Tom Wheatcroft was an English business man with a great passion for motorsport. As a young boy, he liked to cut school and ride his bike from his parents home in Leicester to Donington Park to watch pre-war motor racing: “You had to be there to know what it was like. The W125 Mercs and the V16 Auto Union racing cars were doing 170mph by halfway down the straight. The noise and the smell and the speed – we hadn't seen anything like it before,” said Wheatcroft.
After building a fortune, Wheatcroft bought part of the Donington Hall estate, in 1971. The 450 ha (1,100-acre) property, including the pre-war racing circuit, was priced at 100,000 pounds. At his own expense, Tom Wheatcroft rebuilt the circuit and moved his private car collection there. It is the largest car collection of motor racing cars in the world and it’s now known as the Donington Grand Prix Exhibition.
In 2007, the Donington Ventures Leisure Ltd., with the support of Wheatcroft, won a 10 year agreement from Bernie Ecclestone to host British Grand Prix from July 2010.
“The term legend is maybe used a little too liberally in the world of sport, but without doubt it is justified in the case of Tom Wheatcroft,” said McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh as quoted by the BBC.
Google News