The racing circuit began 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, organized by the Junior Car Club and sanctioned by the Duke of Richmond and Gordon. P. de F. C. Pycroft won the first race in his 2,664 cc Pycroft-Jaguar at 66.42 mph (106.89 km/h). Stirling Moss won the 500 cc race, which later became Formula 3, 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, held here between 1958 and 1964. The cars that raced in those events can be seen recreating (in shorter form) 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. Increasing car speeds made organizers aware of the dangers of a fast car losing control at this curve. After Giuseppe Farina won the 1951 Goodwood Trophy race in his Alfa Romeo 159 at over 95 mph (153 km/h), the curve was replaced with a chicane in 1952. This chicane was initially made with straw bales and boarding before brick walls were constructed in 1953. This brick chicane survived until the circuit's closure for racing in 1966, before being 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 over the years. 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 at its initial public launch, and again in July 1962. The car was a 30 ft-long (9.1 m) Bristol Siddeley turbine-powered 4,500 hp (3,400 kW) streamliner, with a theoretical top speed of 450 to 500 mph (720 to 800 km/h).
Goodwood saw its last race meeting for over 30 years in 1966 because the owners did not want to modify the track with more chicanes to control the increased speeds of modern racing cars. The last event of this era was a club meeting organized by the British Automobile Racing Club on 2 July 1966. The lap record was 1 minute and 20.4 seconds, set by both Jackie Stewart and Jim Clark in the 1965 Glover Trophy, the final Formula One race at the circuit.
The circuit claimed the life of McLaren founder Bruce McLaren in a testing accident on 2 June 1970. The accident occurred on Lavant Straight when a rear bodywork failure on his McLaren M8D Can-Am car caused it to spin and leave the track, hitting a bunker.
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. Historic aircraft help to complete the vintage feel. In 2008, a crowd of 68,000 people attended the event on the main Sunday.
In 2009, the Mongol Rally, a charity fundraising car rally to Mongolia, moved its starting point from Hyde Park, London to Goodwood. Entrants are on show to the public in the paddock before beginning the rally with a parade lap of the circuit.
The National Finals of the Greenpower schools electric car racing challenge takes place at Goodwood each year. The Greenpower challenge is a nationwide series of electric vehicle endurance races for schools. There is also a corporate version of the race, featuring teams like Lola, Jaguar Land Rover, Bentley Motors, and Prodrive.
The 'Breakfast Club' was introduced in March 2006. This is a semi-regular, free-to-enter, and open-to-all monthly gathering of drivers and riders who come to view each other's cars and bikes.
The circuit also hosted the 1982 UCI Road World Championships for cycle racing. 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.