Goodwood’s 75th Members’ Meeting highlights

The 75th Goodwood Members’ Meeting took place at the weekend featuring a host of thrilling races. We take a look at the highlights….

The Derek Bell Cup

Andrew Hibberd was in a class of his in the Derek Bell Cup. The race for one-litre Formula Three ‘Screamers’ saw plenty of action up and down the order, with pole-sitter Hibberd surviving a grassy moment on the first lap to establish an unshakable lead. He disappeared into the distance during the 20-minute rate, steering the Brabham BT18 into victory margin with an astonishing 39sec.

Gerry Marshall Trophy

Rover SD1 duo Gordon Shedden and Chris Ward pulled off a convincing victory in the Gerry Marshall Trophy race for 1970-82 saloon cars which brought Saturday’s on-track action to a close.

The former Le Mans winner Mark Blundell was first to leave the line, albeit after jumping the start for which he received a 10sec penalty, but it was Stuart Graham who starred in the early laps aboard Nigel Garrett’s Camaro Z/28.

However, Shedden and Ward soon asserted their dominance following the driver changes 20min in as the Camaro of Graeme and Oliver Bryant moved into second place with Garrett circulating in third. The safety car was deployed at two-third distance after Mike Wilds connected with the tyre wall in a Mazda RX-7, which erased the leaders’ 45sec lead at a stroke. However, they clung on once racing resumed until the chequered flag descended.

Weslake Cup

Sunday morning’s first race wasn’t without drama. James Colburn claimed honours in an incident-filled race. Teenage sensation Richard Woolmer, was slow off the line while Colburn blasted into the lead from the outside of the front row in his Lenham Sprite GT. They proceeded to streak into the distance, swapping the lead repeatedly only for a safety car period to eradicate their advantage. The race restarted shortly before half-distance, only for Woolmer and James Dean in Stephen Skipworth’s Ecosse Sprite to clash. They were both eliminated on the spot and the race was red-flagged. However, once resumed Colburn resumed the lead, going on the win.

The Reverse Grid race

Chris Ward picked up from where he left off from Saturday to win Sunday’s instalment of the Gerry Marshall Trophy. The reverse-grid race saw the fastest cars from Saturday’s race starting from the back of the field before working their way to the front. There was no stopping the blisteringly quick Rover SD1 of Ward, the veteran charger tearing up the order to take the lead three-quarters of the way into the 20min encounter. The star of the race for many, however, was Jim Morris in his Volkswagen Golf GTi who valiantly led for much of the distance, only to be bundled down to fourth with only a few minutes left to run.

Surtees Trophy

The 75^th Members’ Meeting drew to a close with a great win for Simon Hadfield during a spectacular encounter.

The fastest race of the weekend for sports-prototypes that ran from 1962-66 saw the veteran driver blast his Lola T70 into an immediate lead. After battling it out with Tony Sinclair in his Chevrolet, the former made a break after a mid-race safety car period.