Goodwood Circuit

Goodwood Circuit is a historic venue for both 2- and 4-wheeled motorsport in the UK. Goodwood is based in the lands around Goodwood House where there is both a short-circuit track and a hill track. Goodwood is most famous for its annual Festival of Speed and Goodwood Revival meetings.

History

Goodwood is based close to the south coast of England, on the estate of Goodwood house and completely encircles Chichester/Goodwood Airport. The circuit began life as the perimeter track of RAF Westhampnett airfield which was constructed during the Second World War as a relief airfield for RAF Tangmere.

The first race meeting took place in September 1948 at which Stirling Moss won the 500cc class (later to become Formula 3), followed by Eric Brandon and "Curly Dryden", all in Coopers.

Goodwood has, over the years, played host to many famous drivers - Mike Hawthorn and Graham Hill had their first single seat races there, Roger Penske visited in 1963 and Jim Clark and Jack Sears competed in 1964. The accident which ended the International career of Stirling Moss happened at St. Mary's corner. The circuit also claimed the life of McLaren founder Bruce McLaren in a testing accident in 1970

The Goodwood race circuit became famous for its nine hour endurance races in the late fifties and early sixties, but these events ended along with other such events in 1966 when the circuit closed. The cars that raced in these events can be seen recreating (in shorter form) these endurace races at the Goodwood revival each year in the Sussex trophy and the Royal Automobile Club Tourist Trophy (RAC TT).

Goodwood saw its last race meeting for over 30 years in 1966, because the owners did not want to modify the track with chicanes to control the increased speeds of modern racing cars. Following the success of the Festival of Speed hill climb, racing returned to the Goodwood circuit in 1998 and since then has remained the English home of historic motorsport. The track is now used for classic races, track days and try-out days.

Current Events

The Goodwood Revival is a 3-day festival held each September for the types of cars and motorcycles that would have competed during the circuit's original period - 1948-1966.

References

*cite web | title=Goodwood Revival Meeting: History | publisher=Unisys | accessdate=2005-12-07 | url=http://www.unisys.com/about__unisys/sports__systems/motor__sports/goodwood/goodwood__history.htm

* [http://www.goodwood.co.uk/ Goodwood website]

External links

* [http://www.goodwood.co.uk/ Goodwood]
* [http://www.500race.org/ 500 Owners Association]