Goodwood has become a hub of automotive culture in the UK over the past couple of decades. For the uninitiated, Goodwood is a private estate in the south of England, nestled within the beautiful South Downs and only an hour and a half from London. It is a motoring nirvana. The estate includes an airfield, a race circuit, a hill climb, a horse race track, a vineyard, and much more.
Goodwood has been a place for motor racing since at least 1948, when the airfield perimeter road was converted into a race circuit. The very first racing event took place in September 1948, and a very young Stirling Moss clinched the win in the 500cc race. Since then, the track has hosted non-championship Formula 1 races, 9-hour endurance races, and the famous Tourist Trophy for sports cars. During its original operation, the circuit saw names like Mike Hawthorn, Graham Hill, Giuseppe Farina, and Jim Clark race here. Even the Captain, Roger Penske, visited the circuit during its heyday. The circuit, being based on an airfield perimeter road, has long straights where, with time, cars became increasingly fast. A chicane was added to the main straight in 1952 to control the speed of cars going into turn 1. But with cars getting faster and faster, the circuit had to either make huge changes or close down, and it did eventually shut its gates for racing in 1966. To put it into perspective, Stirling Moss had his career-ending crash here in 1962, and Bruce McLaren sadly passed away in a crash in 1970 while testing a Can-Am car at Goodwood.
Following a hiatus, the circuit opened back up for racing in 1998 under the name of the Goodwood Revival. But the racing was limited to cars built and raced before the circuit’s closure in 1966. This event became a mainstay in the British motoring calendar, where Jaguar E-types, Ferrari 250 GTOs, Aston Martins, pre-war cars, Bentley Blowers and several others battled for glory across 3 days in several races. But that was not enough for the fans and members of the Goodwood Road and Racing Club, so a Members' Meeting was relaunched to take place in the spring to open up the motoring season every year. Unlike the Goodwood Revival, the cars were not limited to 1966 or prior, but due to the circuit layout, high-speed racing was generally limited. But the exciting aspect of the Members' Meeting was that there was always a special theme, with cars from other eras being displayed and taken on track for demonstration laps.
The 82nd Goodwood Members' Meeting took place on the 12th and 13th of April with glorious sunshine and daffodils across the circuit. Saturday is usually limited to practice and qualifying, while Sunday saw the main action. Races were split into various categories ranging from cars that raced before 1918 to Group 1 touring cars of the 80s. My favourite race was the Gurney Cup, which unlike the other races had qualifying and the race on Saturday. The Gurney Cup is a 45-minute, 2-driver race for sports prototypes that raced between 1963 and 1967. This race saw Ford GT40s, Shelby Cobra 427s, Lotus Ford 23s, and Ferrari 206 Dinos compete for glory. The first driver had to be the owner, while the second driver was usually a professional. Following qualifying, two Ford GT40s lined up in front and took a comfortable lead. But when another GT40 had a crash, the cars were bunched up under a safety car and then the driver swap took place under a red flag due to debris on track.
The only Ferrari Dino competing in the race was the last car in the 25-car grid at the driver swap when the German triple Nürburgring 24-hour winner Frank Stippler stepped into the car. In the next 20 minutes, Frank carved through the grid, overtaking at least two cars each lap, putting on a fabulous show for the crowd. With 5 minutes remaining, he was at the back of the two leading GT40s driven by British Touring Car Champion Rob Huff and triple Le Mans winner André Lotterer. Frank grasped the opportunity when the two GT40s were battling for the lead to take P1 from them and kept it till the end. It was a sight to behold seeing him celebrate the win as if he’d won another Nürburgring 24-hour race.
Similarly, there were other very exciting races—especially when the IndyCar champion Dario Franchitti battled it out for the lead with Harrison Newey in the Moss Trophy in their Aston Martin DB4 GTs. The greatest pull of Goodwood is that it has something for everyone. I sat by as the pre-war Bentley Blowers whizzed past me, and then, in the next race, I was watching touring cars battle it out for victory.
But that was not all that was interesting. Gordon Murray Automotive took to the circuit to demonstrate their track-only T.50s under the helm of Dario, who pushed the V12 across the circuit. Standing in the pitlane, I could hear the V12 scream at the far end of the circuit before driving past the pit straight. The spectators were also lucky to witness the current-generation Cadillac V-Series.R hypercar take to the circuit for a demonstration lap. The car, fielded by the Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA, was driven across the weekend by Alex Lynn and Will Stevens. It felt so surreal seeing the car bottom out on the main straight, kicking out sparks.
The weekend also celebrated one of the greatest F1 drivers, Ayrton Senna. The Lotus 97T, which took Ayrton to his first F1 win at the 1985 Portuguese Grand Prix, was driven across the circuit by his nephew and ex-F1 driver Bruno Senna.
The overall weekend was a surreal experience, showcasing motoring excellence across several decades. Over the years, Goodwood has been producing some of the best events in the calendar, and I am already looking forward to the next one!
