What to watch at the 2025 Goodwood Revival

Jim Clark’s brilliance in focus

Ask veteran motor racing fans who was the greatest driver to grace Goodwood in its frontline 1948-1966 era and the answer will be subjective. Stirling Moss posted most wins from day one, including four Tourist Trophy victories over the airfield circuit’s first 14 seasons, but Jim Clark and Jackie Stewart, debutants in 1959 and 1963 respectively, have credible CVs, including sharing the ultimate outright lap record of 1m20.4s (107.46mph).

Both Scots have been celebrated at Revivals past, but in the 60th anniversary of Clark’s second F1 world championship, revisiting the humble farmer’s legacy with daily tributes is irresistible. Having led until a misfire blunted his Border Reivers Lister-Jaguar the previous season, Clark won 1960’s opening Formula Junior race – beating four-wheeled debutant John Surtees – and cemented his place in Colin Chapman’s Team Lotus squad.

Together they achieved stellar success in 1965, winning the Tasman Series, six F1 grands prix, the Indianapolis 500 and two F2 titles. Anybody at Goodwood that Easter Monday will remember Clark’s imperious hat-trick, in the St Mary’s Trophy (Lotus Cortina, in heavy rain), Sunday Mirror Trophy (Lotus-Climax 25) and Lavant Cup (Lotus-Ford 30).

Jenson Button chasing first podium

Jenson Button won the hearts of legions of Goodwood fans by supporting early Festival of Speed events – donning period chauffeurs’ costume to pilot lofty veteran Renaults on occasion – on his rise through the ranks to become F1 world champion in 2009 with the fledgling Brawn squad. The Frome flier made his historic racing debut at the 2021 Revival, and has shown astonishing pace in two subsequent editions, before being thwarted by mechanical failures.

Indeed Button has yet to stand on the Goodwood Motor Circuit’s podium. Fourth in 2023’s St Mary’s Trophy race, sharing an outgunned Alfa Romeo Giulietta Ti with Richard Meaden, is his best finish to date. But re-armed with the gunmetal and pale blue hued Jaguar E-type FHC registered CUT 8 – Husbands Bosworth garagiste Elmer Richard ‘Dick’ Protheroe’s period racer – from his own stable, Jenson is gunning for glory in the RAC TT Celebration. It’s not the quickest car in the snarling pack, but if conditions turn grisly, the acknowledged mixed-weather maestro and his best buddy Alex Buncombe, who finished seventh in 2021’s Stirling Moss Memorial Trophy feature, are in with a shout.

Jacques Villeneuve joins the fun

Jacques Villeneuve is a welcome newcomer to Goodwood’s family of superstar drivers this year, the 54-year-old French-Canadian – who fulfilled his late father Gilles’ ambition when he became his nation’s sole F1 world champion in 1997 with Williams-Renault – shares Nick Sleep’s Shelby Cobra ‘Hairy Canary’ in Sunday’s RAC TT Celebration race.

A breakthrough in Indycar racing in 1994 reminded everybody of his talent. After a victory on Elkhart Lake’s sublime Road America course in his rookie season, Villeneuve won the title in 1995, scoring four wins in Team Green’s Reynard-Ford XB, with the coveted Indianapolis 500 trophy the jewel in his crown and another unique result for a Canadian. A hardened racer, Jacques’ versatility was proven with victory in the 2008 Spa 1000kms race and second place in the Le Mans 24 Hours for Peugeot with Nic Minassian and Marc Gene. Like Jenson Button, he has also competed in the NASCAR Cup.

Le Mans, tin top and Indy legends

Racers with 33 Le Mans 24 Hours victories to their name are among the leads in a cast of hundreds for motor racing’s greatest theatre of 2025. Great Dane Tom Kristensen (nine) loves reunions with fellow alumni. Five-time victor Derek Bell, 83, from nearby Pagham, returns to the scene of his 1964 debut win in a Lotus 7. Emanuele Pirro, who matched Bell’s score in the French classic, triple-winners Rinaldo Capello, Marcel Fassler, Romain Dumas and Andre Lotterer are in action too, with David Brabham and Neel Jani, plus three-time Aston Martin GT champion Darren Turner.

Touring car stars are led by three-time world champion Andy Priaulx, BTCC champs Jake Hill, Tom Ingram, Gordon Shedden and Matt Neal. Charismatic NASCAR king Jimmie Johnson is back, while Indycar legend Dario Franchitti has brought Scott Dixon and Tony Kanaan with him.

For those who love their racing on two wheels, 29-time Isle of Man TT winner Michael Dunlop and John McGuinness (who has only 23 on his slate) join World Superbike champions Troy Bayliss and Carlos Checa in the Barry Sheene Memorial races.

The Stirling Moss Memorial Trophy has another packed out entry list

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All-star Moss pre-’63 GT race

Goodwood in September, in both its contemporary and retro periods, meant celebrating the birthday of Sir Stirling Moss. The circuit’s most successful son turned 19 on the eve of its opening meeting in 1948 – when he trounced allcomers in the 500cc race – until the first Revival after his passing in April 2020.

As onlookers witnessed when Stirling raced a Maserati 250F in the wet in 1999, not a drop of his innate balance and skill had deserted him. The memorial races run in his honour have hopefully enabled current racers of the GT cars he drove so brilliantly to Tourist Trophy victories in 1960 and 1961, to better appreciate Moss. Four Ferrari 250 GT SWBs, representing those dark blue Rob Walker/Dick Wilkins entries oppose Jaguar E-types, narrow-arched Cobras, Aston Martin DB4 GTs and big Healeys this year, with a Mercedes-Benz 300SL for good measure.

The Jaguar pack is deepest, a detail that won’t worry Jimmie Johnson, Andrew Jordan and John Spiers/Nigel Greensall (all Cobras), Tom Kristensen (Ferrari) or Emanuele Pirro (Austin-Healey 3000). Richard Kent/Chris Ward and Oliver Bryant/James Cottingham may be the best-matched Jag duos. Scott Dixon shares Nick Maton’s E-type.

Beware Jaguars on the prowl

Although Aston Martin DB3s were victorious in the Goodwood Nine Hour races of 1952, 1953 and 1955 which the 90-minute retrospective celebrates, Jaguar teams start overwhelming favourites for victory in Friday evening’s Freddie March Memorial Trophy opener. Seven C-types head the entry, with Jenson Button/Alex Buncombe eager to erase memories of 2023’s frustrating retirement.

Gary Pearson – the most successful driver in Revival history, with 14 golds – and Australian James Davison, Sam Hancock/Theo Hunt and Chris Ward/Nigel Webb are not out to make up numbers, while the Cooper-Jaguar T33 of Phil Keen/Katarina Kyvalova should have pace too. The Aston Martin opposition is provided by Simon Hadfield/Wolfgang Friedrichs, Matthias and Carlos Sielecki and Maxime Castelein/Christoff Cowens.

In the right hands, an agile Austin-Healey 100S can still run rings round anything, particularly if grip levels are sub-optimal. Remembering Emanuele Pirro/Stuart Graham’s 2008 evening win, seasoned Healey hotshoe Jack Rawles and Jake Hill will be on a mission to upset the formbook. Other dark horses are Martin Stretton and Patrick Blakeney-Edwards in Philip Champion’s Frazer Nash Mille Miglia and Horatio Fitz-Simon in Stephane Darracq’s Tojeiro-Bristol.

The Formula Juniors return with a Sunday morning race slot

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Sunday is junior school sports day

Count Johnny Lurani’s Formula Junior brainchild was the first step on the ladder to F1 stardom from 1958-1963. Today’s historic racers do not have such lofty aspirations, but the 400kg machines – with 110bhp plus on tap from their 1100c production car-based engines these days – often put on the best single-seater show. Be at trackside early on Sunday!

This year’s three-grid rotation brings the early front-engined set into focus. The entry showcases 20 marques, from the first Alexis – with longtime FJHRA nurturer Duncan Rabagliati up – to the Italian Volpini of Roger ‘Smiler’ Woodbridge. Ford power will probably prevail, but BMC, FIAT and three-cylinder two-stroke DKW engines provide the opposition.

Ray Mallock, 74, is the man to beat. The RML Group founder drives a 1960 U2 Mk2 pioneered by his father Major Arthur Mallock, whose awesomely rapid products continue to underpin the Clubmans category which raced at Goodwood from its intro in 1965. Sussex-built Elvas, and Condors from neighbouring Surrey are contenders, but Alex Morton and Adrian Russell in the latter might find Nick Padmore (Foglietti) and American Joe Colasacco (OSCA) tough customers too.

Grand Prix cars of three eras

No fewer than three race grids showcase Grand Prix cars and Voiturettes. In Saturday’s Goodwood Trophy field, covering the 1930s to 1952, American Peter Greenfield’s 158 Alfetta heads a trio of Alfa Romeos reunited with Maseratis and husky Talbot-Lagos. Eleven ERAs – Mark Gillies, David Morris and Paddins Dowling to the fore – and Rob Hall in the magnificent BRM V16 recreation are chasing another home victory.

The Richmond & Gordon Trophies race for 1956-1960 2.5-litre era cars demonstrates the transition from front to rear-engined technology. Germany’s Rudi Friedrichs (ex-Jack Brabham Cooper T53) and Will Nuthall in a sister car may find recent Oulton Park Gold Cup winner Andy Willis (BRM P48) a fly in their ointment. John Spiers (ex-Jean Behra Maserati 250F) heads the ‘pullers.’

The Glover Trophy race for 1961-1965 1500cc F1cars is unusually open this year. In the absence of eight-time winner Andy Middlehurst, 2016 victor Nick Fennell in a sister car, Lee Mowle and Katsu Kubota can uphold Lotus honour in Climax V8-powered cars. Defending champion Willis (BRM P261), Richard Wilson (ex-Bruce McLaren Cooper T60) and Joe Colasacco (Ferrari 1512) stand in their way.

Start action for the Madgwick Cup

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Lotus vs Elva in Madgwick Mania

Small capacity sports racers were very popular in the early 1960s and many currently sit idle, underserved with opportunities to race. That’s been addressed in Saturday’s Madgwick Cup showcase in which a posse of Colin Chapman’s Lotus 23s – of which 131 were built from 1962 – take on Frank Nichols’ Elva Mk7s and 8s, a brace of Selwyn Hayward- designed Merlyns, the unique BMC-engined Aurora and Pandora, plus American Bobsy, Brabham BT5, Crossle 7S and Piper GTS singletons.

ERA ace Mark Gillies in one of two superb Elva-BMW Mk8s should use the two-litre engine’s torque and chassis’ poise to counter most of the agile Ford twin-cam motivated Lotuses, but father and son Michael and Andrew Hibberd, Benn Tilley, Chris Goodwin, Nick Fennell (in the ex-Robin Widdows car), Mike Grant-Peterkin and Historic Formula Junior champion Nic Carlton-Smith will surely offer stout resistance.

Will Nuthall and Martin Verdon-Row in earlier Elvas, the increasingly quick Geoff Underwood in his Ian Walker Racing Brabham twin-cam should be among the leaders, but the combination of BMC A Series engine guru Nick Swift in the ex-Trevor Taylor Aurora roller skate is a fascinating prospect.

Celebrations and parades

Aside from the heady mix of car and motorcycle racing – not forgetting Saturday and Sunday’s Settrington Cup Austin J40 pedal car dashes on the start straight, which are taken very seriously by the youngsters and their support teams – there is something at every turn within the Motor Circuit campus and ‘Over The Road’ where sideshows and purveyors of fashion, lifestyle goods and motorsport ephemera abound.

More than 100 split-screen Volkswagen Type 2s of all specifications, from light commercial pick-ups, dual cabs and Microbuses to hallowed Samba and Westfalia campers will open the track each day. By way of contrast, the daily ‘Celebrazione’ Alfa Romeo showcases a wonderful array of the marque’s road and race cars, from 1922 RTLF to a pair of 1972 T33 TT3s.

On Sunday, attention turns to marking 80 years since VE Day and reflects on RAF Westhampnett which begat Goodwood Motor Circuit in peacetime. In league with the Freddie March Spirit of Aviation field, replete with Supermarine Spitfires, Hawker Hurricanes, a P-51 Mustang and other warbirds all weekend, a huge collection of vehicles from motorcycles through Jeeps to lorries will command respect.

A celebration of 80 years since VE is also planned at the Goodwood Revival

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