Tony Brooks triumphs in Aston Martin vs Ecurie Ecosses showdown at Goodwood

The last big BARC Goodwood Meeting of the year was held on one of the few fine days, September 8th. Unfortunately, the fare provided did not live up to that of previous years, for only a handful of out-dated racing cars competed – with one exception, Salvadori’s works prototype F2 Cooper – and otherwise this was sports car racing, with the same drivers and cars appearing in race after race. This, and football, flying display and beach attractions, resulted in one of the smallest crowds we have seen at Goodwood.

The first race was for the Madgwick Cup, over five laps from scratch, for sports cars not exceeding 1100cc. MacDowel and Hall fought a fierce duel out in front of the other 16 runners, Hall’s Lotus-Climax taking the lead from the Cooper-Climax on lap four. Allison’s Lotus-Climax was hanging on to the leaders until it lost ground in a minor incident at Madgwick.

So to the 10-lap Woodcote Cup race, for cars, in any trim, up to 2000cc. The race was mainly a display of high-speed artistry on the part of Salvadori in the works F2 Cooper, which led from start to finish and won by no less than 15.2sec. from Chapman’s Lotus-Climax, which fought to keep ahead of Leston’s Cooper-Climax.

The 10-lap Sussex Trophy for any type of automobile up to 1500cc was another Salvadori benefit, the F2 Cooper leading all the way, except for the run to the first corner, where Leston headed Salvadori, who started badly. This time Chapman was rather closer, but 12.2sec separated his Lotus from the Cooper at the finish and Salvadori lapped at 90.57mph, only 3.14mph slower than Fangio’s class lap record in the supercharged V16 BRM.

So to the important race of the day, the 21-lap Goodwood Trophy, for non-supercharged sports cars exceeding 1500cc. Ecurie Ecosse fielded Flockhart, Sanderson and Lawrence in their famous Jaguars and Mr David Brown had two DB3S Aston Martins to do battle with them, in the care of Brooks and Salvadori, A N Other – who might have been Moss in a third Aston Martin – being an absentee. Brooks had the Aston Martin which finished fourth at Rouen and Salvadori the newer car in which Moss drove at Le Mans.

Brooks, in his effortless, impeccable style, soon showed that not only was he able to leave the Jaguars well behind but that the older Aston Martin, in this driver’s hands, could leave even Salvadori and the latest example of the make well behind – 16.8sec separated them at the finish. Flockhart, trying very hard in the tail-finned Le Mans-winning Jaguar, was third, hard pressed in the closing stages by Cunningham-Reid’s HWM-Jaguar, which was quicker than Protheroe’s HWM in spite of having a less suitable axle ratio. This HWM, so well driven, split up the Ecurie Ecosse, Sanderson being fifth, and making fastest lap, followed by Lawrence. Berry, back in racing after his Goodwood accident, had lost none of his skill, and chased Blond’s blood-red D-type Jaguar, going by down Lavant Straight on lap 11.

This longer race caused casualties, Richardson’s Aston Martin-Jaguar, once a coupé, leaking engine oil after five laps, Lund stopping sans oil pressure on lap six in Anthony’s Lotus-Bristol, Whitehead’s Aston Martin DB3S losing power after 13 laps, Ogier’s Tojeiro-Jaguar retiring after seven laps, and Kyffin’s 12-plug Aston Martin DB3S suffering engine trouble after 14 laps. Hans Davids seemed a bit overwhelmed in his Dutch-entered 12-plug Aston Martin DB3S and, alas, the Lister-Maserati didn’t start because Archie Scott-Brown hadn’t returned from his fruitless visit to Monza.

This meeting showed again the speed we can expect from F2 racing cars next year and no doubt such machines will do much to return Goodwood to its former glory, although to render this a certainty the BARC will have to offer sufficient starting money to attract Continental entries.