Historic Donington Grand Prix tops HGPCA's silver anniverary

The Historic Grand Prix Cars Association celebrates its 25th year in 2004, and the International Historic Donington Grand Prix in early May (1-3) is the flagship event in the club’s busiest ever season

“Donington is a big change for us,” says chairman Julian Sutton. “Instead of piggy-backing on other people’s events, we’re going it alone. We would like to theme Alfa Romeo because of the history of their victory there in 1936. The car is still in our membership and my dream is to re-unite car and driver.”

Sutton wants to bring Hans Ruesch back to the scene of his Donington Grand Prix victory when he shared his ex-Tazio Nuvolari 3.8-litre Alfa Romeo with a young Richard Seaman.

A 100-mile race for period grand prix cars has been mooted, but such an event is more likely to be run at the end of the year after big events at places like Pau.

What is certain is that the club has ambitious plans for the Donington event. “You can’t re-invent a Goodwood somewhere else,” Sutton concludes, “but Donington Park has its own atmosphere and history.”