Why Goodwood Revival’s revival will be an unmissable event

Commencing today with the second iteration of the Stirling Moss Memorial Trophy race for pre-1963 GT cars, formerly known as the Kinrara Trophy, the Goodwood Revival makes its triumphant return following the COVID-enforced cancellation of last year's event - although racing was still staged behind closed doors in SpeedWeek. 

The Revival's three days of motor racing nostalgia have become an unmissable fixture on the historic racing calendar since the first iteration of the event in 1998, and this year's edition promises to be no different. Here are 10 reasons you should consider visiting. 

1. The Motor Circuit’s 73rd birthday

If absence makes the heart grow fonder, a two-year wait since the last Goodwood Revival should heighten enthusiasts’ appreciation of this weekend’s return to the hallowed motor circuit. Elements of the event and the freer-ranged Members’ Meeting were dovetailed to form SpeedWeek last October, which kept the brand alive via live-streaming at the end of a COVID-ravaged season. This, however, is the real deal once more, with competitors from around the world colouring the party.

As ever, there will be much to enjoy over three action-packed days at a rather smarter version of the venue that launched Stirling Moss’s racing career on 18 September 1948 – Saturday is the 73rd anniversary of that day – and effectively ended it on Easter Monday 1962.

Sir Stirling was a wonderful supporter of the Revival, and his spirit lives on within it. The 2021 edition will look a bit different, with fewer spectators, but it’s going to be sensory overload throughout.

Ferraris will be out in force for Moss Memorial race

Photo by: Jeff Bloxham

2. Prancing Horses remember Moss

Stirling Moss won more races than anybody else at Goodwood, including four RAC Tourist Trophy enduros, the last two in 1960 and 1961 in Ferrari 250 GT Berlinettas entered by Rob Walker and Dick Wilkins. There hasn’t been a Revival since the maestro’s passing last April, aged 90, so this evening’s pre-1963 GT race named in his honour will be a poignant tribute.

Seven fabulous V12-engined SWB and Competizione models form the best Prancing Horse stable assembled in many years. David Hart/Nicky Pastorelli, John Hugenholtz/Jochen Mass and Vincent Gaye/Joe Twyman are the strongest driver line-ups, but the going will be tough in the face of superlative opposition.

Jenson Button makes his Historic racing debut with GT team partner Alex Buncombe in Bob Neville’s Jaguar E-type. Martin and Alex Brundle also represent the Coventry marque, as do Phil Keen/Jon Minshaw and James Cottingham/Harvey Stanley. Wolfgang Friedrichs/Simon Hadfield, Sam Hancock and Adrian Willmott saddle Aston Martin DB4 GTs.

3. ERAs star in Festival of Britain race

No fewer than nine of the 17 voiturettes built by Raymond Mays and Peter Berthon’s English Racing Automobiles in Bourne in the 1930s, plus E-type GP1, take centre stage in Saturday’s early single-seater race. Named for the 1951 Festival of Britain – a celebration of the excellence of science and technology propagating the green shoots of growth as the nation emerged from wartime austerity – it showcases cars that competed at Goodwood’s opening day, or of a period type.

Driven by Peter Walker, John Bolster (subsequently of Autosport fame), and Graham Whitehead, ERA R7B, R11B and R10B finished second, third and seventh in 1948, behind Dennis Poore’s Alfa Romeo 8C/35. Owners Julian Wilton, David Morris and Paddins Dowling exercise them this time. Mark Gillies in Dick Skipworth’s ERA R3A starts favourite in a field that includes American Peter Greenfield’s Alfa Romeo 158 ‘Alfetta’, a host of Maseratis, Talbot-Lago T26Cs, a Ferrari 340 and Ian Baxter’s fast Alta 61 IS.

Brundle father and son pair will face tough opposition from Jordan/Swift and Padmore/Huff

Photo by: Jeff Bloxham

4. Brundle joins mighty Mini mania

Martin Brundle, who is thoroughly enjoying his historic racing in the company of son Alex, will race a Mini for the first time in the (Sir) John Whitmore Trophy race, remembering the 1961 British Saloon Car champion. The racer-turned-TV commentator is one of 30 combatants in what is bound to be a frenetic Mini Cooper S showdown, featuring what Goodwood is describing as “one of the most illustrious grids ever assembled”.

Inspired by the Betty Richmond Trophy race at the 2019 Members’ Meeting, Saturday’s 45-minute double-driver race ramps the stakes up even higher with an all-star cast of touring car stars, Le Mans winners and Mini specialists. Brendon Hartley, Eric Helary, Karun Chandhok and Jean-Eric Vergne are among those joining the fray, alongside Sir Chris Hoy. Any team that beats Andy Jordan/Nick Swift will have earned its spoils, although Nick Padmore – partnered by Rob Huff – ran BMC A Series engine guru Swift close last time.

5. Middlehurst aims for seven

Formula 1 cars of the 1961-65 era were the quickest projectiles around Goodwood’s 2.4-mile circuit in its contemporary heyday. The screaming V8s at the Glover Trophy pack’s sharp end thus evoke memories of Jim Clark (Lotus 25) and Jackie Stewart (BRM P261), who shared the outright record.

Andy Middlehurst’s Revival run is remarkable, emulating his hero Clark’s in John Bowers’ 25. Although its Climax FWMV V8 engine has required work of late, Middlehurst could land his seventh victory if it’s on song.

Nick Fennell’s sister car and Joe Colasacco’s flat-12 Ferrari may have a say, as could Michael O’Brien – last year’s SpeedWeek winner – who switches to Alan Baillie’s Lotus-BRM 24. American James King (ex-Dan Gurney Brabham BT7) and Richard Wilson (ex-Bruce McLaren Cooper T60) also enjoy Climax V8 power, while the evergreen Richard Attwood and Andrew Wareing run their BRM P261s. Mark Shaw and Dan Collins (ex-Clark and Innes Ireland Lotus 21s) head the four-cylinder brigade.

Sports prototypes will thrill crowds in the Freddie March Memorial Trophy, Sussex Trophy and Whitsun Trophy races

Photo by: Jeff Bloxham

6. Sports-racers through golden ages

Sportscar racing’s history from the 1950s is traced by three grids. The Freddie March Memorial Trophy retrospective of Goodwood’s three nine-hour races renews Aston Martin DB3S and Jaguar C-type rivalry, but David Hart’s Maserati 300S or Steve Boultbee Brooks’s early D-type could outgun them on Sunday. Oliver Bryant and Roger Wills (Lotus 15s) and Sam Hancock (Ferrari 246S Dino) will bank on outhandling later D-types, grunting Listers, Tojeiro and Sadler-equipped rivals in Saturday’s Sussex Trophy ‘World Championship TT’ finale.

Saturday’s Whitsun Trophy gathers a pre-1966 field powered by Chevrolet, Ford, Maserati and Oldsmobile V8s. Sam Hancock and Miles Griffiths join Ford boss Jim Farley in GT40s chasing Mike Whitaker and Tony Sinclair (Lola T70s). Phil Keen (Lotus 30), Mark Shaw (McLaren M1A), Chris Jolly (Cooper T61M), Dominik Jackson (Crossle C5S) and Karl Jones (Attila) add depth to the mix.

7. Formula Junior school sports day

For sheer variety of machinery you won’t get wider than the Chichester Cup Formula Junior field, which this year reverts to its front-engined roots. Curated by FJHRA supremo Duncan Rabagliati and his daughter Sarah, it does not seek to replicate a period pack, but celebrates the gamut of marques that interpreted the regulations promulgated by Count Johnny Lurani for the 1958 season.

From Great Britain come Alexis, Condor, Elva, Gemini, Lola, Nike, Rayberg (built by a Swede incorporating Cooper parts), Elva-offshoot Scorpion, Terrier and U2. There’s the Canadian Autosport (powered by a Triumph Herald engine); German Mitter-DKW; Italian Bandini, Faranda, OSCA, Stanguellini, Taraschi and Volpini; American BMC Huffaker and Dolphin; and Australian Nota.

Expect Andrew Hibberd and American Tim de Silva (Lola Mk2s), Chris Drake (ex-Brian Hart Terrier), Ray Mallock and Will Mitcham (U2 Mk2s), Stuart Roach (Alexis Mk2) and Italian-American Joe Colasacco (Stanguellini-Fiat) to make the running, with local man Alex Morton (Condor) snapping at their heels.

Brooklands Trophy will demonstrate unparalleled diversity of machinery

Photo by: Jeff Bloxham

8. Reliving Brooklands’ past glories

Always one of the Revival’s most exciting spectacles, the Brooklands Trophy turns the spotlight on Hugh Locke King’s mighty Surrey speedbowl, on which event host the Duke of Richmond and Gordon’s grandfather won the 1931 Double Twelve driving an MG. Freddie March subsequently established motorsport at Goodwood by hosting the estate’s inaugural hillclimb, then, post-WW2, invited the BARC to run race meetings on the decommissioned RAF Westhampnett aerodrome – as it still does.

The diversity of machinery is unparalleled, from lightweight chain-driven Frazer Nashes through sublime Alfa Romeos to a 4.5-litre Blower Bentley. Expect giant-slaying antics from extroverts Patrick Blakeney-Edwards and Mini ace Nick Swift in the former’s FN saloon ‘Owlet’ in what should be a very open race. Gareth Burnett/Michael ‘Barry’ Birch (Talbot AV105), Julian Majzub/Duncan Ricketts (Maserati T26M) and Rupert Clevely/Jochen Mass (Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Monza) will be factors too.

9. TT thunder strikes on Sunday

The hairs on the back of the neck stand up amid the crescendo of engine revs as the starter drops the Union Jack to unleash the pre-1966 GT cars for the Royal Automobile Club Tourist Trophy Celebration, centrepiece of Sunday’s race programme. Wherever you are watching – seated in a grandstand, at trackside or at home on a streamed channel – those first few laps as the order begins to settle are dramatic.

The field is peppered with Le Mans winners spanning four decades, from local hero Derek Bell – a period Goodwood star who first won the world’s greatest sportscar race in 1975 – through Jochen Mass, Martin Brundle, Emanuele Pirro, David Brabham, Romain Dumas, Marcel Fassler, Andre Lotterer and Benoit Treluyer to Neel Jani.

Touring car superstars Andy Priaulx, Steve Soper and Matt Neal are competing too, as is 2009 F1 world champion Jenson Button (AC Cobra). Maybe Olly Bryant’s luck will turn with Darren Turner in the family Cobra this year…

10. Moss, BRM and Hot Rods

From a cavalcade of stunning Hot Rods, to a Victory Parade on Sunday – a military extravaganza recognising local service people’s contribution to the WW2 effort – the Revival will as always focus on racing’s heroes.

On what would have been his 92nd birthday, Stirling Moss’s career will be highlighted with a broad spectrum of the cars he raced and rallied. The homage will be repeated on Saturday and Sunday, so nobody will miss out.

Also appearing on all three days by courtesy of event partner Motul is a history of British Racing Motors pageant covering the marque’s chequered history, with grand prix cars from V16 to P201 demonstrated on track.

Moss and BRM cars will be demonstrated across the three days

Photo by: Gary Hawkins