Donington Museum to close on 5th November

[grantp]

For anyone considering a visit to the Donington Collection - best hurry up.


It is due to close on 5th November 2018.

[Adam43]

Oh no. Terrible news.

[cds_uk]

Now that is awful news, absolutely fantastic place.

[S griffin]

So where are they moving it all to?

[redshoes]

Originally Posted by S griffin

So where are they moving it all to?

They aren't moving anywhere, it's being closed.

https://www.classicandsportscar.com/...x-museum-close

[S griffin]

I was thinking more of where all the cars are going to go

[grantp]

Originally Posted by S griffin

I was thinking more of where all the cars are going to go

Good question.


In recent years and I think as a long time tradition quite a lot of the cars were on loan from elsewhere and a few seem to have used it as a place to store cars (usually interesting cars with a history) over winter or for longer periods where they were not planning to use them.


In recent times quite a few cars that were owned by the Collection seem to have been sold on where a suitable race category had become popular for those with the wherewithal to buy a car and enjoy it.


Of what I saw last time I was there - which I suppose was about 2 years ago now - many would have no place to race at the moment and probably not in the future either. And of course there has been quite a large military vehicle collection present in recent years. Mostly German from WW2 era.


There's quite a lot of memorabilia there too. Whether owned or loaned I have no idea.


I would imagine there might be some private sales and then perhaps an auction but that is pure speculation on my part.

[andy97]

A massive massive shame, but there clearly isnt enough paying footfall to keep it open. I assume that the Wheatcrofts family have been subsidising the museums existence for a while, and remember, Kevin isn't actually a racing fan.

The focus for all activities at Donington is now at the Paddock end of the property; it's a pity that the museum (or a part of it) can't be moved to that end, to one of the Formula E buildings perhaps, so that race meeting spectators have an opportunity to visit during race and test days.

ISTR that Dr Palmer had some of his old cars on display at Bedford, maybe he should take over the remains of thecWheatcroft collection and combine with his cars in one of the Formula E buildings as suggested. Doubt the business case stacks up though.

A great shame.

Must visit again before it closes.

[John Elwin]

Very sad news. I first visited just after the Museum opened & have been many times since. Unfortunately I won't be able to get there again before it closes. As has already mentioned, quite a few of the exhibits were loaned, including I think quite a few cars owned by Bernie Ecclestone.

I am just in the process of reading a book about the Schlumpf Collection, & it seems that Tom Wheatcroft was in the process of negotiating a deal with the Schlumpf brothers when their empire suddenly collapsed. Initially Wheatcroft was arranging to take some cars as collatoral for a loan, but further to that investigated buying the entire collection; that came to nought as amomgst other things the French Government refused export licences.

[grantp]

Originally Posted by andy97

A massive massive shame, but there clearly isnt enough paying footfall to keep it open. I assume that the Wheatcrofts family have been subsidising the museums existence for a while, and remember, Kevin isn't actually a racing fan..

I think the article mentioned that there have been something like 2.5 million visitors since it opened. So that's 2.5 million in 45 years. It doesn't sound like a lot in commercial terms if it has to be self financing. Presumably the financing was less of an issue when it was simply part of the circuit's business model.

[Mike Bell]

Grant, is it possible that since MSV took over the circuit that the museum now has to pay them rent? Or were the buildings not included in the sale?

[grantp]

Originally Posted by Mike Bell

Grant, is it possible that since MSV took over the circuit that the museum now has to pay them rent? Or were the buildings not included in the sale?

No idea Mike I'm afraid.

The circuit offices have vacated the building next to the museum.

Last time I passed through the Ritchie Brothers plant auction site and offices still seemed to be in place although at one point I thought they looked like they were moving out.

The Aston Barclay auction site looks fairly permanent as well.

It would be quite interesting to know what the lease agreement actually covers.

My guess is that the basic overheads of the museum are simply not covered by the footfall and that the family are not interested in the exhibits they own (or what is left of the original Wheatcroft owned collection) and might prefer to see it monetised.

If that is the case it may be a good time to sell off since we must be at or near the top of the market.

There is, of course, Kevin's collection of military vehicles and memorabilia to consider as well. I have no idea if he has an alternative home for them.

[andy97]

I think that the museum was the one part of DP that was not included in the sale of the lease.

Kevin Wheatcrofts military collection was, and is, mostly housed in a large Whitehorse at his base in central Leicestershire, from where he has developed it over many years. I think he only moved some exhibits to DP in the last few years to cover some of the gaps in space left by the sale of some exhibits and the return to owners of others.

[bjohnsonsmith]

According to this article, http://classic.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/139307 "The remaining exhibits are being returned to owners or sold."

I've been to Beaulieu but never Donington.

[coppice]

I've been every year or so , despite living 2 hours drive away. The problem is that most people either never visited it at all or went once . In latter years the Collection was rarely advertised and has felt run down and was often deserted . Signage of exhibits was often abysmal , strewn with errors and badly written.



BUT it was still an amazingly diverse collection and far more interesting than Schlumpf, for example ,and was a terrific place closely to study the evolution of the F1 car in real life . Shame about Kevin's hideous Nazi crap filling the place up of late though.



I'll miss it .