Goodwood 80th Members Meeting
You never quite know what a Goodwood Members Meeting will entail but you can be sure it will be phenomenal, and the 80th did not disappoint. The entrants to the track action for the day spanned more than 100 years with the aero engined leviathans of the S.F. Edge Trophy right through to thunderous 2000’s GT1 racers.
The Saturday is a long day starting first thing in the morning and concluding with a party and fireworks in the evening. Check out a quick bit of coverage from the day with much more to follow in up coming posts.
Before you even get to the paddock and the track action you’re greeted by classic car royalty with a Ferrari 288 GTO, Lamborghini Countach 25 Anniversary, Aston Martin DB5 and many more left strewn around the site. Old airfields like Goodwood make for some very aesthetic photo opportunities too with lots of old buildings, barns and sheds scattered around.
Possibly the most iconic sports car of all time was celebrating a major birthday, Porsche 911 turned 60.
On track a high speed demonstration took place with a curated selection from the racing history spanning right back to the 60’s through to the long and low GT1 cars from the early 2000’s.
Regardless of your age there would be some instantly recognisable and nostalgia inducing liveries. For some it would have been Moby Dick with the insane aero set up, others would be the Silver Martini liveries of the 70’s. Personally it was the Playstation Liveried 993 GT2. Very much looking forward to sharing more Porsche content with you.
Motorbikes are seldom something I take personal interest in, but at Goodwood they bring a whole different vibe.
One of the contrasts is comparing riders to drivers, they have such different styles which comes across around. the paddock.
All the bikes were pre 1984, and there’s something very impressive about the simplicity done to an art form with the design and build of the bikes.
Another anniversary is 60 years since the Lotus Cortina was launched, and what better was to celebrate than an all Cortina race.
The Jim Clark Trophy was a 45 minute long race with 30 Lotus Cortina’s taking to the grid. Each car had two drivers with a mandatory driver change. An amazing bit of close, wheel to wheel racing in some of the coolest saloons ever, just wait for the details blog post.
Another slice of nostalgia, the Bentley Speed 8. The LMP car competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans from 2001 to 2003, winning the race in 2003 piloted by Tom Kristensen, Rinaldo Capello, and Guy Smith. It was powered by a 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 engine and had a top speed of around 215 mph.
The number 7 car in 2003 proved to be the quickest completing 377 laps and covering a distance of 3,214 miles.
Touring cars are always a favourite at Goodwood, wether thats the pre-1966 cars in the St Marys Trophy at Revival or the Garry Marshall Trophy at Members Meeting. For the 80th Members Meeting the race has been rebranded the Gordon Spice Trophy in honour of Gordon who passed away in 2021. The event features group 1 touring cars from between 1972 and 1980.
The Gordon Spice Trophy was split into two races on the Saturday, both featuring a full 30 car grid. The first included the higher capacity cars including Capris and Camaros, while the second race was for the small capacity engines with Minis, Metros and RX7s.
The conclusion was a final on Sunday for the fastest 15 from each heat on Saturday. More will follow from on the close Touring car Racing.
A true highlight was the GT1 demonstration featuring screaming naturally aspirated, high capacity howlers including DBR9’s, 550M Prodrive’s, and Dodge Vipers to name a few.
Being able to get up close to these high performance heros in the paddock was a rare opportunity, and getting to see them on track was even better.
With the party happening later in the evening it meant the GT1 cars could stay out on track right into the dark. The scenes were like something from a film, starting off with the soft sunset lighting of golden hour bathing the circuit in an orange glow as the full compliment of cars paraded out on track. As the laps got faster, the light got more faded resembling something from a full endurance race, every car having the lights blaring cutting through the darkness.
Another one where a further detailed post will follow.
Along the Lavant Straight the track side parking is always home to a weird and wonderful array of spectator cars. With the recent rain fall making most of the car parks a sodden mess, it was impressive to see people still heading out in some very inappropriate cars.
One car which caught my eye was a ‘Dakar’ styled Porsche 944. Lifted suspension, gravel tyres, roof rack and light pods, what more could you want?
The Tony Gaze Trophy brought out cars of a type raced between 1948 to 1954. You can see how much effort and how involved the drivers are with these cars, and it’s great to see them still turning wheels in anger rather than collecting dust in a museum.
Hopefully that’s been a good quick over view from Members Meeting, more blog posts are in bound to give more detail from the weekend
Pictures and words by Mitcham Media
