Tazio Nuvolari and Richard ‘Mad Jack’ Shuttleworth are set to be honoured at this year’s Donington Historic Festival, which takes place from 30 April-2 May. Nuvolari will be celebrated in the HGPCA’s Nuvolari Trophy for pre-1950 Grand Prix cars, while Shuttleworth lends his name to the Motor Racing Legends’ ‘Mad Jack’ race for pre-war sports cars.
The Nuvolari Trophy will mark the 80th anniversary of the 1936 Grand Prix at Donington Park, which was won in period by Richard Seaman and Hans Ruesch at the wheel of an ex-Nuvolari Scuderia Ferrari Alfa Romeo 8C-35. Fittingly, drivers and cars from as far afield as Argentina, Italy and the United States are expected to turn out to honour ‘The Flying Mantuan’. Gems from the Alfa Romeo, Bugatti and Talbot-Lago stables will line up on the grid, including the Alta Norris Special and Parnell MG, both of which were campaigned at the circuit in the 1930s.
Among the Bugattis set to compete are Type 35s, 37s, 51s and a solitary Type 59. They will take on a host of Maseratis, including a 4CL, 6CM and 8CM, as well as a handful of ERAs led by Prince Bira’s R5B ‘Remus’.
Meanwhile, the Motor Racing Legends’ ‘Mad Jack’ grid will be headed by a pack of Bentleys, an Invicta, an Alvis Speed 20 and a Jaguar SS100, the excitement of the 40-minute race increased by the addition of a driver change.
