1960s F1 at the 2023 Revival | Glover Trophy

10th September 2023

Andrew Willis

The Glover Trophy is the annual Formula One fixture at the Goodwood Revival where a grid of tiny grand prix cars take to the historic Motor Circuit. Built from 1961 to 1965, the cars are from the era when Goodwood was right at the forefront of international motorsport, and drivers such as Stirling Moss, Graham Hill, Jim Clark and Jackie Stewart were making their names here, and around the world.

In Lotus’s 75th anniversary year, no fewer than 16 entries represented the marque during Sunday’s race, making it the most prolific constructor in the race.

Doing battle with Cooper, Brabham, BRM and Lola, as well as lesser-known names, such as Derrington Francis and LDS, the entire field lined-up beneath a tumultuous sky. Heavy, sustained rain fell to break the weekend’s September heatwave.

It added a significant amount of jeopardy to a race that is always exciting, even in the dry. So after a very cautious green flag lap, these delicate, slim-hipped cigar-tube racers prepared to unleash the high-revving power of their ‘Swiss-watch’ 1.5-litre four-cylinder engines upon a glass-like surface.

As the flag dropped, these lightweight, nimble machines launched from the line, fully committing into Madgwick, threading their way through puddles of standing water, trying their utmost to maintain their all-important momentum.

Andrew Willis in the 1964 P261 BRM – sadly not the same Andrew Willis writing this report – took multiple excursions off track in the exceptionally challenging conditions. He eventually fought back to take a heroic win by just 0.4 of a second from Ben Mitchell who was hunting him down again in the LDS-Climax F1. Samuel Harrison tied up the last of the podium positions in a Brabham-Ford BT10.

The Glover Trophy takes its name from Dan Glover of United Lubricants who in period fronted the prize money for the Formula One races from 1956 to 1963, having first lent his support to the 500cc Formula Three races.