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2025 Goodwood Revival report
Dash and splash

Author

• Mattijs Diepraam

Date

• September 17, 2025

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Who? James Dorlin, Chris Ward, Grant Williams What? Lister-Jaguar Mk1, Jaguar Mk1, Jaguar Mk1 Where? Goodwood When? 2025 Goodwood Revival

Why?

Dashing drivers and splashing machines highlighted the 2025 Goodwood Revival like never before, as hail and snow were the only items missing from the hotchpotch of weather conditions that drivers and spectators were treated to during the 2025 Goodwood Revival. The constant alternation of sun and rain – and ultimately, shedloads of rain – virtually guaranteed a collection of spectacular contests in which the racing, as usual, was on a knife edge. Meanwhile, anyone thinking that every star has by now made an appearance at Goodwood was proven wrong, as this year, Jacques Villeneuve and Tony Kanaan were among the event’s rookies on a star-studded list that continues to grow.

It was noticeable, however, that the packed crowds of the last pre-pandemic editions were no longer there. This suggests that Goodwood as an event has reached its plateau – perhaps unsurprising given the fact that for a quarter of a century the standard phrase was that the Revival was “getting better every year”. This year’s off-track theme was ‘Summer of Love’, a motto that many visitors have been honouring for years through their choice of attire, but which is of course not actually “pre-66”. With countless first-generation Volkswagen vans, the theme also found its automotive interpretation – the T1s not only graced the paddock, but also took to the track every day. Added to that, there were celebrations for Alfa Romeo and Jim Clark with two impressive parades, while the 80th anniversary of the end of the World War II was marked by a VE Day Celebration featuring both military equipment and wartime civilian transport. In addition to all the car races, the motorcycles came out for the Barry Sheene Memorial Trophy and the youngest racing talents were given a chance to show their mettle in the Settrington Cup for Austin J40 pedal cars – with official timekeeping! Glen English and Steve Plater’s Matchless G50 beat all the Nortons in the two motorcycle races, while Cyrus Majzub proved to be the fastest primary school pupil among the pedal car drivers.

After all the qualifying sessions, the first racing action got underway on Friday evening. Following a demon start by the Bill Shepherd/Romain Dumas Ford Thunderbird “Battlebird”, Jenson Button soon snatched the lead in the Freddie March Memorial Trophy, as his Jaguar C-type hit the front after a couple of laps and never looked back. Teammate Alex Buncombe subsequently waltzed the Jaguar home to a dominant victory with a lead of more than a minute over the HWM-Jaguar shared by Theo Hunt and Sam Hancock. The Austin Healey 100S pedalled by Jack Rawles/Jake Hill fought its way up to third place with Hill at the wheel. When it started to rain, Hill was able to fend off an attack from Dumas, who then lost another position to Chris Ward in the fast-charging C-type started by Nigel Webb.

Early on Saturday morning, it had rained heavily, so the Goodwood Trophy cars were sent out onto a soaking wet track. One of the pre-race favourites, Paddins Dowling had to pull off in his ERA B-type – the famous R5B “Remus” – in qualifying, which gave Mark Gillies in the ERA A-type R3A a clear run to victory. Himself, a multiple winner of this race for pre-war and immediate post-war Grand Prix machines, Gillies this time had to contend with a challenge from Patrick Blakeney-Edwards in the Frazer Nash “Fane” Monoposto. Meanwhile, Andy Willis drove the Indy Maserati 8CTF history to third place.

After the second practice session for the RAC TT Celebration – as always the highlight of Sunday – it was time for the Madgwick Cup for lightweight sports cars from the early 1960s. The race was interrupted after three laps due to a lengthy oil trail on the track and was resumed for another three laps, in which Will Nuthall and Max Bartell’s Elva-BMW MkVIIISs battled for victory, with Nuthall coming out on top. No fewer than four Lotus 23s followed them across the finish line, led home by Wolfgang Henseler’s example.

After lunch, part 1 of the St. Mary's Trophy followed, in which the professionals were allowed to demonstrate their consummate skills. Part 2 would conclude the event on Sunday with the owners behind the wheel. Tom Kristensen and Steve Soper soon dominated the field on Saturday in their two powerful American cars – ‘Tommy Gun’ Kristensen in the Ford Thunderbird and Soper in the Ford Fairlane. At the start, Gordon Shedden’s Jaguar Mk1 had taken off like a rocket, but ultimately couldn’t keep the Austin A40s piloted by BTCC big guns Andrew Jordan, Tom Ingram, and Jake Hill behind him. In fact, Shedden subsequently dropped behind Jenson Button in the Alfa Romeo Giulietta Ti, Marcel Fässler in the A40 Farina, and Emanuele Pirro in another Jag Mk1.

In Sunday's pouring rain, the Jaguars proved to be very effective: in the hands of Chris Ward and Grant Williams, they finished second and third behind another Mk1, but had to admit defeat to the Lister version driven by James Dorlin – a professional who stretched the definition of owner to the limit. The crowd favorite was Nick Swift, who performed the usual heroics in his Mini and drove to a strong fourth place overall, ahead of all the Austins and the big American Ford V8s.

In the Fordwater Trophy for GTs from the 1960s, Andrew Smith triumphed from the front, but his Porsche 904 Carrera GTS was never able to truly shake off the Lotus Elans of Michael O'Brien, Max Lynn, Martin Stretton, and Roger Wills. The Elans were followed home by two more 904s, those of Pirro and Carlos De Quesada.

Next up, it was time for the ‘big bangers’ of the Whitsun Trophy. Nick Padmore and Alex Brundle fought a magnificent duel for the lead in their Lola T70 Spyders. When Padmore was forced to drop out, Brundle was able to cruise home to victory. In the final laps, attention focused mainly on Miles Griffiths’ McLaren M1A and Olly Bryant’s T70 Spyder, a battle that the McLaren won by two tenths of a second. David Hart made his first guest appearance at the Revival in years and drove his Ford GT40 from the back of the field to a very creditable tenth place. The Dutchman’s main task was to keep the car in one piece for the Spa Six Hours in two weeks’ time – and he succeeded without any problems.

Saturday ended with the Stirling Moss Memorial Trophy for pre-63 GTs. The race got off to a difficult start. First, the race had to be stopped after a violent crash by Richard Woolmer, whose Austin Healey rolled over the stacked tyre barriers at Fordwater. In a tumultuous opening phase, the Brit had tried to avoid the Dutch Healey of Jaap Sinke and Jack Rawles – an attempt that was successful in itself, but resulted in a direct route to the track perimeter. Sinke, in turn, was spun around by a Jaguar E-type, just as Gary Pearson's E-type pirouetted right in front of the Dutchman. It was a miracle – or was it deliberate? – that Woolmer missed the second E-type in the grass, and instead came flying over the hapless Pearson in the Jaguar, who won’t have believed his eyes…

After the restart, Christiaen van Lanschot was forced to drop out with a Healey with flames shooting from its louvres, once again halting action until finally the green flag was waved. The E-type of Richard Kent/Chris Ward and the AC Cobra of Matthew Holme/Andrew Jordan initially battled for the lead, but Jordan was handed a clear run when the Jaguar had to retire. The Gregor Fisken/Dario Franchitti Cobra crossed the finish line in a distant second place, while Yelmer Buurman romped to third in the Ferrari 250 GT SWB started by father-in-law Alexander van der Lof.

Early Sunday morning, another Dutchman played a delightful supporting role: Floris Jan Hekker finally made his debut at the Goodwood Revival after 50 seasons of racing – and at the same time, it would be his last-ever race! Unfortunately, the race ended under the safety car, so the front-engined Formula Juniors were only able to race at full throttle for some 15 minutes. Shortly after the start, Stuart Roach grabbed the lead from Ray Mallock, after which the Alexis-Ford Mk2 pulled away from the U2-Ford Mk2. Behind them, Adrian Russell fought his way up to third in the Condor-Ford S2.

The Sussex Trophy for 1950s sports cars was the second race in Sunday's program. Pole sitter Olly Bryant made a poor start, but was lucky that the race had to be restarted following a heavy crash on Lavant Straight, which ultimately caused the most damage to Christian Albrecht's newly restored Scarab-Chevrolet Mk1. Bryant had already made up some places and, shortly after the restart, also passed his remaining rivals for a repeat of last year’s win. Later that day, however, it was announced that Bryant had been disqualified, as his Lotus 15 had failed eligibility scrutineering. Victory thus went to Chris Ward’s Jaguar D-type, who came out on top in a thrilling duel with James Wood in the Louwman Lotus 15 and James Cottingham in the Tojeiro-Jaguar.

After lunch, the first rain began to fall, prompting the organisers to start the RAC TT Celebration for pre-66 GT cars half an hour earlier. However, that advantage was soon negated by a red flag due to a heavy crash by Afschin Fatemi in the Tojeiro-Buick EE. As a result, the field still had to contend with rain for much of the race. The wet surface quickly turned the race on its head, as the leading Cobras of Olly Bryant and Andrew Smith found it hard to transfer their excess horsepower onto the asphalt, and soon, the E-types of Richard Kent/Tom Ingram and Andrew Bentley/Rob Huff pulled out to a decisive lead. The battle between Ingram and Huff was breathtaking to watch, but during the race it was announced that Huff would receive a ten-second time penalty for a pit stop that had proven to be a touch too short. And so, Ingram was second on the road, but awarded victory. The Lister-Jaguar Le Mans Coupé of Fred Wakeman/Andy Priaulx finished a distant third. Jacques Villeneuve’s debut in Nick Sleep’s ‘Hairy Canary’ AC Cobra ended in 19th place, as the Canadian was not the first F1 world champion to struggle during his first Revival appearance.

The rain was pouring down when the F1 cars from the 1.5-litre era took to the track for the Glover Trophy. Stuart Hall mastered the conditions to drive the Lotus-Climax 21 to an unchallenged victory, leaving the attention of the spectators to wander off to the battle for second, as Benn Mitchell was put under pressure from Kyle Tilley throughout the race, but the Cooper-Climax T56 managed to keep the unique Gilby-Climax Type B behind him. Pole sitter Lukas Halusa dropped to fourth in his Brabham-Climax BT7, while Joe Colasacco in the lightning-quick Ferrari 1512 failed to find his feet in the rain.

The F1 cars from the 2.5-litre era from 1954 to 1960 followed in what would effectively be two races in one. The Richmond Trophy for rear-engined cars went to Andy Willis, who guided his BRM P48 past the usually dominant Cooper-Climax T53s of Will Nuthall and Rüdi Friedrichs. Sam Wilson, meanwhile, was unable to convert his pole position into victory, as the Climax engine in his Lotus 18 ran with an audible misfire.

Following in the wake of the leading mid-engined cars, Richard Wilson's Ferrari 246 Dino and John Spiers’ Maserati 250F battled for the Gordon Trophy for front-engined cars. Wilson was able to keep up with the leaders from the start, but then saw Spiers coming up strong towards the end. At the finish, Wilson had half a second to spare in what was arguably the true climax of this race which, like the previous one and the concluding St. Mary's Trophy, was completed in damp, dark and dreary conditions. Nevertheless, many spectators stayed until the end – not all of the estimated 130,000, but certainly the 30 to 40,000 enthusiasts who also form the hardcore crowd-but-no-crowding of the Members’ Meeting.

The full event gallery