Donington Park National Track notes

Harrison Morrow

Donnington Park is the first track i ever drove in a car and a formula ford at so it’s quite a special track. Nevertheless it’s still a difficult track that i haven’t perfected yet, with major changes in elevation as you go down the Craner curves to Old hairpin and back up the hill to McLeans. It’s a fairly intimidating circuit with high speed corners and a blind corner (Coppice).

As i pointed out it’s an intimidating circuit so the real key to setting fast and consistent lap times is having confidence in the car of how much you can push it and how close to the limit you can consistently lap at. It’s certainly a circuit where experience and knowing your car inside and out significantly helps not only lap times but understanding how to work the car through the various corners.

Quick Facts

Length:1.98 Miles
Corners:10
Direction: Clockwise
Best Lap:1:14.927

I think my favourite corner has to be Old Hairpin as you have just come down the Craner Curves and positioning is key to get a good run through the corner and not get off the racing line and wash out. Additonally it’s a fairly high speed corner which can make it quite daunting to start with as the car can become uneasy very quickly.

I think the hardest corner would be for me Coppice, as your going up hill and onto a blind apex it’s very easy to miss your braking or turning in point and wash out onto the gravel on the outside. Not only that but as it leads onto a long straight having a good exit is crucial for lap times.

One major thing i learnt from Donnington was confidence in the car. You have to be confident with the car and be able to carry as much speed out of the corners otherwise the hills and long straights will punish you.