Goodwood Circuit is a historic venue for both two- and four-wheeled motorsport in the United Kingdom. The circuit is situated near Chichester, West Sussex, close to the south coast of England, on the estate of Goodwood House, and completely encircles Chichester/Goodwood Airport. This is the racing circuit dating from 1948, not to be confused with the separate Hillclimbing course located at Goodwood House and first used in 1936.
The original circuit layout featured a fast left-hand curve between the Woodcote corner and the start-finish line, with the pit lane on the infield side of the curve's exit. Increasing car speeds made organisers aware of the dangers of a fast car losing control at this curve, and after Giuseppe Farina won the 1951 Goodwood Trophy race in his Alfa Romeo 159 at over , the curve was replaced with a chicane in 1952. At first, the chicane was made using straw bales and boarding, before brick walls were constructed in 1953. Despite a number of accidents this brick chicane survived until the circuit's closure for racing in 1966, before it was rammed and destroyed in the mid-1970s by a transporter belonging to Team Surtees that was leaving the circuit after a test session. When the circuit was restored in the late 1990s, the chicane was remade using polystyrene blocks.
Goodwood has, over the years, played host to many famous drivers: Mike Hawthorn and Graham Hill had their first single seat races here, Roger Penske visited in 1963, and Jim Clark and Jack Sears competed in 1964. The accident that ended Stirling Moss's international career happened at St. Mary's in 1962.
Donald Campbell demonstrated his Bluebird CN7 Land Speed Record car at Goodwood in July 1960 at its initial public launch, and again in July 1962, before the car was shipped to Australia – where it finally broke the record in 1964. The car was a Bristol Siddeley turbine-powered streamliner, with a theoretical top speed of . The laps of Goodwood were effectively at "tick-over" speed, because the car had only four degrees of steering lock, with a maximum of on the straight on one lap.
Goodwood saw its last race meeting for over 30 years in 1966, because the owners did not want to modify the track with more chicanes to control the increased speeds of modern racing cars. The last event of the era was a club meeting organised by the British Automobile Racing Club on 2 July 1966. Goodwood Motor Circuit Programme, Saturday 2 July 1966. The lap record was a 1 minute and 20.4 seconds set by both Jackie Stewart and Jim Clark, in the 1965 Glover Trophy, the final formula one race at the circuit.
1952 | 16 August | Peter Collins/Pat Griffith | Aston Martin DB3 | 283 | |
1953 | 22 August | Reg Parnell/Eric Thompson | Aston Martin DB3S | 297 | |
1955 | 20 August | Peter Walker/Dennis Poore | Aston Martin DB3S | 309 | |
The National Finals of the Greenpower schools electric car racing challenge takes place at Goodwood each year. The Greenpower challenge is a nationwide series of electric vehicle endurance races for schools, who build their own 24 volt single-seater racing cars. There is also a corporate version of the race, featuring teams like Lola, Jaguar Land Rover, Bentley Motors and Prodrive.
The 'Breakfast Club' was introduced in March 2006. This is a semi regular free to enter, and open-to-all monthly gathering of drivers and riders who come to view each other's cars, bikes etc. Each meeting is themed with striking examples of the day’s theme paraded on the start finish straight.
The circuit also hosted the 1982 UCI Road World Championships for cycle racing, notable for the men's professional race, which saw a late breakaway by the American rider Jacques Boyer being closed down by a pack led by Boyer's teammate (and future triple Tour de France winner and double Road World Champion) Greg LeMond.
The circuit was used as a filming location in the historical drama series Downton Abbey.
In May 2019 the track was added into Gran Turismo Sport as a free update.
In 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Festival of Speed, members and Revival meetings were cancelled and replaced by an event called Speedweek combining elements from all three events.
2015 Goodwood 73rd Members' Meeting |
1965 Sunday Mirror Trophy |
1965 Goodwood International - Lavant Cup |
1966 Sunday Mirror Trophy |
1964 RAC Tourist Trophy |
2017 Goodwood 75th Members' Meeting |
1951 Goodwood Trophy |
1951 Madgwick Cup |
1951 Goodwood Sportscar race |
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