What is the Freddie March Memorial Trophy?

This race gathers a field of 1950s sportscars in the spirit of the original Goodwood Nine Hours of 1952-’55 and sends them off to race into the gloaming in an hour-long contest.

In period, these two-driver fixtures were the first night races held in the United Kingdom, starting at 3pm and running until midnight. And it was locally made cars that dominated the results. For all three runnings (the Nine Hour didn’t take place in 1954) Jaguar started as the favourites for victory.

And each time, they were beaten to the chequered flag by Aston Martins. Peter Collins and Pat Griffiths won the first Nine Hour, and a year later Reg Parnell and Eric Thompson were victorious. Peter Walker and Dennis Poore completed the Newport Pagnell hat trick, much to Jaguar’s dismay.

The Freddie March Memorial Trophy is the Goodwood Revival’s interpretation of these extraordinary races, named in honour of Freddie March, the 9^th Duke of Richmond and founder of the Goodwood Motor Circuit. Born in 1904, he grew up around the dawn of the motor car and entered his first competitive event in 1929 with an MG, winning the gold award for matching a prescribed time.

Freddie March took control of the Goodwood Estate in 1935 and looked to motorsport to generate income in the difficult post-war era. It was Australian RAF Squadron Leader Tony Gaze who suggested using the perimeter road of RAF Westhampnett as a venue, and the first professional motor racing event in Britian after World War II was held at the newly established Motor Circuit in 1948.

In the Revival era, the Freddie March Memorial Trophy has been a permanent fixture on the race schedule since the first event in 1998. And it has delivered a more varied selection of winning machinery than the original endurance races; it was a Jaguar C-type driven by Gary Pearson that won the first and indeed the second race.

In a switch of fortunes, Aston Martins have crossed the line first on only two occasions to date, while other successful marques have included Allard-Cadillac, Cooper-Jaguar and the Lagonda V12 Le Mans. In 2025, it was the Jaguar C-Type of Jenson Button and Alex Buncombe that took the chequered flag, memorably delivering the 2009 Formula 1 World Champion a coveted first victory at the Goodwood Motor Circuit.

The Freddie March Memorial Trophy attracts some of the biggest names in motorsport, and we’re eagerly anticipating what will unfold in 2026 when we honour not just the memory of the Motor Circuit’s founder, without whom none of this would be here, but the Nine Hours races he so successfully promoted in its heyday.

Tickets for the 2026 Goodwood Revival are now on sale. If you’re not already part of the GRRC, you can sign up to the Fellowship today and save ten per cent on your 2026 tickets and grandstand passes, as well as enjoying a whole host of other on-event perks.  

Photography by Jayson Fong.