Donington Historic promises excitement aplenty
P4 marks 75 not out
It's a big year for Rover P4 fans because it was 75 years ago that Rover's landmark family saloon went on sale. To mark the occasion, the Rover P4 Drivers' Guild is putting on a big weekend in Derbyshire.
The club's events officer is Garry Page, who told us: ‘Our weekend will be based largely at Makeney Hall Hotel in Belper, although owners will be staying at three other hotels, too. We're going to take in some of the scenic roads of Derbyshire on the Saturday with a road run before enjoying a gala dinner in the evening. Then on the Sunday we'll be at the Great British Car Journey as part of a bigger event. It's all taking place on May 11-12 and everything you need to know about what's taking place is at roverp4dg.org.uk.’
VW HERESY
If you’re a Volkswagen or Porsche owner and you’re based anywhere near Shoreham-by-Sea, the Heritage Parts Centre has just the thing for you. This year, for the 14th season, the VW specialist is bringing back its monthly ‘Heretics’ coffee and cars meets. The company’s Andy Gregory comments: ‘There’s no need to buy a ticket in advance; just set your nav for BN43 6PB and turn up to enjoy great music and company along with top-quality food and drink. We usually have more than 150 cars in attendance; the start time is 6pm and we wrap things up three hours later. The gatherings will be on a Thursday from April until September. The dates are April 18, May 16, June 20, July 18, August 15 and September 5. You’ll find us online at heritagepartscentre.com.’
This year's Donington Historic Festival takes place over the weekend of May 4-5, and it's set to be the usual high-octane frenzy that we've come to expect.
Expect hundreds of post-war classics dicing with each other, in races that last for up to three hours, making it a real test of endurance.
It all kicks off just after 9am on the Saturday, with qualifying for pre-1956 and pre-1961 sports cars such as Jaguar D-types, Austin-Healey 100Ms, Lotus XIs and Lola MkIs. If those are a bit old for you, the next grid is for cars in the Sixties and Historic Touring Car Challenges, including Lotus Cortinas, BMW 1800s, Chevrolet Camaros and Ford Escort MkIIs, alongside Rover SD1s, BMW E30s and Jaguar XJSs. For many this will be the highlight of the weekend, and if this sounds like your idea of nirvana you'll be just as excited by the Gerry Marshall Trophy for pre-1983 Tou
