La Dolce Vita: A little Italy heads to the 2026 Goodwood Revival

Motor racing’s equivalent of Disneyland is part carnival, part living theatre and part shopping complex, wrapped up in one of the world’s biggest historic race events with a jaw-dropping array of classic cars and true competition at its heart.

This year the Goodwood Revival will once again provide a portal into several bygone eras, including a feast of classic Italianità, bringing togather celebrations of Italian sport, engineering, icons and culture, as well as some new and returning star names and a refreshed offering for Sunday’s grand finale.

Why not be part of it? We’re giving away five pairs of tickets for the Saturday of this year’s Goodwood Revival HERE.

• What’s new in the 2026 Goodwood Revival?
• How do I buy tickets to the 2026 Goodwood Revival? 
• How to I watch the 2026 Goodwood Revival? 
• Who’s racing at the 2026 Goodwood Revival?
• 2026 Goodwood revival race list

What’s new at the Goodwood Revival for 2026?

This year’s core theme for the 2026 Goodwood Revival is Italy.

Maserati will be the celebrated marque, with displays, dedications and parades set to mark a century of sport for the Modena manufacturer – 100 years on from when Alfieri Maserati first drove a car bearing the famous Trident emblem to victory in the 1926 Targa Florio. Since then, Maserati has been a major player in early grand prix racing and sports cars, and continues to compete regularly in modern GT racing. It launched its latest project, a Gran Turismo-based GT4 car, at Goodwood just a few weeks ago.

Vespa, a revolution of mobilisation in post-war Italy, will also be celebrated with a gathering of up to 300 pre-1967 scooters assembled to mark the brand’s 80th anniversary. Daily parades are planned to open the track activity.

The return of the Lavant Cup is more than enough reason to celebrate. Last run as an all-Ferrari grid back in 2023, this race now pits Ferrari against Maserati in a ‘Battle of Modena’ showdown for 1950s sports racers. Various off-track theatricals, displays and fashion shows complete the Bellissimo vibe.

Although definitely not Italian, Jack Brabham and Barry Sheene each get their own dedications too, with a host of machinery set to be showcased that represents the life and legacy of ‘Black Jack’ and ‘Bazza’. Brabham is the only man to have lifted the Formula 1 world title in a car of his own construction, while Sheene’s celebration marks 50 years since his FIM World Championship win.

Goodwood actually began marking Sheene’s anniversary back at the Members’ Meeting in Spring, and the celebrations will draw to a close here with a gathering of his former racers ahead of the Barry Sheene Memorial Trophy race for vintage motorcycles, many featuring star riders.

Ford’s historic 1-2-3 in the 1966 Le Mans 24 Hours will also be marked with the three GT40s reunited for a parade on Sunday. Goodwood previously had the trio run up the Hill at the Festival of Speed this year.

What’s this new Super Sunday?

A key change for this year is a new-look final day, with Sunday now set to build to a more thrilling climax with a prime slot for the blue riband RAC TT Celebration.

A cornerstone race on the programme, the RAC TT attracts the cream of the crop of multi-million-pound pre-1963 sports racers with Jaguar E-types joined by Shelby Cobras, Listers, Corvette Stingrays and more. It also regularly features special guest drivers taking the opportunity to step back in time. More on those in a moment…

The RAC TT has traditionally been held in the middle of Sunday but will now move to be the crescendo in a ‘save the best for last’ rejig. Soon after the chequered flag falls, a new celebration party will be held on the grid incorporating the prize-giving.

The build-up will consist of a host of fan-favourite races, starting with the Vespas and Barry Sheene Trophy, then the Freddie March Memorial Trophy (1950s sportscars of the Goodwood 9 Hours era; Jaguar C-types, Aston Martins, Allards…) ahead of the final of the crowd-pleasing Settrington Cup for junior Austin pedal cars. The Whitsun Trophy (1960-66 sports prototypes; Ford GT40, Lolas, McLarens), St Mary’s Trophy classic touring car thrash and Glover Trophy (1.5-litre Grand Prix cars) cap the run-up to the main event.

Who’s racing at the 2026 Goodwood Revival?

The chance to relive racing’s glory days never fails to attract top-level competitors, and this year is no exception. F1 world champions Jenson Button and Jacques Villeneuve are both confirmed to handle the famous ‘CUT’ family of E-types in the RAC TT, with Button taking the controls of CUT 8 – which he piloted to victory in the Phil Hill Cup during the Members’ Meeting – and Villeneuve taking CUT 7, which won last year’s RAC TT in the hands of Tom Ingram and owner Richard Kent.

Helio Castroneves, the four-time Indy 500 winner, is set to make his Revival debut. One of only four drivers to win the Indy 500 four times – and new holder of the race’s cumulative mileage record having driven 12,480 miles at The Brickyard to surpass the decades-old benchmark set by A.J Foyt – we’re not sure exactly what he’ll be driving yet.

Expect him to be one of many Indy aces in the field, with Dario Franchitti, Tony Kanaan and Scott Dixon all being regulars in the past. Throw in touring car stars like Andy Priaulx, Rob Huff, Gordon Shedden, Matt Neal and Le Mans heroes such as Tom Kristensen, Emanuele Pirro and André Lotterer, and you have a field stacked with household names.

Elsewhere you’ll find NASCAR superstar Jimmie Johnson, Aussie V8 staples Greg Murphy and Steven Richards, F1 veterans Sir Jackie Stewart, John Watson and Karun Chandhok, plus a host more.

2026 Goodwood Revival race list

A total of 13 grids will compete across the three days, with Friday’s track action being expanded to feature 13 practice sessions and two evening races. Saturday holds eight races, with the reworked Sunday hosting seven competitive outings and the new closing party/prize-giving.

Stirling Moss Memorial Trophy

(Pre-1963 closed-cockpit GT cars)
Race: Friday

Jaguar E-type. Aston Martin DB4 GT. Ferrari 250 SWB. AC Cobra… stop us once you’ve finished drooling. It’s little wonder the Moss Trophy has garnered a reputation for being perhaps the prettiest grid on offer at the Revival. Named after ‘Mr Goodwood’ himself – Moss won Goodwood’s RAC Tourist Trophy encounters in both 1960 and 1961 – this 45-minute two-driver race on Friday evening is not to be missed.

Goodwood Trophy

(Grand Prix, Voiturette and specials 1930-1951)
Race: Saturday

As eclectic as it is entertaining. This grid of post-war machines perfectly encapsulates Goodwood’s earliest year of operation with ERAs, Maseratis and Talbot-Lagos free-wheeling all over again.

Barry Sheene Memorial Trophy

(500cc Grand Prix motorcycles up to 1966)
Race 1: Saturday. Race 2: Sunday

Bikes haven’t been a big part of Goodwood’s overall history – only one two-wheeled race was run there between 1948 and 1966 – but now they are regularly represented thanks to the Barry Sheene Trophy. Majoring on brands like Norton and Matchless, the two-rider races pair owners with VIPs and feature a Le Mans-style start with the result determined across an aggregate of the two outings.

Whitsun Trophy

(Sports prototypes 1960-66)
Race: Sunday

The fastest cars that raced at Goodwood prior to its closure in 1966 remain the fastest on the bill. Expect open-topped big-powered wonders like Ford GT40s, Lola T70 Spyders and McLaren M1As – the sort of cars you feel as well as hear.

St Mary’s Trophy

(Production saloon cars 1960-66)
Race 1: Friday. Race 2: Sunday

Arguably Goodwood’s original celebrity hit. This fan favourite mixes tin-tops of all shapes and sizes as diminutive Minis take on monstrous Ford Galaxies, Lotus Cortinas et al. Regularly attracting some star guests, the race is a two-parter, the first reserved for car owners before the VIPs take over for a final thrash that’s never not entertaining.

Brooklands Trophy

(Pre-War and Vintage cars)
Race: Saturday

Returning to the schedule for the first time since 2021, the Brooklands Trophy showcases the oldest cars at the Revival. We’re talking mostly century-old racers that would have been drawn to Brooklands’ early races and speed record attempts, as well as early Le Mans 24 Hours competitors from the likes of Frazer Nash, Talbot-Lago, Bentley, Aston Martin and Alfa Romeo. A single 25-minute Saturday sprint awaits.

Glover Trophy

(1.5-litre Grand Prix cars between 1961-65)
Race: Sunday

Fans of screamers, listen up. Literally. A field of high-revving classic F1 cars for a race named after D.M Glover, who put up a handsome £500 prize fund for what began as a Formula 3 race at the track in 1950. It later morphed into a non-championship F1 affair counting Roy Salvadori, Jim Clark, Jackie Stewart, Stirling Moss at all as entrants. It was the 1962 edition that was notable for Moss’s career-ending accident. The reborn Trophy has been a fixture of the Revival since the first edition in 1998.

Sussex Trophy

(World championship and production sports cars 1955-1960)
Race: Saturday

These are the sorts of cars that linked Goodwood with Le Mans in period. Open-topped designs such as Lotus 15s, Lola Mk1s, Maserati 300S and Lister Knobblys comprise what a golden age for world sports car racing was.

Chichester Cup

(Rear-engined, drum-braked Formula Junior)
Race: Saturday

With all the exotica on offer, it’s easy to forget Goodwood’s humble origins. Not so with this hugely busy grid of Formula Juniors, the most relatable race on the schedule. A host of star names like Clark, Surtees, Rindt, Hulme, Siffert and more used FJ as a stepping stone on their way to international acclaim. The 1100cc racing is low-powered and therefore usually incredibly close.

Freddie March Memorial Trophy

(Cars in the spirit of the Goodwood 9 Hours, 1953-55)
Race: Sunday

Britain’s first night races were held at Goodwood in the 1950s, where the innovative 9 Hours became an annual draw with cars competing until midnight. These ones don’t due to modern noise restrictions (big boo, everybody), but it’s still great to see Coopers, Allards, Austins, Astons, Ferraris and more being driven to the limit in the hour-long race.

Lavant Cup

(1950s Ferrari and Maserati)
Race: Saturday

Back after a two-year break and now pitting two Italian icons against each other in a race named after a local West Sussex village… naturally. The Lavant Cup has operated for many different formulae across its history – from F1 to F2, single-make MGBs and was even once part of the British Sportscar Championship – it now hosts the ‘Battle of Modena’ as a race exclusive to classic 1950s machinery from rival brands Ferrari and Maserati.

Richmond & Gordon Trophies

(2.5-litre Grand Prix cars 1952-1960)
Race: Saturday

From front to back, all in one grid. The 1950s were the decade F1 propulsion changed forever, with mid-engined cars taking over from the front-engined designs that had built the sport. This race rekindles the duels of nimble icons like Coopers and Lotus duelling with the traditional chunky Ferraris and Maseratis that attempted, in vain, to buck the new trend of putting the horse behind the cart.

RAC TT Celebration

(Closed-cockpit GTs and prototypes in the spirit of the RACE TT races 1960-64)
Race: Sunday

The pièce de résistance of the Revival, and now fittingly its grand finale. This is simply the race everybody wants to win: an hour-long two-driver epic featuring some of the finest historic racing cars anywhere in the world, being driven by some true legends of the sport… and some very generous owners. Tom Kristensen vs Jenson Button vs Dario Franchitti in a TVR, Jaguar and AC Cobra melee? Everybody wants to watch that.

How do I buy tickets to the 2026 Goodwood Revival?

Tickets for the Goodwood Revival are still available but are limited. Three-day passes and Saturday-only tickets are now sold out, but hospitality packages may still be available. General admission for Friday and Sunday is still available, as are some grandstand packages. Book yours at goodwood.com

How to I watch the 2026 Goodwood Revival?

Can’t make it to the track in person? No bother, you can watch the Goodwood Revival live-stream via the Motor Sport website.