Goodwood’s Motor Circuit, like other ex-RAF Second World War aerodromes repurposed for car racing in peacetime, was not Britain’s grandest venue in its contemporary era. Aintree, with its imposing horse racing infrastructure, claimed that crown. Yet the hospitality lavished upon visiting sporting greats by the petrolhead ninth Duke of Richmond & Gordon – Brooklands race winner and aviator Freddie March, for whom Castrol R was as much the elixir of life as champagne – made it the most sociable.
Parties at Goodwood House, his family seat since 1697, and cricket matches outside in the park, made it a magnet for the world’s top drivers, sporting cognoscenti and socialites. That tradition continues in the care of his grandson Charles, the 11th Duke, who as the Earl of March achieved his dream of reopening the track in 1998, following a 32-year hiatus.
