Donington Fest to pay homage to 'amazing' Senna win this weekend

F1

Donington Historic Festival will celebrate Ayrton Senna's legendary 1993 European GP win this weekend

3 1993 European GP Donington Ayrton Senna McLaren

Senna celebrates SEGA-style – the podium will be recreated this weekend

Paul-Henri Cahier/Getty Images

Author

James Elson

Riding Donington’s undulations through the spray, picking off competitors one by one until, suddenly, he’s in the lead and heading for one of Formula 1’s all-time great victories.

Ayrton Senna’s 1993 European GP masterclass – now 30 years ago – has endured in the memory of many motor sport fans, and this weekend the Donington Historic Festival will pay homage in a number of ways to “an amazing anniversary that you only get to celebrate once”.

The East Midlands circuit will play host to demonstrations from significant Senna F1 cars, static displays, an exhibition and a Q&A session with McLaren design engineer Neil Oatley, the three-time world champion’s former F3 boss Dick Bennetts and the then-clerk of the course David Scott who was presiding that famous day – in addition to the raft of historic races happening across the weekend.

The entire package will add to what circuit owner Motor Sport Vision’s Events Manager David Willey hopes “will be the biggest” Donington Historic Festival yet on its 12th edition.

Toleman of Ayrton Senna

Senna’s Toleman TG184 will be demonstrated

Grand Prix Photo

Senna put in what many believe to be his greatest racing lap at Donington ’93 as he embarrassed the opposition at the wheel of the McLaren MP4/8, winning by nearly 1min 30sec from Damon Hill while lapping Alain Prost and the rest of the field.

Being the only time the circuit has a world championship grand prix, Willey asserts such a significant race was never going to go unmarked.

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“The images of Senna starting in the wet race and just overtaking everyone to get the lead after the first lap is just so famous and important for all of us at Donington,” he says.

“It’s incredible that we have the opportunity to celebrate that this weekend. We’ll be running the Senna’s Toleman TG184, with a static display with of the McLaren MP4/7A, this particular chassis of which was driven by both Senna and team-mate Gerhard Berger in ’92.

“Also running will be Michael Schumacher and Riccardo Patrese’s Benetton B193, Nelson Piquet’s race-winning Benetton B190 and Shinji Nakano’s Minardi M198.

“In addition to that will be Prost’s Williams FW15C, the same chassis which ran at the ’93 European GP – and we’ll be recreating the famous ‘SEGA Sonic the Hedgehog‘ podium from that race too.”

As mentioned above, key players from Senna’s career will be on hand to provide insight into the racing journey of someone many believe to be the greatest motor sport has ever seen.

Ayrton-Senna-passes-Alain-Prost-to-take-the-lead-of-the-1993-Donington-European-Grand-Prix

Senna passes Prost to take the lead at Donington ’93

Francois Flamand/DPPI

“We will also be holding a Q&A session hosted by Andrew Marriott on Saturday, with Neil Oatley, Dick Bennetts and David Scott there talking,” says Willey.

“Another highlight with the ’93 anniversary in mind will be an exhibition at the pit lane suite, was just behind garage No39,” he explains.

“It will feature a mixture of art work, photographs and quotes from people who were there.

“There will also be a go-kart used by Senna in the 1979 world championship and a reproduction of his 1985 Portuguese GP race-winning race suit.”

However, it’s not all about Senna: on-track action throughout the weekend is guaranteed to provide much excitement and entertainment, with eleven races and corresponding qualifying sessions – Willey picks out some favourites.

“A crowd favourite is the ‘Mad Jack’ race for pre-war sports cars, named after Jack Shuttleworth, the legendary daredevil aviator and racing driver who raced at Donington in 1935.

“We’ll have the Pall Mall Cup for pre-’66 GT and touring cars, pre-’63 GTs and ’60 sports cars, and a great addition to this year is the Performance Ferrari Club Classic series – there’s 28 Ferraris in that race.

“There’s also the Gerry Marshall Trophy for pre ’83 Group 1 and 1 ½ touring cars, again a large amount of machines racing.

Donington pre-war GP race

11 races across the weekend makes a jam-packed festival

Donington Park

“We’ll have, across the venue, about 1000 cars on show throughout weekend with 72 owners clubs involved based on the infield and on the Melbourne hairpin. During lunch, on both days, a number of those cars will be taking time dedicated parades.”

For many though, a racing legend will be at the forefront of their minds throughout the weekend.

“We’re only going to have one 30th anniversary of this race. So to be able to celebrate it this weekend is just really important, especially for the venue. We’re just really looking forward to it.”

The Donington Historic Festival runs this weekend April 29-30. Tickets will be on-sale online till 4pm here, but can still be bought at the gate during the weekend

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