The Earl of March Trophy made a welcome return to the Revival schedule this year with the first running of the race since 2019. The race is for 500cc Formula 3 cars that battled it out on the Goodwood Motor Circuit. This year, sustainability is a key feature the Revival, as this and every other race ran exclusively on sustainable fuel.
These Formula 3 cars make quite a sight on the circuit, due to the fact that they have minimal bodywork and drivers are seated in front of the engine. All together this produces fast and furious action – the last running of this race five years ago was curtailed by a red flag, after an incident involving Stuart Wright’s Mk.VI enabled Peter de la Roche in his Cooper-JAP Mk5 to retain the trophy.
Dark clouds were rolling over the Goodwood Motor Circuit from dawn, and there was an inevitability that one or more races would succumb to a deluge during day three of the 2024 Revival. And it was the first race of the day that would be washed out by a cloudburst. If you were going to choose a racing car to drive through biblical rainfall, it probably wouldn’t be one of the diminutive 500cc single-seaters in the Earl of March Trophy. For one thing, the drivers sit almost on the cars rather than in them, leaving them exposed to the elements.
Drivers battled valiantly through the worst rain Goodwood has seen in the modern era until the safety car was deployed, and then a red flag. The deep puddles, bouncing rain and rooster tails of spray all made for a spectacle if not good racing, as you’ll see in this highlights video.
Official practice for the Earl of March Trophy gave us our first insight into how these starter single seaters were going to handle a wet Goodwood Motor Circuit. Truthfully, per their remit we suppose, they’re the perfect sort of cars to get your eye in when it comes to managing your lines and inputs when grip is wanting.
It’s especially important given these little cars are far from the fastest in the world, and therefore pace is very much dictated by how much momentum you conserve and how much speed you carry. It really is about finding the finest furrows of the circuit that hook your tyres up just that little bit better, that let you maintain your pace.
At the sharp end it was Tom Waterfield in his Cooper-Norton MkVIII that separated himself from the rest of the pack. His 2:04.7 time was a full 4.4 seconds up on that of the chasing Harry Painter in his Cooper MkVII.
He did however have a good few more laps than any of the rest of the top 15, going around seven times. The next longest runner managed five laps. That proves really, that the last couple of laps to really deploy what you’ve been trying to learn as quickly as possible over those first few, are utterly crucial.
Photography by Jordan Butters.
Position |
Driver |
Car |
Time |
1 |
Tom Waterfield |
1957 Cooper-Norton MkVIII |
2:04.701 |
2 |
Harry Painter |
1953 Cooper MkVII |
2:09.123 |
3 |
Alex Wilson |
1956 Cooper-Norton MkX |
2:15.891 |
4 |
Michael Russel |
1959 Heizer-JAP MkI |
2:16.446 |
5 |
Richard de la Roche |
1951 Smith-Buckler-JAP |
2:20.085 |
6 |
Andrew Turner |
1955 Cooper-JAP MkIX |
2:22.991 |
7 |
Stuart Wright |
1957 Cooper-JAP MkXI |
2:23.094 |
8 |
George Shackleton |
1957 Cooper-Norton MkXI |
2:23.827 |
9 |
Andy Raynor |
1951 JB-Norton |
2:24.417 |
10 |
Richard Kelly |
1950 Cooper-Norton MkV |
2:26.721 |
11 |
Gordon Russell |
1955 Petty-Norton RP5501 |
2:27.214 |
12 |
Simon Frost |
1954 Martin-Norton |
2:28.515 |
13 |
Chris Wilson |
1948 Cooper-JAP MkII |
2:29.354 |
14 |
John Chisholm |
1952 Amott-JAP F3 |
2:29.886 |
15 |
J.B. Jones |
1955 Cousy-Triumph |
2:30.302 |
Expect to see the likes of the Cooper Norton and Cooper-JAP, as well as the Erskine Staride Norton Mk3 lining up on the grid this year, as these 500cc Formula 3 cars battle it out. Diminutive machines from Comet, Kieft, Flash and Arnott will all be taking to the Motor Circuit for the Earl of March Trophy.
The Cooper Norton has by far the best pedigree, with some variation winning six out of ten races. The Cooper Norton Mk8 consecutively won the first four runnings of the Earl of March Trophy with Julian Majzub behind the wheel.
With no race taking place since 2019, this year’s Earl of March Trophy is without its most recent winner, Peter de la Roche, who’s victory five years ago in a Cooper-JAP Mk5 marked his second triumph in this race, having also won in 2015, on that occasion in a Cooper-Norton Mk5. While Peter is absent for this year’s running, Richard de la Roche is set to be on the starting line behind the wheel of a Smith-Buckler-JAP.
Speaking of previous winners, 2008’s victor, Simon Frost, returns to the Earl of March Trophy in 2024 making him the only past champion in the race. That win came in a Cooper-Norton Mk11, and this year he’ll be driving a Martin-Norton.
As one of the later races on the schedule, Official Practice for the Earl of March Trophy will take place on Friday 6th September, ahead of the race on Sunday 9th. You can find the exact timings for the Earl of March Trophy in the 2024 Revival timetable.
Year |
Driver |
Car |
2019 |
Peter de la Roche |
Cooper-JAP Mk5 |
2015 |
Peter de la Roche |
Cooper-Norton Mk5 |
2011 |
Sam Wilson |
Kieft-Norton CK52 |
2008 |
Simon Frost |
Cooper-Norton Mk11 |
2005 |
David Lecoq |
Petty-Norton |
2002 |
Reg Hargrave |
Kieft-Norton |
2001 |
Julian Majzub |
Cooper-Norton Mk8 |
2000 |
Julian Majzub |
Cooper-Norton Mk8 |
1999 |
Julian Majzub |
Cooper-Norton Mk8 |
1998 |
Julian Majzub |
Cooper-Norton Mk8 |
Photography by Jordan Butters, Nick Dungan and Drew Gibson.
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Earl of March Trophy