Six awesome videos from the Sussex Trophy

It isn’t just that the racing is unbelievably close but the sportscars on show are so unlike anything we in modern motorsport. Open-topped and with skinny tyres, they’re about balance and predictability as much as they are lightweight and power.

So, we thought it would be a smart idea to collect a few of our favourite Sussex Trophy videos and put them altogether in one place. Sod the waistline, where’s the popcorn…

Mind-blowing wet weather control

We’ve seen Julian Mazjub’s skill before. Whatever the car, whatever the age and regardless of whether or not it has seatbelts, he’s able to hope in, go fast and get seemingly any car very sideways indeed. But still, this is something very impressive indeed. For the 2017 Sussex Trophy the track conditions were appalling – not so bad that the race needed to be called off, but bad enough that quick hands and a delicate, precise right foot would be needed more than ever. Thankfully, Majzub’s foot is able to move with millimetric precision, something that’s needed when there are puddles the size of the English Channel and you’re driving a Sadler-Chevrolet Mk3 that weighs around 750kg and has a 400PS (294kW) 5.3-litre V8.

Rear-view racing drama

Sometimes it’s the simplest videos that are the best. And sometimes it’s the simplest videos that best illustrate speed. Here we get both.

With a humble GoPro stuck to the back of Roberto Giordanelli’s 1958 Lister-Chevrolet ‘Knobbly’, we’re treated to a smoky race start, with Giordanelli startin from eighth on the grid, and a clean, simple view of the action behind. Some cars have slightly better brakes than Giordanelli, and you can see the drivers eyeing up the opportunities down into the corners, but Giordanelli’s Lister is very, very quick in a straight line. The rearward view also gives us the opportunity to see how everyone reacts when someone gets it wrong, and someone does get it wrong…

Sliding Goodwood battle for Ferrari and Lotus

One of the best Sussex Trophy battles ever? More like one of the best Revival battles ever. In the 1960 Ferrari 246S Dino you’ve got Sam Hancock and in the 1958 Lotus-Climax 15 you have Olly Bryant, both experienced historic racers with bagsful of skill and an equal amount of commitment, both determined to grab second place. When one makes a mistake the other one is keen to pounce, and while the Ferrari is lightweight the Lotus is lighter still. Racing only comes as good as this with years and years of experience.

Masterfully sliding a Lister Knobbly to fastest lap

Like the previous video this clip is from the 2018 Revival, but unlike the previous battle this isn’t a drive for second but a drive from the pit-lane to, well, as far as the driver Phil Keen could make it. We won’t give away the race result – you’ll have to watch the full race for that – but suffice to say, having taken pole position in qualifying and being treated to a nice mechanical failure at the start of the race, Keen had the bit between his teeth. Under braking Keen’s Lister is moving around. Mid-corner it’s moving around. On corner exit it’s, you guessed it, moving around. If there’s ever another remake of the Karate Kid, with quick hands like that we expect Keen to audition.

Damaged Lotus hunts down V8 Lister Knobbly for amazing final lap battle

From 2018 to 1998 and the very first Goodwood Revival. There’s another Lister, this time the car of leader Frank Sytner, but there’s also the Lotus 15 of Robert Brooks, and as you might be able to see there’s something of an unusual rear wing on the Lotus… A first-lap incident saw Brooks’ rear bodywork come loose, and before long it had deployed like a parachute. Despite calls from the pits to pull in, for fear of the rear deck detaching entirely and making a break for the clouds like an aircraft from the airfield Brooks powered on, keeping in touch with the race’s frontrunners and, somehow, making it back up to the very front to fight with Sytner. Maybe that metalwork really was a rear wing?

Five incredible Ferrari 246S Dino overtakes

Sorry-not-sorry. We’re sorry because this is the Ferrari 246S Dino we wrote about before, and it’s also the same driver, Sam Hancock. But we’re not sorry because these are five truly sublime overtakes, the overtakes that saw Hancock win driver of the weekend at the 2019 Revival. My word, the Sussex Trophy is fabulous.