What is the Chichester Cup?

A 20-minute race for rear-engined, drum-braked Formula Junior cars, the Chichester Cup highlights the very earliest era of this entry level single-seater series. The Formula Junior category ran from 1958-63 and launched the careers of multiple future Formula 1 World Champions including John Surtees and Jim Clark, and in 1960 it became the adopted category of Goodwood’s annual Chichester Cup.

Named after the city neighbouring the Motor Circuit, the Chichester Cup was first contested at Goodwood in 1949. On that day, it was a race for cars of more than 1,450cc and was won by Reg Parnell aboard a Maserati 4CLT by a margin of 12 seconds. In 1950 it became a Formula Libre race, although the grid for the 1958 running was made up almost exclusively of Lotus 11s. Two years later the Formula Junior switch was introduced, and Clark took the new Lotus 18 to victory.

In 1964, the Chichester Cup became a Formula 3 race; Jackie Stewart took a famous win that year in his Cooper T72 where he led from flag to flag. The final Chichester Cup of Goodwood’s original era took place in 1966, the year the Motor Circuit closed, and was won by the Brabham BT18 of Chris Irwin.

Throughout its various iterations, it was the Formula Juniors that delivered the fastest laps, and it’s these cars that fight it out for the Chichester Cup in the Revival era, a regular fixture in the schedule since 1998. Lotus models have been the most successful in this period, recently taking the chequered flag in three of the five races run between 2018-25, while Brabham and Coopers can also be found in the pack. After an absence in 2024, the Chichester Cup returned last year where it was the Alexis-Ford Mk2 of Stuart Roach that came out on top in imperious fashion.

Given the heritage of this race and the names associated with it, the Chichester Cup means a great deal to the drivers that race in it at the Revival. Victory here means following in the footsteps of some of the most revered drivers in motorsport history, while the competition means deft race craft will be required as drivers manage the minimal grip of their entry-level racers.

This is the race where future legends earned their stripes, and at the Goodwood Revival new names continue to be written into the history books.

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Photography by Toby Whales.