Donington, Senna and the Rain of 1993

England's first permanent park circuit, revived by Tom Wheatcroft, held a single Grand Prix in 1993, and Ayrton Senna made it unforgettable in the rain.

Few circuits keep such close company with a runway. Donington Park lies near Castle Donington in Leicestershire, a few meters from the Derbyshire border, and the end of East Midlands Airport's runway is just 400 yards from the track. Racing began in 1931, when Fred Craner, a Derby motorcycle racer and club secretary, persuaded the Donington Hall estate's owner to open its roads to him. In 1933 those roads were widened and sealed for cars, making Donington England's first permanent park circuit, and before the war the Silver Arrows came: Bernd Rosemeyer and Tazio Nuvolari won the Donington Grand Prix for Auto Union in 1937 and 1938.

During the Second World War the park became a military vehicle depot, and it then lay idle until Tom Wheatcroft, a builder and collector of cars, bought it in 1971. He won a planning fight with the county council, rebuilt the track and reopened it to cars in 1977, while his Grand Prix cars filled a museum on the site, a collection that could now look out on its own racetrack. In 1985 the Melbourne Loop stretched the lap to 4.020 km so that motorcycle Grands Prix could come.

Formula 1 visited just once, for the European Grand Prix of the 11th of April 1993, and Ayrton Senna made the day his own. In a race shaped by rain he climbed from fourth on the grid to the lead by the end of the opening lap, and won for McLaren by 1 minute 23 seconds from Damon Hill, with Alain Prost a lap down in third. It has been called the drive of the decade, and a memorial to Senna now stands in the grounds.

A plan to bring the British Grand Prix to a rebuilt Donington from 2010 fell apart when the money could not be raised in the 2008 financial crisis. Since 2017 MotorSport Vision has run the circuit, investing in new facilities and a fuller racing calendar. One Grand Prix, it turns out, can be enough to make a name.

Every Grand Prix here

• 1993 European Grand Prix