The Goodwood Trophy: Where pre-war machines met the new

Pre-war ERA keep the new cars honest

And so it proved in qualifying, with Bob Gerard putting his ERA B-Type on pole. Even so, Maserati 4CLT pilot Reg Parnell was the favourite to win. Duncan Hamilton (Maserati 6CM) took the lead initially, but Parnell lived up to the hype as he surged through the field with the ERA A-Type of David Hampshire in pursuit. By lap two, the top three places were occupied by Parnell, Hampshire and Gerard respectively. Those upright ERAs may have looked dated compared to their Italian rivals, but they still had the pace to be competitive. What they lost in straight line performance they made up with cornering ability. 

The chequered flag dropped after the predetermined five laps — the scarcity of fuel limiting race distances. Parnell crossed the line just 0.4 seconds ahead of his closest rival. And so began Alfa Romeo dominance that would become a recurring theme in post-war Grand Prix racing.

Mr Goodwood gets an early lead

A year later, it was Stirling Moss who would take an early lead in the Goodwood Trophy using a Cooper-JAP T9. He hadn’t yet earned his ‘Mr Goodwood’ nickname, but in later years he would become a firm friend of the West Sussex venue. By the end of lap one, though, Moss had lost the advantage. Brian Shaw-Taylor had taken the lead, making full use of the nimbleness of his ERA B-Type. Reg Parnell was once again in the thick of it, his Maserati 4CLT in second place ahead of the hard-charging ERA B-Type of Bob Gerard.

Moss had slipped to seventh place and eventually retired with mechanical problems. Peter Walker (ERA E-Type) was enjoying better fortune, and fought his way from sixth place to pass Gerard and closed to three seconds behind Parnell. The Maserati driver meanwhile matched his lap record on his way to victory. David Hampshire and David Murray completed an Alfa Romeo lock-out of the podium.

The changing of the guard

At the dawn of the 1950s, the pre-war cars were noticeably falling out of favour. They were becoming less competitive, while teams such as BRM and Cooper were coming online with new offerings. This was, let’s not forget, the year of the inaugural Formula 1 World Championship. 

Parnell had made the move from Italian machinery to British, and used his BRM Type 15 to lead into the first corner. B Bira followed in his Maserati 4CLT and the two of them left the rest of the field to have their own private race.

Where the Alfa Romeos had been faster than the ERAs on straights and slower in the corners, Raymond Mays’ latest cars had turned the tables: now the Italian cars had the edge in curves but lost out in between. The battle was fierce and the two cars made contact on at least two occasions, partly down to low grip caused by poor weather.

Back-marker John Cleas hindered B Bira and Parnell crossed the line first. It was the second BRM victory of the day, and the home crowd was delighted when Mays raised a champagne-filled trophy.

Parnell moves to Ferrari

For the 1951 Goodwood Trophy, Parnell switched back to Italian machinery. He led off the line in his Ferrari Thin Wall Special, but it was reigning Formula 1 World Champion Giuseppe Farina who was in front for most of the race aboard his Alfa Romeo 159. Parnell stayed in touch, though, closely followed by Tony Rolt in his ERA-Delage 15S8 and Duncan Hamilton’s Lago Talbot T26C.

The highest moment of drama came when Shawe-Taylor’s ERA C-Type connected with the Maserati 4CLT of Tony Branca, leading to a hospital visit for the former, though his injuries were not serious. 

Farina won the race and was travelling at such pace that the chicane was introduced before the start/finish straight. Officially called Paddock Bend, it has always been known simply as the chicane and remains a feature of the circuit today. As such, Farina’s lap record for the original circuit layout stands more than seven decades later.

British cars take the lead

By 1952, British teams were finding their post-war feet. Alan Brown initially took the lead with his nimble Cooper-Bristol T20 but he was under threat from a pack of three BRMs. The more powerful machines from Bourne provided too much heat and soon he was passed by two of them, the drivers being Parnell and Froilan Gondalez.

We’ll never know where Brown would have finished among his BRM rivals because he was forced to retire with mechanical problems. That left the podium free for a clean sweep of BRMs for a 1-2-3 finish, a level of success the team would never see again.

Hawthorn sets a new lap record

A year after BRM’s high water mark, they could do nothing to match the pace of the Ferrari Thin Wall Special driven by Mike Hawthorn in 1953. He raised the average lap speed to 94.53mph, a new record in the post-chicane era.

Juan Manuel Fangio looked a shoo-in for second place before gearchange problems at first affected his pace and eventually caused him to retire. Roy Salvadori took his place aboard his Connaught and was holding off the BRM of Ken Wharton until a spin on lap seven.

The final Goodwood Trophy in period took place in 1954 and finally Moss had the right machine for the job; two years prior, he had only been able to muster a 17^th place from his ERA. A Maserati 250F allowed his talent to shine and he claimed a victory, the podium completed by Peter Collins (Vanwall Special) and Salvadori (Maserati 250F).

Goodwood’s Grand Prix fixtures may never have formed part of the F1 World Championship, but they were nonetheless an important part of Grand Prix racing in those formative post-war years.

They also helped cement the Motor Circuit’s importance in British motorsport history. The pinnacle of motorsport will never again see such a broad age range of cars competing for the same prize, which is what makes the Goodwood Trophy at Revival such a remarkable spectacle to witness.

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