Fred Craner, a former motorcycle rider who had competed in seven Isle of Man TT races and by 1931 was a Derby garage owner and secretary of the Derby & District Motor Club, approached estate owner John Gillies Shields to use the roads on his Donington Hall estate for racing. The original track was 2.186 miles (3.518 km) in length and based on normal-width unsealed estate roads. The first motorcycle race took place on Whit Monday, 25 May 1931. For 1933, Craner obtained permission to build a permanent track, widened and sealed at a cost of £12,000. The first car race was held on 25 March 1933, and the first Donington Park Trophy race on 7 October 1933 — a 20-lap invitation event won by the Earl Howe in a Bugatti Type 51.
In 1935, the first 300-mile Donington Grand Prix was won by Richard "Mad Jack" Shuttleworth in an Alfa Romeo P3. The 1937 and 1938 Donington Grands Prix were won by Bernd Rosemeyer and Tazio Nuvolari respectively, both driving Auto Union Silver Arrows.
The circuit closed in 1940 when the Ministry of Defence requisitioned it as a military vehicle depot. It was derequisitioned in 1956 and received planning approval for racing in 1957.
In 1971, entrepreneur and car collector Tom Wheatcroft purchased the park and funded the track's rebuilding. He battled Leicestershire County Council over planning consent before successfully appealing and laying out the track by early 1976. The first postwar motorcycle meeting was held on 15 May 1977, and cars returned on 28 May 1977 in a meeting organised by the Nottingham Sports Car Club. Wheatcroft also opened the Donington Grand Prix Exhibition in 1973, which housed the largest collection of Grand Prix cars in the world until its closure in 2018.
The Melbourne Loop was added in 1985, increasing the lap distance to 2.498 miles (4.020 km) and qualifying the circuit to host Grand Prix motorcycle racing. The shorter 1.957-mile (3.149 km) layout remained in use as the National circuit for most domestic events.
Donington Park hosted a single Formula One race: the 1993 European Grand Prix on 11 April 1993. Contested in wet conditions, the race was defined by Ayrton Senna's performance, in which he advanced from fifth to first place on the opening lap and went on to win by over one minute from Damon Hill. The race was described by AtlasF1 as the "Drive of the Decade." The circuit holds a memorial to Senna in the grounds of the racetrack. The unofficial all-time lap record was set during qualifying for this event: 1:10.458 by Alain Prost in a Williams FW15C.
In July 2008 Bernie Ecclestone announced that Donington Park would host the British Grand Prix from 2010 in a 17-year deal. The proposed upgrade, designed by Hermann Tilke, included an entirely new pit complex along Starkey's Straight and a new infield loop increasing circuit length to 2.944 miles (4.738 km). Leaseholder Donington Ventures Leisure Ltd (DVLL), led by Simon Gillett, proved unable to raise the £135 million required. On 29 October 2009, Ecclestone confirmed Donington would not host the race; on 7 December 2009, Formula One Management awarded Silverstone a 17-year contract from 2010 to 2026. DVLL entered administration on 18 November 2009 with debts to contractors and suppliers approaching £4 million and a secured loan of £14 million with Anglo Irish Bank.
After the Isle of Man TT Races lost World Championship status, British Grand Prix motorcycle racing was held at Silverstone from 1977 until 1986. Donington then hosted the British motorcycle Grand Prix for 23 consecutive years from 1987 to 2009. When DVLL pursued the Formula One deal, Grand Prix organiser Dorna Sports agreed a five-year deal with Silverstone from 2010, and Donington lost both the Formula One and MotoGP contracts within a short period. Donington Park was subsequently proposed as an alternative MotoGP venue for 2015, but in February 2015 the circuit called off that deal.
Donington Park has been a regular fixture on the British Touring Car Championship calendar since the series was established in 1987. In 1999, Matt Neal caused a major upset by winning a BTCC race in his Nissan Primera — the first Independent driver to do so in the modern era — claiming a £250,000 prize from series promoter Alan Gow. The circuit hosted the FIA WTCC Race of Great Britain in 2011, with both races won by Yvan Muller for Chevrolet. Donington hosted rounds of the DTM in 2002 and 2003; former Formula One driver Jean Alesi achieved a clean sweep of wins across both years for AMG Mercedes.
For endurance and GT racing, Donington featured as a venue for the FIA GT Championship from 1997 to 1999 and again from 2002 to 2004, and hosted a round of the European Le Mans Series in 2001 won by Audi Sport Team Joest with drivers Tom Kristensen and Rinaldo Capello. The circuit also hosted a 6 Hours of Donington round for the Le Mans Series in 2006 and 2012, and rounds of the World Sportscar Championship (500 km of Donington) in 1989, 1990, and 1992.
The FIA Formula E Championship and its teams established their headquarters at the circuit in the series' early years, with Donington hosting pre-season test events before the venue switched to the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia for the 2017–18 season.
The RAC Rally used Donington Park for stages between 1981 and 1998.
On 24 December 2009 DVLL's 150-year lease was terminated after no buyer was found, returning ownership to Wheatcroft & Son Ltd, then led by Kevin Wheatcroft following the death of his father Tom in 2009. The track was restored to use in the autumn of 2010 with a Donington Revival meeting. Wheatcroft-owned Donington Park Racing regained control in late 2010 and relaunched the calendar with events from the World Touring Car Championship, World Superbikes, and the inaugural Donington Historic Festival.
In January 2017, MotorSport Vision purchased the circuit business and took a 21-year lease on the estate. The Competition and Markets Authority cleared the purchase in August 2017. Subsequent investment included a full paddock resurface, the addition of the Garage 39 restaurant, a large new grandstand at Hollywood corner, new toilet facilities, and new circuit offices. For 2019, a new main entrance separating pedestrians from vehicle traffic was completed. In April 2021, MSV purchased the freehold of the Donington Hall Estate — including Donington Hall itself, Hastings House, and the Lansdowne workshops — with plans to develop the Grade II* listed hall into a 40-bedroom hotel.
Donington Park has appeared in numerous racing simulations including rFactor, iRacing, Assetto Corsa Competizione (in the British GT pack DLC), Automobilista 2, and Project CARS, among others.
This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.
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