Goodwood’s Members’ Meeting drops the flag on ’23

As sure as daffodils mark that spring has sprung, Goodwood’s Members’ Meeting trumpets the start of the historic motor racing season. This year’s running featured a plethora of celebrations, unveilings and stars alongside the on-track action.

Enjoying its ninth consecutive appearance since returning to the calendar in 2014, the Members’ Meeting is always a special event, twinning the nostalgia and action of the Revival with the boutique feel of a more private event. The crowds are smaller due to the event being reserved, as the name suggests, for members of Goodwood’s Road Racing Club, but with live coverage via both stream and free-to-air TV, the excitement is far from diminished.

Kick-starting Goodwood’s 75th anniversary year, the Members’ Meeting featured packed grids and some classic slip-streamer racing, perhaps best epitomised by the return of the SF Edge Trophy for Edwardian cars. Mark Walker and Julian Majzub put on two epic duels, with Walker winning both, but only by 0.3sec and 0.1sec respectively after a thrilling dash to the line in the finale aboard his 1905 Darracq 200hp.

The renamed Gordon Spice Trophy [formerly the Gerry Marshall Trophy] lived up to its billing with World Touring Car ace Rob Huff emerging from a tight fight to win aboard a Camaro Z28.

Shaun Lynn and IndyCar legend Dario Franchitti trumped a wonderful star-studded grid chock-full of Ford GT40s to win the Gurney Cup, while James Cottingham swapped the Mercedes-AMG GT3 he races in British GT for a 1962 AC Cobra to win the Moss Trophy. Scott Carson stood out from a lively collection of 250cc and 350cc grand prix motorcycles to take glory in the Hailwood Trophy on a Yamaha TZ350G.

Aside from the racing, there were also demonstrations of fire-breathing GT1 machinery, plus Bentley ran its formidable Speed 8 Le Mans racer. To mark 60 years of the Porsche 911 a host of racing variants were assembled, headlined by Le Mans legend Tom Kristensen driving the RSR that won the 1973 Targa Florio. The Brabham BT52 – which unofficially holds the lap record, whatever that actually is as the car wasn’t formally timed due to Nelson Piquet driving it for a test in 1983 – also conducted a demo, with two cars running under the watchful eyes of designer Gordon Murray and former team boss Herbie Blash.

Add in the Bonhams auction featuring the polar opposites of the ceremonial Land Rover of The Queen and the Subaru Impreza WRC99 driven by Richard Burns, and Goodwood once again pulled off not just one of the best season-starters anywhere, but one of the best racing events anywhere.