The racing circuit began life as the perimeter track of RAF Westhampnett airfield, constructed during World War II as a relief airfield for RAF Tangmere. The first race meeting took place on 18 September 1948, organised by the Junior Car Club and sanctioned by the Duke of Richmond and Gordon. The winner of the first race was P. de F. C. Pycroft, in his 2,664 cc Pycroft-Jaguar. Stirling Moss won the 500 cc race, followed by Eric Brandon and "Curly" Dryden, all in Coopers.
Goodwood became famous for its Glover Trophy non-championship Formula One race, the Goodwood Nine Hours sports car endurance races run in 1952, 1953 and 1955, and the Tourist Trophy sports car race, run here between 1958 and 1964. The cars that raced in those events can be seen recreating the endurance races at the Goodwood Revival each year in the Sussex Trophy and the Royal Automobile Club Tourist Trophy (RAC TT).
The original circuit layout featured a fast left-hand curve between the Woodcote corner and the start-finish line. After Giuseppe Farina won the 1951 Goodwood Trophy race in his Alfa Romeo 159, the curve was replaced with a chicane in 1952. This brick chicane survived until the circuit's closure for racing in 1966, before it was rammed and destroyed in the mid-1970s by a transporter belonging to Team Surtees. When the circuit was restored in the late 1990s, the chicane was remade using polystyrene blocks.
Goodwood has hosted many famous drivers: Mike Hawthorn and Graham Hill had their first single seat races here, Roger Penske visited in 1963, and Jim Clark and Jack Sears competed in 1964. The accident that ended Stirling Moss's international career happened at St. Mary's in 1962. Donald Campbell demonstrated his Bluebird CN7 Land Speed Record car at Goodwood in July 1960 and again in July 1962.
Goodwood saw its last race meeting for over 30 years in 1966. The last event of the era was a club meeting organised by the British Automobile Racing Club on 2 July 1966. The lap record was set by both Jackie Stewart and Jim Clark in the 1965 Glover Trophy.
The circuit claimed the life of McLaren founder Bruce McLaren in a testing accident on 2 June 1970. The accident happened on Lavant Straight, when a rear bodywork failure on his McLaren M8D Can-Am car caused it to spin and leave the track.
Following the success of the Festival of Speed hill climb, racing returned to the Goodwood circuit in 1998. The Goodwood Revival is a three-day festival held each September for the types of cars and motorcycles that would have competed during the circuit's original period, 1948–1966. The track is now used for classic races, track days, and try-out days.
In 2009, the Mongol Rally, a charity fundraising car rally to Mongolia, moved its starting point from Hyde Park, London to Goodwood. The National Finals of the Greenpower schools electric car racing challenge takes place at Goodwood each year. The 'Breakfast Club' was introduced in March 2006. The circuit also hosted the 1982 UCI Road World Championships for cycle racing, notable for the men's professional race, which saw a late breakaway by the American rider Jacques Boyer being closed down by a pack led by Boyer's teammate Greg LeMond.
The circuit was used as a filming location in the historical drama series Downton Abbey. In May 2019 the track was added into Gran Turismo Sport as a free update. In 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Festival of Speed, members and Revival meetings were cancelled and replaced by an event called Speedweek combining elements from all three events.
The all-time outright lap record is 1:09.914, set by Nick Padmore in an Arrows A11, during the 2020 Goodwood Speedweek timed shootout event.
This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.
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