The RAC Tourist Trophy Celebration for closed GTs and prototypes built between 1960 and 1964 has been the blue-riband race at Goodwood since the first Revival in 1998. Goodwood describes it as “perhaps the most important race in historic motorsport”, and the various pre-1966 GT contests around the world are among the highlights every season. But there’s a similar group of machines that is once again threatening to steal the limelight.
Pre-1963 GTs first appeared at what was then known as the Silverstone Classic in 2009, made their Goodwood debut at the 2014 Members’ Meeting, and became part of the Revival with the Kinrara Trophy in 2016. The pace of the top pre-1966 GTs, which now lap Goodwood six to seven seconds faster than they did in the late 1990s, pushed out some of the older machinery and a gap opened up for cars that weren’t quite so ‘hot’.
When Carol Spagg and Ben Cussons set up the series a decade and a half ago, it provided a home for early Jaguar E-types, Ferrari 250 GT Berlinettas, Aston Martin DB4 GTs and AC Cobras, as well as smaller racers such as Lotus Elites, Triumphs and Austin-Healeys. Other organisers followed and 1963 has become an established cutoff.
Now, after a one-year absence from the Revival and a period not under the Motor Racing Legends umbrella, pre-1963 GTs are back at Goodwood and providing some great action in 2024.
This year, MRL has run races at the Donington Park Historic Festival, Snetterton Classic and Silverstone Festival, which was again for the RAC Historic TT. That event attracted 36 qualifiers, included a host of top historic names as well as Le Mans class winner Jan Magnussen, and provided a superb lead battle between the Cobras of eventual winners Gregor Fisken/Chris Ward and John Spiers/Nigel Greensall.
“It’s absolutely visceral,” says Fisken of his ‘junkyard dog’ Cobra, Carroll Shelby’s former demonstrator. “I really enjoy the pre-’63s. You’ve got to look after the tyres. There’s a lot of power going through those wire wheels.”
Narrower tyres – cars run on Dunlop ‘L Section’ tyres and cannot use a larger size than was homologated in period – are just part of what make the pre-1963s different to their younger brethren. Because the cars are generally less valuable – with some notable exceptions such as the Ferraris – more of them are period rather than ‘new’ builds.
“I can understand why some of the pre-1966 originals don’t come out because of their value, but with the pre-’63s I think we can still have some of that juice of having originals,” adds Fisken.
“They’re really good fun to drive,” reckons leading Jaguar exponent Gary Pearson, who finished third at Silverstone with brother John. “If you want to come and start racing, I’d recommend pre-’63s. A competitive pre-1963 car is so much cheaper to buy or build than a pre-’66 and the racing is better. I wouldn’t say I prefer it, they’re different, but it’s good.”
"Pre-’63 is magic. I’ve been doing it for a long time and I love the cars"
Nigel Greensall
The first Kinrara winner was a Ferrari and the period pacesetter won four of the first six Silverstone Classic Tourist Trophy enduros. But, as with the pre-1966s, E-types and Cobras now tend to set the pace.
“They’ve got the engines working well in the 260 [cubic inch] Cobras, so it’s a bit like the pre-1966s – we’re fighting a losing battle!” says Pearson. “The pre-’63 E-types were homologated with tiny front brake calipers so the Cobras are better on the brakes and have more power, but the E-types handle better.”
Greensall, who has raced both, as well as a range of machinery from different periods, is typically enthusiastic about the category: “The series and the cars are a delight. There’s more finesse than with the pre-1966s. It’s how historic cars should be. Pre-’63 is magic. I’ve been doing it for a long time and I love the cars.”
Fisken races a range of machinery all the way up to a Dallara LMP1 prototype and believes the pre-’63s provide a good challenge.
“It’s so entirely different you don’t even think about it,” he says of jumping between Cobra and Dallara. “When the cars are closer is when you get into trouble. The Cobra is the harder car to drive. Afterwards you can feel the muscles in your shoulders because there’s a lot of input.”
One of the strengths of the Goodwood RAC TT Celebration is its all-star cast of drivers, but this weekend’s Stirling Moss Memorial Trophy for the pre-1963 GTs is hardly lacking in that department.
Nine-time Le Mans winner Tom Kristensen rejoins Joe Macari, the Ferrari combination that triumphed in 2016, while the Jaguar ranks include touring car aces Gordon Shedden, Rob Huff and Andy Priaulx, and GT veteran Darren Turner. As well as Spiers/Greensall and Fisken/Ward, the Cobra horde features Andrew Jordan in Dragonsnake, which won in 2022.
Thus far, performance has crept rather than leapt forward. Jackie Oliver set the fastest lap in 2014 with a Ferrari 250 GT ‘SWB’ at 1m30.209s. Most subsequent benchmarks have been in the 1m29s, with the exceptions being Andrew Smith’s 1m28.825s in 2019 with a Ferrari 250 GTO – the dominant car in period that should be a contender whenever the extremely valuable exotica appears – and Jordan’s 1m28.601s in 2022.
It should all make for a spectacular contest on Saturday evening. And then there’s the MRL finale at Silverstone in October.
“Now that MRL is looking to build it up and it’s back at Goodwood after a couple of quiet years I think it’ll really start to pick up strong,” predicts Greensall.
Historic racer Shaun Lynn has recently taken ownership of MRL and Pearson also believes pre-1963s will continue its momentum: “Shaun’s got some really good ideas, so I think it’s going to grow again. I’m quite excited about what he’s going to do with MRL because it’s been one of the best on the UK scene.”
