Online - Celebrating the Goodwood Revival

The Goodwood Revival has come around again - the three day festival celebrating the circuit’s original period of 1948-1966. In that era, the Goodwood Motor Circuit ranked alongside Silverstone as one of the premier race venues in Great Britain, hosting contemporary racing of all kinds, including Formula One, the Goodwood Nine Hours race, and the Tourist Trophy sports car race.

Many events are held over the festival, with races involving GT cars, prototypes, saloons, and even pedal cars! One of the prestigious trophies up for grabs is the Goodwood Trophy, awarded for winning a twenty minute race for Grand Prix and Voiturette cars from 1930–1951, such as this ERA R8B/C on display at the British Motor Museum. Whilst the car pre-dates the opening of Goodwood in 1948, many cars driven at the top of motorsport in the late ‘40s and ‘50s were actually from the 1930s since the outbreak of the Second World War put a halt to motorsport and race car development. This ERA (which stood for English Racing Automobiles) once belonged to British racing driver Reg Parnell, who won the first three Goodwood Trophies, in 1948, 1949, and 1950.

One of the big draws for the Revival is the fashion, with visitors donning spectacular period dress from the ‘40s, ‘50s and ‘60s. The look can be seen in a lot of promotional material from the time, such as this fantastic sales brochure cover for the MGA from 1958, which took inspiration from the glamour of Hollywood and the actress Grace Kelly. 

Fashion both during and immediately after the Second World War was greatly influenced by the United States, something which was reflected in the designs of cars at the time. The look of opulent American cars, such as Cadillac and Chrysler, influenced some British marques in order to sell to the wealthy American market. The Hillman Minx Californian, with a pillarless coupé body, wind-down quarter-circle rear windows and two-tone paintwork, was styled by French-American designer Raymond Loewy who had worked with US car manufacturer Studebaker from 1936. American sales of cars like this and the Nash Metropolitan were less than expected, with many American servicemen returning home choosing to buy more traditionally British styled cars, such as the Triumph TR3, MGA, or Austin-Healey 3000 instead.



It’s not just the internal combustion engine powering cars at the Revival - the Settrington Cup, featuring Austin J40 pedal cars, is a fun event for children, too young to earn their full driving license! The J40, one of a few pedal cars on display at the British Motor Museum, was the brainchild of Austin Chairman Leonard Lord. It was built in Bargoed, South Wales to provide work to former coal miners who could no longer work down the pits as they had developed the lung disease, pneumoconiosis. The J40 was successful and over 32,000 were made by the end of production in 1971.

The Goodwood Revival is also celebrating the life of Jim Clark, since 2025 marks the 60th anniversary of his second and final Formula One World Championship. Described by Sir Jackie Stewart as the best driver of his era, the two Scotsmen share the F1 lap record at Goodwood, both setting an identical time of 1;20:400 at the Sunday Mirror Trophy in 1965. Clark spent his entire racing career with Lotus, winning twenty five Grands Prix. His final five wins were powered by the revolutionary Cosworth DFV (Double Four Valve) V8, which was funded by Ford, the first of 155 wins for F1 cars powered by the motor, which can be seen at the Museum in the back of the Team Tyrrell March 701. Clark tragically lost his life at a Formula 2 race at Hockenheim, West Germany in 1968. The F1 Constructors’ Titles Clark helped win in 1963, 1965 and 1968 (when teammate Graham Hill took the Drivers’ title) are celebrated on both the Lotus Europa and Lotus 7 Twin Cam on display at the Museum.



Challenge: What do you love most about the Goodwood Revival? Cars? Clothes? Music? Racing? Let us know by leaving a comment and maybe a photo of the event if you have attended before.

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