Video: Only inches separate this Austin A40 battle

02nd September 2020

Ben Miles

We’ve said it before, you don’t need a massive engine, hundreds of horsepower, big aero or lots of grip for great racing. Actually all you need is no grip, no power, no aero and a tiny engine.

Certainly that’s how Rob Huff and Michael Caine found racing at the Goodwood Revival in 2017 in the first part of the St. Mary’s Trophy. That year the race was for saloons from the 1950s, and Huff and Caine found themselves in tiny little Austin A40s. And they would not have been having more fun if they were in a pair of Porsche 919s. For lap after lap they raced, side-by-side exchanging passes every lap, always being hunted down by Tom Kristensen in his behemoth of a Ford Thunderbird.

This is the kind of historic racing we absolutely adore, and the drivers have an absolute wail while battling in these tiny beasts. And we’re bringing you more of it this year, with our brilliant three days of streaming upcoming over the weekend that would have been the Revival, and then the once-in-a-lifetime Goodwood SpeedWeek presented by Mastercard in October.

We’ll be announcing more details of SpeedWeek as the event gets closer, but we’ve already let you know that the St. Mary’s Trophy is one of the races taking place on the circuit in October, and if you want to know more about the whole event, we’re updating our handy guide to SpeedWeek whenever more information is announced.