Autoblog

SPOILER ALERT

Click for a hi-res gallery from the 2008 British GP

Storms swept through Silverstone this year for the British Grand Prix. First came the announcement of David Coulthard's retirement from Formula 1, which was followed by the announcement that, starting in 2010, the race would leave its historic home at Silverstone and move to Donington Park.

The decision by Formula One Management and the FIA followed years of calls for the ageing Silverstone track -- owned and operated by the British Drivers Racing Club -- to renovate and get itself up to the modern standards set by F1's newer tracks. However, after failing to secure government funding or sufficient private investment, the decision was made to move the event to Donington. So as the storms set in to close two major chapters of British motor racing history, the rain poured down on the penultimate running of the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. Follow the jump to read how it turned out.

[Images: Getty/AFP]

If you're a Formula 1 fan and you're ever in the vicinity of the British Midlands, it's definitely worth making a trip to the Donington Park race track. Doninigton hosted the European Grand Prix a couple of times in the mid-90s and has a great car museum on-site. The Donington Grand Prix Collection has the world's largest collection of Grand Prix cars including classic BRMs, Coopers, Maseratis, Ferraris, McLarens and of course Lotuses.

From May 18-20 over 200 Grand Prix cars including many of the examples in the collection will be brought out to the track with some of them actually venturing out for driving demonstrations. The weekend's festivities will also include two rounds of the FIA Historic Formula One World Championship. Former F1 champions Jody Sheckter and Mario Andrettti will also be on hand for the GPLive weekend with the cars in which they got their first victories. A Lotus 98T formerly driven by the late Ayrton Senna, the final Lotus to be clad in the black and gold John Player Special color scheme, will also be out running with it's 1000hp 1.5L turbo V-6.

[Source: GPLive via CarScoop]