What is the Goodwood Trophy?

This contest harks back to the very first race meeting at Goodwood, when Reg Parnell won the inaugural Goodwood Trophy Formula 1 race in 1948. Back then he was racing a Maserati 4CLT/48 against a fleet of ERAs, and in the years that followed the grid grew to feature cars from the likes of BRM and Ferrari. 

Following the birth of the F1 World Championship in 1950, the Goodwood Trophy, although only a non-Championship event, became a destination for some of the greatest cars and drivers of the era. The 1951 running saw Guiseppe Farina drive an Alfa Romeo 159 to victory in a race that also featured Stirling Moss. 

Juan Manuel Fangio made an appearance in 1953 as Mike Hawthorn took the chequered flag in a Ferrari Thin Wall Special, and Moss finally scored a Goodwood Trophy victory at the final chance in 1954, at the wheel of the legendary Maserati 250F. 

The Goodwood Trophy holds a unique significance for bringing F1 racing to the Motor Circuit and putting West Sussex on the global motorsport map. Its place in Goodwood history saw it open the very first Revival meeting in 1998, and it has remained a constant feature on the schedule ever since. 

Ludovic Lindsay picked up where Moss left off as he claimed the first race victory at Goodwood for 32 years in his ERA B-Type R5B ‘Remus’. 

Memories of that remarkable era, when the likes of Parnell, Fagioli, Hawthorn and Fangio came to race at Goodwood, were brought to the fore when a field of Grand Prix and Voiturette cars from between 1930 and 1951 emerged onto the Motor Circuit for the first time since the 1950s. That wonderful history, the magnitude of the Goodwood Trophy and its extraordinary legacy, remains an integral part of what makes the Revival so special. 

Even after more than 25 years, we still love to see these cars in action, racing as hard as they did in period in the hands of brave and skilful drivers who help to keep the pioneering years of British motorsport alive. 

‘Remus’ remains a fixture on the entry list, regularly sharing the Goodwood Trophy grid with a host of other ERA machines and pre-war cars from the likes of Maserati and Alta. 

They compete alongside comparatively modern rivals from Talbot-Lago and Delage that are in some cases more than a decade their junior, while the legendary Alfa Romeo 158 ‘Alfetta’ will always be a magical sight whenever it’s in action here at the Motor Circuit.  

There are few races anywhere in the world that are more fascinating than this 20-minute throwback to life as it was when motorsport finally returned to British soil. We’re looking forward to our next chance to see these wondrous artefacts in motion when the Goodwood Trophy gets underway at the 2026 Revival. 

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, Rob Cooper, Toby Whales and Pete Summers.