from the British Touring Car Championship, British Superbikes, World Superbikes, British GT, rallying and historic festivals for both cars and motorcycles. Racing takes place on most weekends between March and October, with visits from most British racing clubs. Donington has also been host to the annual Season Launch for the BTCC since 2013, while the British Superbike Championship also holds major test days at the circuit. The
FIA Formula E Championship and its teams also constructed its headquarters at the circuit in the early years of its competition. All teams in the electric series were based at the venue, and Donington hosted several pre-season test dates before each season, some of which were open to spectators. For the
2017–18 season, the series switched their pre-season test venue to the
Circuit Ricardo Tormo in
Valencia, Spain. Wheatcroft has also invested heavily to restore the circuit infrastructure to its former glories. The infield which was excavated during the late 2000s has been completely restored and raised even higher in some areas, while pit and paddock facilities have also been improved. Outside the circuit boundaries, an all terrain course has been constructed, as well as improvements to hospitality buildings and conferencing suites. with work commencing almost immediately on venue improvements. Additions over the winter period of 2017-18 included a full resurface of paddock areas and access roads, the addition of the Garage 39 Restaurant, cafe and bar, and a large new grandstand at Hollywood corner. Several old toilet blocks were also demolished to make way for more modern units. while detail changes were carried out around the venue. The circuit office was also relocated to a newer building within the paddock. For 2019, work was completed on a new main entrance area near the existing paddock entrance, that better separates pedestrians from vehicle traffic. In April 2021 MSV announced it had purchased the freehold of the Donington Hall Estate comprising Donington Hall itself, former office building Hastings House and the Lansdowne workshops building. The estate is set in 28 acres of grounds next to the Donington Park race circuit. MSV plans to develop the Grade II* listed Hall into a 40-bedroom hotel, scheduled to open in 2023. Hastings House will become the Donington Hall Motorhouse, a stabling facility for supercars, classic road and racing cars and motorcycles, whilst the Lansdowne workshops, will be available to let for high-end motor engineering businesses which support the preparation and maintenance of vehicles kept at the Donington Hall Motorhouse and used on the race circuit. ==Motorsport at Donington==