Donington Park – World Renowned Collections

Donington Park, the home of motorbike experiences is a circuit race track located in Leicester near Castle Donington. The park was originally purchased in 1971 by the late Tom Wheatcroft, father of current chairman of Donington Park, Kevin Wheatcroft.  During his time as chairman he ran a successful racing team with well-known drivers like Derek Bell, who became a multiwinner at Le Mans.

A trip to Donington Park’s ultimate collection is perfect for motorsport fanatics or for bringing the family on a day out. The collection has a total of five halls with over 130 exhibits of Grand Prix Cars and Military Vehicles. To help guide you around the exhibits, we have detailed what you can expect from each of these fantastic collections on your visit.

Grand Prix Collections

We can guarantee that you won’t see more F1 cars in the same place and would highly recommend this collection to racing car fanatics.

The Grand Prix Collection is currently the largest showcase of Grand Prix Collections in the world.  The collection highlights the history of motorsport from the 1950’s up until the present day with more than 100 exhibits.  The collection will include rare examples of Ferraris, Lotus, Brabham, McLaren, McWilliams F1 cars and many more.  The collection was started by Tom Wheatcroft.

Williams F1 Hall

The Williams Hall showcases the largest collection of William’s cars to the public. Racing cars in this collection include Senna’s Williams FW08c, the first ever F1 car that was tested at Donington Park back in 1983, Nico Rosberg’s 2008 FW30-06 and Red 5, Mansell’s 1992 Championship car. 

McLaren Hall

If you’re a follower or fans of McLaren race cars, then you must visit the McLaren hall which showcases the largest collection of the race cars.  Displays include 1967 M4a to the 2006 Pedro de la Rosa MP4/21a-6.  Included in this collection is Senna’s 1993 European test car.

The Wheatcroft Military Collections

The Wheatcroft Military Collection is a display artefacts which includes a range of tanks, jeeps, armoured vehicles and extremely rare motorcycles from Britain, France, Germany and America for fans of war memorabilia from World War II.  The collection was founded by Kevin Wheatcroft, Chairman of Donington Park and is world renowned.

One fascinating exhibit to look out for is the Harley Davidson XA motorcycle.  This motorcycle was used by the American army in World War II.  During this period, approximately 1,000 of these motorcycles were built.  However, today it is believed that only 12 of these motorbikes exist, with six of them located at Donington Park.

The exhibit also takes a trip back to Donington Park’s past when it became the biggest military vehicle depot in Europe in 1939 after the Ministry of Defence had control of Donington.

The military collections still continue to grow with new vehicles being added or changed on a monthly basis.

Grand Prix Café

Donington Park is known to attract visits from a couple of famous faces.  The Grand Prix Café is known to have visits from the likes of Alain Prost, Ron Haslam, Murray Walker, Jackie Steward and - Carol Fogarty to name a few.

The Grand Prix Café offers the public a place to relax in the comfortable setting after visiting the collections with a hot tea or coffee and an excellent menu on offer.

Admissions for both collections are the same with adult tickets costing £12 and children costing £5.  You can also purchase a family ticket (2 adults and up to 3 children) for £25. For more information on admission prices, visit Donington Park.