|
|
Motors Home
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY Sportscar Show 2001
QUICK LINKS ENTERTAINMENT
NEWS
FREE WEB DESIGN
BUSINESS
MOTORS
INFORMATION
FEATURES
MISC.
|
Some of the historic cars and motorbikes due to race at Donington TO SEE PREVIEW PHOTOS CLICK HERE COMPETITION TO WIN FREE TICKETS TO THIS RACE We have 2 pairs ( accompanied children under 16 go FREE ) of weekend tickets for this meeting to be won courtesy of our friends at the Vintage Sports-Car Club in our easy, free to enter competition at the bottom of the page. On Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th May, the Vintage Sports-Car Club, in conjunction with the Historic Grand Prix Cars Association, will be providing a unique opportunity to see racing history from much of the last century to as recently as last year. Top of the bill will be the return to the track of the mighty Auto Union grand prix cars that did battle with Mercedes at Donington in 1937 and 1938. Examples of the winning cars from both years will be on the circuit once more, showing the raw power and defiance of the laws of physics that has made their memory indelible for anyone who saw them in action. Just as thrilling will be the Audis from Le Mans 2000 - the team that finished 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, who will be demonstrating their cars at full race speeds. PREVIEW : At last… Auto Union will return to Donington
The VSCC can officially confirm the sensational news that Audi will be demonstrating their factory examples of C and D type Auto Unions on the Donington Circuit; the only place in Great Britain that these cars were ever raced in anger. This marks a major landmark for historic motor sport and the Vintage Sports-Car Club, which has been organising historic motor sport events for over 65 years. Auto Union won the only two Grands Prix held in Great Britain pre-war. This fantastic news comes with the unique opportunity for the general public to see the cars in action at Donington once more and will be the first time ever that the marque has returned to the circuit. The cars will be demonstrated on the track at the Vintage Sports-Car Club’s annual Richard Seaman Memorial Trophy Meeting on 19th and 20th May 2001. This year, for the first time, the meeting will run in a two-day historic festival format as part of a joint venture agreement with the HGPCA (Historic Grand Prix Cars Association). It is totally fitting that the Auto Unions will be appearing at this VSCC event, since the VSCC is the only organisation to ever run a race for pre-war racing cars at Donington. The actual cars that will be racing in the competitive element of the event will be the very machines that competed with the Auto Unions in the Donington International Grand Prix of 1937 and 1938. The particular race in question is for the acclaimed Historic Seaman Trophy.
The return of the Auto Unions will be supported by a demonstration of Audi’s rich motor sport heritage through the ages. A variety of Audi quattros that contested the Trans-Am and IMSA-GTO motor racing categories in North America and more recently the German and British Touring Car Championships will be present. Meanwhile Audi will also have on hand its 1999 and 2000 Le Mans sports cars. The traditional high action background of a VSCC race meeting will complement the demonstrations and the whole spectacle promises to be of huge interest to the historic and modern motor racing press alike. Other features of the event include races held for pre-1960 grand prix cars, an endurance race as part of the Historic Motor Racing News Gentleman Drivers Series for pre ‘65 GT and pre ‘62 Sports cars and two motorcycle races as part of the Lansdowne Classic Series for genuine grand prix machines from the 1950s and early 1960s. The traditional vintage sports and racing cars will be very much in evidence as an integral part of the race programme, including some allcomer handicap and scratch races. Audi – Donington - The Vintage Sports-Car Club – The Historic Grand Prix Cars Association .......What is the Connection? Why Audi?
Auto Union produced some magnificent grand prix cars pre-war, of which the 16 cylinder C type and the later 12 cylinder D type are the most notable. The drivers Bernd Rosemeyer and Tazio Nuvolari are the names most associated with the marque’s excellence and success in the grand prix arena. Why Donington?
The 1937 International Donington Grand Prix race was won by Bernd Rosemeyer in a C Type Auto Union. The 1938 International Donington Grand Prix race was won by Tazio Nuvolari in a D Type Auto Union. Auto Union was very much the success story of pre-war Donington Park. Why The Vintage Sports-Car Club?
Why The Historic Grand Prix Cars Association?
Motorcycles at the Event
The ‘Return of Auto Union’ event will feature two motorcycle slots. There will be rounds on both Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th May of the Lansdowne Series for thoroughbred racing machines of the late 1950s and early 1960s. The series features such evocative machines as Manx Norton and Matchless G50 and only accepts genuine racing bikes in the spirit of the immediate post-war period in which they first competed. Series founder, Richard Thirkell says, “The series caters for mainly club riders wishing to race these valuable machines in a sensible racing environment without the white heat of competition from other classes.” VSCC President, Julian Ghosh, has actively encouraged the series in its request to race at ‘The Return of Auto Union’ event. “Donington Park is traditionally supported by a large crowd of motorcycle fans, making it somewhat of a Mecca. By providing a bike element to a Donington meeting, we hope to attract more people to historic car racing. There is also some scope to explore the links between Audi motorcycle heritage and the mighty Auto Union cars and their drivers. The Lansdowne Series is a welcome spectacle at this exciting event.” The following motorcycles that are accepted by the Series were on show for the press day. 1954 350 Manx Norton owned and ridden by Brian Lumley
Cars at the Preview BRM P.261/5
Lister Jaguar “Knobbly”
Bob Gilbert’s Lister Jaguar was a factory car in 1958 and was then used in 1959 and the early ‘60s by Jack Flaherty in the USA in SCCA events. Since coming into Bob’s possession the car has been regularly raced in VSCC and BDC events and in every round of the BRDC 50’s Sports Car Championship last year. It also won the VSCC ‘50s Sports Car Race at Cadwell Park. Bob will be racing the car at our event in May. E.R.A. “R3A”  This celebrated car was used by the factory in 1934 and 1935, mostly driven by Raymond Mays. Sold for 1936 to Norman Black who shared it with Tim Wisdom it achieved little. However, in 1937 its new owner Charlie Martin won his first ever event at the Avus and went on to achieve several second places. Its appearance at this Donington Press Day recalls its participation in the 1937 International Donington Grand Prix from which it retired. It was subsequently raced in South Africa in 1939, 1948 - 1952 and in British historic racing from 1971 driven by Hamish Moffatt and Nigel Arnold-Forster. The car is kindly provided today by its owner, Dick Skipworth. For serious historians R3A started life in the “works light green”: it was red in the period when it appeared at the Donington event which we are recalling but now wears the colour of its birth sixty seven years ago. The car will be racing on May 19/20. 1929 Riley Brooklands "As old as the industry... as modern as the hour", proclaimed the Riley Motor Company and what better way of reinforcing this claim than when their 9HP Brooklands model was introduced in the late 1920s. Developed from a prototype the low-slung, diminutive Riley sports car with its 1087cc engine soon captured the public's attention. Not least as a result of its many sporting successes that included numerous international Class 'G' wins, the 1931 German GP on handicap when the car was driven to and from the 'Ring, and the Index of Performance at Le Mans in 1934. PG 472 competes regularly in VSCC events, either in sports-car trim as it is here, or, stripped of its wings, in vintage racing car events such as the VSCC Silverstone Itala and Boulogne Trophy races. With superb handling resulting from its low centre of gravity and lively performance from the high cam, short push rod engine, PG472 snaps at the heels of the bigger cars. Seeing the pale blue Brooklands out on the circuit, evokes memories of Rileys competing at Donington during the halcyon pre-war years. Clive Temple, the driver of PG472, is playing a leading role in the development of motorsport's future engineers, designers and technical managers. Based at Cranfield University, he is working closely with figures such as Jackie Stewart OBE and Adrian Reynard who are steering Cranfield's MSc Motorport Engineering and Management. This car will be very much in evidence at Donington for the May event. 1962 Lotus Elite Colin Chapman¹s Lotus Elite, was one of the most successful GT cars of its period, competing at all levels of motor sport, winning its class at Le Mans on five successive occasions from 1959 to 1964. This was to a large extent due to its advanced engineering and lightweight construction. The Elite here today was built in 1962 for a Channel Isle resident as a road race car and was recently restored by a well-known English restoration shop and brought up to full period race specification. The owner-driver of the car, Malcolm Ricketts, acquired it two years ago and it has been specifically built to tackle endurance events such as the Historic Motor Racing News Gentleman Drivers series. The car still retains two seats and is road registered. It was driven last year by Trevor Taylor at the Goodwood Revival meeting. Alfa Romeo 158/9 Alfetta
Carlo Vogele’s 1948 Alfetta is the only one in private ownership. The
first version of this famous model appeared in late 1938 and it dominated
“voiturette” racing until 1940 (Italy was a bit late joining the war).
When racing resumed in 1946 the factory team was reformed and after initial
difficulties the team recovered to win every race entered until the middle
of 1951. By then the 4 ½ litre unsupercharged Ferraris became a
serious threat and the team finally withdrew at the end of that year. But
over the (interrupted) thirteen years life of the model horsepower had
grown from 170 BHP to 380 BHP.
TO SEE PREVIEW PHOTOS CLICK
HERE
COMPETITION TO WIN FREE TICKETS TO THIS RACE We have 2 pairs ( accompanied children under 16 go FREE ) of weekend tickets for this meeting to be won courtesy of our friends at the Vintage Sports-Car Club in our easy, free to enter competition. Simply answer the following question & e-mail us the answer by clicking here, along with your postal address for us to send the tickets to if you win, and you will be entered into the draw for the winners to take place on 11th May 2001. Question :
Answer either : (A) 1937 & 1938
GOOD LUCK
We are Members of the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce If you wish to contact us either : PHONE 0121 444
4723
or E-Mail us on :
Do you want to link to our site ? Feel free to use the Image below , let us know and we'll give a return link.
BACK TO BIRMINGHAM101 HOME
PAGE
|
