Tony Brooks triumphs in Aston Martin vs Ecurie Ecosses showdown at Goodwood

The last big BARC Goodwood Meeting of the year was held on one of the few fine days, September 8th. Unfortunately, the fare provided did not live up to that of previous years, for only a handful of out-dated racing cars competed – with one exception, Salvadori’s works prototype F2 Cooper – and otherwise this was sports car racing, with the same drivers and cars appearing in race after race. This, and football, flying display and beach attractions, resulted in one of the smallest crowds we have seen at Goodwood.

The first race was for the Madgwick Cup, over five laps from scratch, for sports cars not exceeding 1100cc. MacDowel and Hall fought a fierce duel out in front of the other 16 runners, Hall’s Lotus-Climax taking the lead from the Cooper-Climax on lap four. Allison’s Lotus-Climax was hanging on to the leaders until it lost ground in a minor incident at Madgwick.

So to the 10-lap Woodcote Cup race, for cars, in any trim, up to 2000cc. The race was mainly a display of high-speed artistry on the part of Salvadori in the works F2 Cooper, which led from start to finish and won by no less than 15.2sec. from Chapman’s Lotus-Climax, which fought to keep ahead of Leston’s Cooper-Climax.