Touring cars to battle for Gordon Spice Trophy at 80MM | GRR
After ten successful years as the Gerry Marshall Trophy, it’s time for Goodwood’s Group A touring car race to have a makeover. In celebration of the life of seven-time British Saloon Car Championship and four-time Le Mans class winner the race will now be called the Gordon Spice Trophy.
The centrepiece of the Goodwood Members’ Meetings presented by Audrain Motorsport, the Gerry Marshall Trophy has become one of the most beloved races in Goodwood’s history. Featuring Group 1 touring cars from the 1970s and early 1980s. After a decade commemorating the life of touring car legend Gerry Marshall, the start of the revived Members’ Meetings’ second decade felt like the perfect time for a change.
Gordon Spice’s career spanned both touring cars and sportscars as a driver, before he co-founded the Spice Engineering team with fellow driver Ray Bellm. Spice started his British Saloon Car Championship career racing Mini Coopers in the late 1960s. He would take a class championship in 1968 and a brace of runner-up finishes in the following two years.
But it is the Ford Capri with which Spice is inextricably linked. He raced a Capri every season from 1975 to 1982. In that time he took class honours six seasons in a row. But that doesn’t fully showcase his successes with the Capri. At the time the overall champion was decided between classes, meaning that overall wins contributed less to the final standings.
For three seasons in a row Spice dominated the championship, winning around half the races each year, competing against the likes of Gerry Marshall, Andy Rouse and Tom Walkinshaw in the process. The 1980 season saw Spice come closest to an overall championship, as he and team-mate Rouse dominated the season, but just couldn’t overcome the dominance of Win Percy’s Mazda RX-7.
Spice raced in sportscars alongside his touring car exploits, and would go on to found Spice Engineering, most famous for its exploits in Group C. Partnered with Ray Bellm both as team-founder and driver, Spice took Le Mans class wins in his own car three times in four years and won the C2 class of the 1988 World Endurance Championhip.
Spice sadly passed away after a battle with cancer in 2021 and we’re extremely happy to honour his incredible life with the new Gordon Spice Trophy, beginning in 2023.
Tickets for the 80th Goodwood Members' Meeting are available now, for more information or to purchase visit ticketing.goodwood.com.
Photography by Jordan Butters and Joe Harding.