The 74th Goodwood Members’ Meeting, set for March 19-20, will feature perhaps the most fabulous sportscars of all time — the mighty five-liter Group 5 cars that raced from 1969-’71. Their grace, style and, of course, power, will be showcased in a special high-speed demonstration on the Goodwood Motor Circuit.
These cars include, of course, the legendary Porsche 917 (above) and Ferrari 512, “loophole” cars that took advantage of a rule destined to “grandfather” in cars like the Ford GT40 as “sports cars” after the rules for Le Mans and the WSC were changed to put a three-liter limit on prototype engine displacement following Ford’s domination of Le Mans with its seven-liter behemoths.
Incredibly, both Porsche and Ferrari took advantage of the new rules to produce the required 25 examples necessary to qualify their new racers as Sports Cars, and we can all be grateful that they did.
A total of 16 Group 5 cars will take part in the high-speed demonstration, giving visitors a real sense of the brutal power and immense speed of these amazing machines. The lineup will include at least six Porsche 917s, among them the 1970 Le Mans winner and examples in the iconic Martini and Gulf liveries as well. Historic racer David Piper will drive the 917 he raced in period.
Five Ferrari 512s will also take part, including examples of the 512S and 512M derivatives, as well as a low-drag “Coda Lunga” that was designed to maximize top speed on the Mulsanne Straight. Four Lola T70 Mk3Bs will also be featured, including the car raced by ex-F1 racer Jo Bonnier. Both Jackie Oliver, who won Le Mans for Ford in 1969 and Richard Attwood, who won in 1970 with the 917, will be in attendance.
Established by Goodwood owner Lord March to recreate the atmosphere and camaraderie of the original BARC Members’ Meetings held at Goodwood between 1949 and 1966, the event conjures up some of the most evocative sights and sounds from motor racing’s golden era.
A packed, two-day program for the 74th Members’ Meeting will feature 12 races for vehicles ranging from Edwardian leviathans to 1970s Grand Prix motorcycles. There will also be demonstration runs covering two other celebrated motorsport periods — ground effect Formula One cars from 1977-’82, and Super Touring cars of the 1990s. For complete information, please visit www.goodwood.com/74MM
