Old Glory's Goodwood

Browse pages
Current page

1

Current page

2

Current page

3

Current page

4

Current page

5

Current page

6

Current page

7

Current page

8

Current page

9

Current page

10

Current page

11

Current page

12

Current page

13

Current page

14

Current page

15

Current page

16

Current page

17

Current page

18

Current page

19

Current page

20

Current page

21

Current page

22

Current page

23

Current page

24

Current page

25

Current page

26

Current page

27

Current page

28

Current page

29

Current page

30

Current page

31

Current page

32

Current page

33

Current page

34

Current page

35

Current page

36

Current page

37

Current page

38

Current page

39

Current page

40

Current page

41

Current page

42

Current page

43

Current page

44

Current page

45

Current page

46

Current page

47

Current page

48

Current page

49

Current page

50

Current page

51

Current page

52

Current page

53

Current page

54

Current page

55

Current page

56

Current page

57

Current page

58

Current page

59

Current page

60

Current page

61

Current page

62

Current page

63

Current page

64

Current page

65

Current page

66

Current page

67

Current page

68

Current page

69

Current page

70

Current page

71

Current page

72

Current page

73

Current page

74

Current page

75

Current page

76

Current page

77

Current page

78

Current page

79

Current page

80

Current page

81

Current page

82

Current page

83

Current page

84

Current page

85

Current page

86

Current page

87

Current page

88

Current page

89

Current page

90

Current page

91

Current page

92

Current page

93

Current page

94

Current page

95

Current page

96

Current page

97

Current page

98

Current page

99

Current page

100

Current page

101

Current page

102

Current page

103

Current page

104

Current page

105

Current page

106

Current page

107

Current page

108

Current page

109

Current page

110

Current page

111

Current page

112

Current page

113

Current page

114

Current page

115

Current page

116

Current page

117

Current page

118

Current page

119

Current page

120

Current page

121

Current page

122

Current page

123

Current page

124

Current page

125

Current page

126

Current page

127

Current page

128

Current page

129

Current page

130

Current page

131

Current page

132

Current page

133

Current page

134

Current page

135

Current page

136

Current page

137

Current page

138

Current page

139

Current page

140

Current page

141

Current page

142

Current page

143

Current page

144

Current page

145

Current page

146

Current page

147

Current page

148

Current page

149

Current page

150

American cars and drivers played a small but intriguing role in the history of the circuit. Paul Fearnley picks out the transatlantic highlights — and lowlights

Goodwood is quintessentially British; there’s nothing quite so red, white and blue as the South Downs. There is, however, a tinge of Stars and Stripes within that…

It was the effervescent, Paris-born, card-carrying American (when it suited him, French when it didn’t) Harry Schell who got the USA’s Goodwood ball rolling in September 1950. His little Cooper T9 beat all corners in the meeting’s third five-lap handicap. Amazingly, though, America would have to wait another nine years for its second driver success at the venue. But when it came, it was an important one.

British-born Tom Cole, the first American to race regularly in Europe after WWII, came close to it in 1952, finishing second in the first Nine Hours in a Ferrari 225 co-driven by Graham Whitehead. But it would be Carroll Shelby who eventually ended the wait. The Texan was a member of Aston Martin’s late-1950s sportscar squad (and its less successful Formula One team). He’d finished third in the 1958 Tourist Trophy in a DBR1 shared with Stuart Lewis-Evans, and for the ’59 event was paired with Jack Fairman in one of Feltham’s three works cars entered for the world title-deciding TT. In the red corner were three Ferrari Testa Rossas, with an impressive driver line-up that included Dan Gurney and Phil Hill.

As usual, Stirling Moss hared into a big lead – only for disaster to strike when his DBR1 (with co-driver Roy Salvadori aboard) caught fire in the pits. Team boss Reg Parnell promptly called in the Shelby/Fairman car for Moss to take over and, as usual, Stirling charged back to the front, eventually winning the race– and the title – at a canter. Hill was credited with third, along with Brooks, Cliff Allison and Guido Cabianca, while Gurney brought the TR he’d shared with Brooks home in fifth.

There was another American angle to this famous race. Masten Gregory was in Ecurie Ecosse’s Tojeiro-Jaguar when he effected Goodwood’s greatest escape. When its brakes failed on the approach to Woodcote (some say he was trying too hard because he was off the pace of his young co-driver, a certain Jim Clark), he somehow managed to contort himself so that he was stood on his seat as the car slammed into the bank. Masten was flung out, breaking a rib and dislocating a shoulder, but he had taken the right option: his just-vacated cockpit snapped shut like a mantrap as the car folded.

Gregory wasn’t the only American who attempted to merge car with crowd. Tommy Hitchcock was contesting the 1963 TT when his 250 GTO got out of shape at Madgwick, rolled and plonked itself atop the bank, within inches of the startled spectators. He would make amends two years later by scoring America’s third Goodwood driver success, winning a 10-lapper in a Brabham BT8.

One to go. Yes, that’s right, American drivers registered just four wins here, and the last of them was by Roy Pike, a Californian who came to the UK to pursue his dream, and who liked it so much that he still lives here. His Goodwood victory was registered in the F3 race at the 1965 Easter Meeting, his Brabham BT16 beating the BT10s of his muckers Piers Courage and Jonathan Williams.

American cars were slightly more successful but had to wait a long time before breaking their duck. Cadillac power brought Allards a number of wins in the early 1950s; Dizzy Addicott had a very successful ’62 with a Lotus 15-Buick hybrid — two wins, three fastest laps; Jackie Stewart used Buick power to win a GT race in September ’63 with Ecurie Ecosse’s mid-engined Tojeiro. But it wasn’t until the following year — 16 years after the circuit’s first meeting — that a true ‘Yank tank’ scored a win. And even then it took the quintessentially English `Gentleman’ Jack Sears to notch it up, his mighty Ford Galaxie beating the Lotus Cortinas of Jim Clark and Peter Arundell in the Easter Meeting’s tin-top bash.

There are those who say that the AC Cobra is a British car, and that the Americans simply put the chrome on! But not even the most ardent cynic can deny that a brace of Shelby American Daytona Coupés driven by Gurney and Hill is as Mom’s apple pie as motor racing gets — except that they were run by Alan Mann’s Byfleet concern on this occasion. Carroll’s men were chasing the 1964 GT title when they contested that year’s TT, and Gurney did the business, finishing third overall and first GT.

On pole for that race was a car that would have a significant American legacy: Bruce McLaren’s Oldsmobile-powered Elva. (Can-Am was just two years away.) Bruce raced the car at Goodwood again in Easter 1965, but was beaten in the Lavant Cup by Clark’s Lotus 30, another lightweight British two-seater with hefty American V8 power. The big bangers were starting to kick in: John Coundley’s Elva-Olds won that year’s Whitsun Trophy, while Mike Salmon (Mustang) and John Sparrow (Cobra) also scored wins at that meeting. In the Easter Meeting of ’66, ‘Yogi’ Muir’s Falcon beat the Mustangs of Jack Brabham and Salmon in the St Mary’s Trophy.

Road-racing American single-seaters, of course, have always been in short supply. Lance Reventlow’s Scarab attempted to buck the trend, but when Chuck Daigh contested the 1961 Lavant Cup, run to the short-lived Intercontinental Formula, the front-engined machine was, as usual, off the pace. Which is why American F1 wannabes of the ’50s and ’60s had to turn to foreign machinery — even Jim Hall. This Texan would build some of the most ingenious sports-racers of all time, but when he still held aspirations of becoming world champion, he was at the wheel of a BRP-run Lotus 24-BRM, which he took to fourth place in the ’63 Glover Trophy.

America has one more, unusual Goodwood legacy. Bob Said was racing a 500cc F3 in the early 1950s when Moss pointed out that Madgwick could be taken without lifting. Bob bravely followed this advice, but his times were not improved because of the extra understeer his more vigorous approach caused. That was the moment, Stirling has since explained, that he realised flat out was not always the quickest way.