The Chichester Cup: Where household names cut their teeth

It was in the first full season of motorsport at Goodwood in 1949 that the Chichester Cup made its debut appearance on the race card. The grid was for cars of more than 1,450cc, and Kenneth McAlpine had the early advantage aboard his Maserati 8CM, though he was soon out-dragged by the Maserati 4CLT of Reg Parnell.

Behind them was a battle between pre- and post-war machinery, as was typical of the late 1940s. Leslie Johnson’s ERA E-Type was keeping Dennis Poore’s Alfa 8C/35 honest, but it was the latter who finished second to Parnell’s 12-second lead when the chequered flag dropped. Johnson was just two seconds behind Poore for his podium finish.

Italian cars dominate the Chichester Cup

The following year the Chichester Cup officially became a Formula Libre race, but the cars on the grid were much the same as the season prior. B. Bira (Maserati 4CLT) had pole position, but Dennis Poore used his Alfa 8C/35 to good effect and took the lead almost as soon as the flag fell. They traded places throughout the five-lap sprint, and the race was won by Baron E. de Graffenried. Poore came second while Peter Walker crossed the line sideways on the oil leaked by his own ERA E-Type.

By 1951, the Maserati brothers had sold their eponymous company and moved to Bologna to set up OSCA. B. Birra came to Goodwood with a rebodied Maserati 4CLT chassis powered by a 4.5-litre OSCA engine and started the Chichester Cup on row three, with Brits Reg Parnell (Maserati 4CLT), Brian Shawe-Taylor (ERA B-Type) and Graham Whitehead (ERA B-Type) ahead. He finished third, but appeared to be nursing the car to preserve it for other races later the same day.

Coopers come to Goodwood

Coopers arrived at the West Sussex circuit in 1952, the new wave of machinery going toe-to-toe with pre-war ERAs. Mike Hawthorn used his Cooper-Bristol T20 to good effect, opening up a lead that made his win secure from early on in the six-lap race. Hawthorn delighted the home crowd by beating reigning Formula 1 World Champion Juan Manuel Fangio, who was also driving a Cooper-Bristol T20.

The rain came for the 1953 Chichester Cup, and the BRMs struggled to put their power down in the conditions. It was so bad that ERA D-Type driver Ron Flockhart was able to keep in touch with Ken Wharton in the more modern BRM Type 15. It was, however, a BRM driver who prevailed: Reg Parnell took the win, followed by Wharton with Piero Taruffi in third place aboard his Ferrari Thin Wall Special.

A year later, Ron Flockhart made his BRM debut in the Chichester Cup while Ken Wharton was promoted to the short chassis ‘sprint’ BRM, but an off at the first corner meant he had been relegated to last place by the time he rejoined. Setting a joint fastest lap was enough to work his way up to fourth by the time the five laps were up. Alberto Ascari won with his Ferrari Thin Wall Special.

BRM’s comeback

For the 1955 Chichester Cup (the fixture having skipped a year) BRM brought back the short chassis car for Peter Collins to drive. He set a terrific pace for the early laps, leaving the Maserati 250F duo of Stirling Moss and Roy Salvadori in his wake. By the time the seven laps were up, though, it was Vanwall that had asserted dominance with Mike Hawthorn leading his team-mate home. Tony Rolt completed the podium with his Connaught B.

Colin Chapman’s name appeared on the entry list for the next running of the Chichester Cup in 1957. He would go on to be best known for running Team Lotus, but in the early days has also drove them and he claimed third place aboard his Lotus-Climax 11. He was driving one of fourteen Lotus 11s in the race, and followed home the Cooper-Climax T39 of Noel Cunningham Reid and the Willment-Climax of Jack Brabham.

Lotus brings safety in numbers

For the following year’s Chichester Cup, the proliferation of Lotus 11s grew further — the grid looked almost like a single-make affair with 20 of the 24 starters sharing the same silhouette. John Campbell-Jones used his Lotus to set a new lap record, in the process taking the victory from fellow Lotus driver Tom Dickson. 

In 1959, Lola, Elva and lesser-remembered Moorland and Victoria cars brought more variety to the ten-lap race for sportscars up to 1,100cc. And the Lolas brought more than visual interest; the cars driven by Peter Ashdown and Peter Gammon set times of almost three seconds faster than anyone else during practice.

The Lotus 11 was showing its age and the new 17 wasn’t ready in time. Lolas locked out the top three finishing positions (Gammon, Michael Taylor, Ashdown respectively), the winner also setting a new lap record.

The Chichester Cup goes single-seater

At the dawn of the 1960s, the Chichester Cup ran as a Formula Junior race for the first time with a grid that would be familiar to Revival-goers. Jim Clark joined Trevor Taylor at Team Lotus, the pair driving Type 18s. Taylor was first away as the two Lotus drivers lead for the early stages of the race. On lap three, Clark took first place and retained it for the remainder of the race that established the rear-engined Lotus 18 as the car to beat. Drama unfolded further down the field, when John Venner-Pack’s Cooper rolled at St. Mary’s and he was thrown clear before it caught fire.

The 1961 Chichester Cup provided a spectacle before the field even reached the first corner. Peter Arundell’s Lotus 20 lost traction, pushing Tony Maggs (Cooper T56) into Jim Russell and Mike McKee (both in Lotus 20s). Russell’s car lost a wheel which caused two other cars to connect while taking evasive action.

Dan Collins (Lotus 18) had missed all this but had his own first-lap crash into the bank at Woodcote. The race concluded as remarkably as it had started, with Arundel and Maggs finishing in a dead heat. A year later, it would be Arundell who reigned, this time in a Lotus 22. Dennis Taylor’s Lola Mk5 followed him home and Mike Spence made it a Lotus 22 sandwich.

In 1963, Peter Proctor came from the second row of the grid in his Cooper T67 to lead, but he was soon relegated to fifth by harder charging competitors. Frank Gardner brought his Brabham BT6 home first, followed by the similar machine of Denny Hulme. Richard Attwood finished third in his Lola Mk5A, while the previously dominant Lotuses had a best place of seventh. One adversary that all drivers had to battle was a greasy surface that saw cars sliding around the Goodwood Motor Circuit.

Formula 3 arrives

The Chichester Cup became a Formula 3 race in 1964, and that’s how it would remain until Goodwood’s 1966 closure. Jackie Stewart’s Cooper T72 may not have been the best car on the grid, but it seemed nobody told the Scot that —  he led the ten-lap race from start to finish. Warwick Banks pedalled the second Cooper, but couldn’t hold off the threat from John Fenning’s Lotus 22. The final top three, therefore, was Cooper, Lotus, Cooper.

Hail and strong winds greeted competitors and spectators in 1965. The storm was so severe that the race was black flagged, and when it restarted there was a wall of spray for drivers to contend with. Only Roy Pike had a clear view as he was leading in his Brabham BT15. He lost the lead briefly to Piers Courage (Brabham BT10) but was able to stay ahead thereafter to claim the win. Jonathan Williams (also in a BT10) came home second, with Lotus 27 driver Melvyn Long third.

The Chichester Cup’s final running in period came in the circuit’s final year. Chris Williams (Brabham BT18) converted his position on the outside of the front row in a race lead. It appeared to be a secure lead, too, until the penultimate lap when Chris Irwin found some previously unrealised pace from his BT18 and overtook. Williams then spun, which put him back to tenth. Irwin’s charge had been enough to set a new class lap record, but it was still short of the best Formula Junior time. He nonetheless won the final Chichester Cup of the era.

Throughout its various guises, the Chichester Cup was significant in playing host to a number of drivers who would go on to be household names. Jim Clark, Derek Bell, Colin Chapman and many others had some of their formative competitive outings in the fixtures varying iterations and its that history which makes Revival’s Chichester Cup such a special contest to win for those drivers that enter the race.

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