The Goodwood Trifecta: How Do the Duke’s Three Car Events Compare?

This year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed marked the closing of a loop for me; it was my first time at the Festival and thus the first time I can say that I have attended all three of the renowned car events hosted annually by Charles Gordon-Lennox, the 11th Duke of Richmond, at the Goodwood estate in southern England. The racing calendar kicks off in April with the Goodwood Members Meeting, followed by the Goodwood Festival of Speed in July and the historic Goodwood Revival in September. Each have their own unique character, each are executed with the high quality and incredible attention to detail that characterises all Goodwood events, each have their pros and cons, and each are absolutely worth experiencing at least once in your life. However, they do lend themselves to ranking, as the scales tip slightly more for some than for others. Of course, that’s entirely down to personal preferences, but here in the spirit of the Olympic season, I’ll award my own medals for the Goodwood trifecta.

Bronze: Goodwood Festival of Speed

What began in 1993 as a one-day event on the grounds of the palatial 17th-century Goodwood House has morphed into a four-day extravaganza of cars and motorcycles both classic and modern, the whole thing crowned by a massive lawn sculpture commissioned by whichever sponsoring automaker is willing to shell out the cash (this year it was MG, now owned by the Chinese automaker SAIC). The event regularly sees more than 200,000 visitors trample the Duke’s lawns into dust or mud, depending on the weather, as nearly 300 cars and motorcycles of all ages take turns blasting up the 1.16-mile driveway. It is exactly as advertised, a glorious celebration of speed, concluding with a no-rules, timed shoot-out of the fastest cars that in recent years has pitted hyper-tech electrics against older-school combustion flame-spitters.

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Pros: This is often the only chance to see and hear the hero cars of your youth moving under their own power. I admit to getting a lump in my throat watching Rene Arnoux’s yellow and black 1979 Renault RS10 F1 car wail past with its beautiful D-shaped rear wing and 1.5-litre V6 from the series’ earliest days of turbocharging. I built models of that car when I was a kid growing up several thousand light years away in the Detroit suburbs. No matter what era of vehicle you are into, the array of machinery is incredible, from 19th-century steam cars to modern F1 screamers, and unlike most static car shows, at Goodwood FoS, you get to see them all move. And when they’re not moving, the paddock is entirely open to the crowd, so you can get up close to them as well.

Cons: There is no suffering quite like the suffering of being in a crowd of 200,000 people on a steamy hot July day. Also, a lot of the time the event seems to be paying off sponsors as a dull procession of entirely stock new cars parades up the driveway giving rides to VIPs and people who have paid for a thrill ride. Elsewhere, massive displays put up by automakers, motorcycle manufacturers, and other corporate sponsors dominate the lawn space, giving the place the feel of an outdoor auto show. Most people will pay a nominal fee to be marketed to at an auto show, but the cheapest daily ticket to FoS is more than £60.

Tip: Go early, on Thursday or Friday, and skip the weekend crowds. The four days of Festival are more or less a repeat, with all of the vehicles running each day. So if you don’t need to witness the timed shootout on Sunday, then you’ll enjoy it a lot more with fewer people around. Food choices are plentiful and not absurdly priced, but vegetarians should bring their own snacks. 

Silver: Goodwood Members’ Meeting

This gem of a vintage race event takes place in April at the nearby Goodwood Circuit and is only open to attendance by members of the Goodwood Road Racing Club. You may want to stop reading here if you aren’t a member (most of us) or have no plans to be a member (also, most of us). It’s precisely the exclusivity of the Members’ Meeting that makes it such a fantastic event, as it’s a chance to see some of the best vintage racing in the world in an intimate setting away from the crowds. And, unlike the Revival, which only hosts cars from 1948 to 1966, the Members’ Meeting has run groups for later cars. That plus special displays – last year they trotted out Nelson Piquet’s 1983 Brabham BT52 just for fun – gives the spectator plenty to watch. Though there are far fewer people at the Members’ Meeting than at the Revival, and subsequently far fewer things to see off track, the quality of the event is no less exquisite. When I went last year, the main dining hall was decorated to the nines as if it was Harry Potter’s castle, with candelabras on all the tables and banners and frippery hanging from the ceilings and walls. On track, the racing is close and intense, such that you’d think there was real money attached to winning. There isn’t, just a chance to score points for your “house,” as every car racing is assigned to one of four houses. It’s all very Eton-esque and what-what. If you like to watch the cream of the British class system on full display, the Members’ Meeting is your chance.

Pros: You see a lot of the same cars at the Members’ Meeting as at the Revival but also newer stuff as well, and the racing is just as tooth, fang, and claw, especially in the postwar touring-car classes and the one-make races. A modern F1 race has nothing on a herd of vintage Minis on a kamikaze run into Madgwick Corner at Goodwood. Because there is less to see than at the Revival, you don’t miss as much of the racing because of other distractions. You can just stand or sit for hours at one of the corners and watch heat after heat of heroic driving. Or roam the 2.4-mile track of fast turns and long straights to take in different vantage points, while not fearing that you’re missing out on something cool elsewhere. With the bonus of less traffic, less distance to walk from your car, cheaper accommodation rates in the surrounding villages, cheaper off-season airfare, and the chance to see a century-old 27-litre chain-drive behemoth going sideways in the rain.

Cons: As the name implies, you have to be a member. The good news is anyone can join the Goodwood Road Racing Club – eventually. First you have to become a Goodwood Fellow (£85 a year), and then you can join a wait list to become a full member. Nobody can say how long it will be; the Road Racing Club has a closed, fixed membership and spaces open up only as people lose interest or take their final chequered flag. Also, English weather in April can be appalling. 

Tip: Absolutely do not miss the hands-down best feature of the Members’ Meeting, the ferret race. It takes place out at the far end of the track, on the big turn called Lavant Corner. 

Gold: The Goodwood Revival

This is it, the crown jewel of the Duke of Richmond’s calendar. If one of your goals in life is to seek out experiences that are entirely unique, the Revival must be on your bucket list. For there is no question that the Goodwood Revival would be impossible to duplicate anywhere else in the world. Simply because no other nation besides Britain has both the lush history as well as the deep, abiding reverence for it to pull off something like the Revival. The vast majority of the 150,000 people who turn up are in vintage dress of some fashion, even if it’s just a coat and tie. Indeed, it’s a rule that men must be wearing a tie to enter the central paddock. Try that at Talladega! And as the spectators waft through Goodwood’s gates in their flat caps and fedoras and fascinators and RAF flight officer’s uniforms, it is almost as if they are entering a film set. Everywhere you look, everything you see has been meticulously curated to expunge the modern. You don’t see a plastic bottle. You don’t see a modern sponsor logo. You don’t see neon colours or electronic billboards or cars with iPads for dashboards. What you do see every September is the work of hundreds of thousands to weave together, largely at their own time and expense, a sort of retro fantasy world into which cars and motorcycles representing the two decades of active Goodwood racing take centre stage to do their thing. And boy, do they do it, often with star drivers at the wheel who know no other mode than full-send. You can’t go back in time, but at the Revival you can definitely get a pretty good taste of what it was like when a pack of AC Cobras roar past in hot pursuit of a couple of E-Type Jag lightweights while a menagerie of Ferraris, Maseratis, and others give chase.

Pros: Nobody wants to live in the past, but it sure is a nice place to visit for three days. Something about everyone wearing their vintage finery makes the Revival the most genteel sporting event you will ever attend. Though at times I’ve been crammed into slow-moving pedestrian tunnels or waited in long queues for a sausage roll, I’ve never heard a harsh word spoken or seen anything but antique chivalry and politeness. If the world is getting coarser, the Revival is where it seems to recall its manners. The racing is equally good natured, as the Duke’s men hand-select the driver roster from known individuals and make it very clear that anyone who can’t control their red mist will be permanently disinvited. Even so, the competition is fierce, with banzai dicing, last-lap passing, and priceless machines pushed to their absolute limits.

Cons: There is no packing light for this event, because doing vintage properly takes a lot of luggage space, especially if you’re planning (as many do) to wear three different outfits over the weekend. As always in England, the weather can be anything from damp and freezing to damp and broiling hot. In 2023, the temperature pushed 32 right through the weekend.

Tip: Pack your best Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn outfits but have a backup plan in case it’s hot or wet. One way to go cheap and stay cool is to buy a cotton all-white mechanic’s coverall and sew on some vintage patches. Men and women alike look great in them and you can rock a light shirt and shorts underneath.