Pre-war monsters at the 2023 Revival | Goodwood Trophy

Their first appearance of the weekend on Friday was the perfect balance to the sleek and berautiful sportscars of a different generation, as we got to experience once again the visceral nature of these pioneering racing cars. 

The race itself on Saturday morning was an absolute nail-biter from start to finish, as Rob Hall's V16 BRM suffered mechanical gremlins after a fast start. The leading group ran within a second of each other for much of the race, and the battle for the lead was decided on the very last lap. Extraordinary action from the Revival's pre-war heroes.

Racing first began at the Goodwood Motor Circuit in the wake of World War Two, and as a consequence there were no new racing cars available. Instead, racers would bring pre-war machines back to the fore, so the first cars to race at Goodwood dated from the late 1930s and early ’40s.

The Goodwood Trophy, a fixture of the Goodwood Revival since the very first event in 1998, celebrates those early days with a grid chock full of voiturette cars from the likes of Alfa Romeo, ERA, Dalage, Maserati and Talbot-Lago.

For 2023’s Goodwood Trophy, the oldest car on the grid is a 1931 ERA A-Type R3A while the newest pre-war car is a Maserati 4CL from 1939. A Talbot-Lago T26C is the sole post-war car, built in 1948 – the year the circuit opened.