Porsche 911 GT1 ’98, 80th Goodwood Members’ Meeting, Goodwood, 2023, Porsche AG
Credit Porsche AG
75 years of Porsche sports cars and 60 years of the 911
For anyone unfamiliar with Goodwood or the Goodwood circuit, it is a historic venue for two- and four-wheeled motorsport in the United Kingdom. Its history is legendary in motorsports; a 2.367-mile (3.809 km) circuit situated near Chichester, West Sussex, close to the south coast of England, on the estate of Goodwood House, and completely encircles Chichester/Goodwood Airport. This racing circuit dates from 1948, not to be confused with the separate Hillclimb course located at Goodwood House and first used in 1936.
Over the years, Goodwood has played host to many famous drivers: Mike Hawthorn and Graham Hill had their first single-seat races here, Roger Penske visited in 1963, and Jim Clark and Jack Sears competed in 1964. The accident that ended Stirling Moss’s international career happened at St. Mary’s in 1962.
Porsche 911 GT1 ’98, 80th Goodwood Members’ Meeting, Goodwood, 2023, Porsche AG
Credit Porsche AG
Credit Porsche AG
Porsche 935/78, Porsche 911 GT1 ’98, Porsche 911 Carrera RSR Turbo, 80th Goodwood Members’ Meeting, Goodwood, 2023, Porsche AG
Credit Porsche AG
To mark 75 years of motor racing at Goodwood, 75 years of Porsche sports cars and 60 years of the 911, a unique collection of historic racing cars hit the track at the 2023 Goodwood Members’ Meeting. The 80th staging of the Goodwood Members’ Meeting once again had Porsche at its heart. In the brand’s 75th year, and with a nod to the centenary of Le Mans and the 60th anniversary of the 911, the April weekend’s annual motorsport event saw another spectacular line-up of historic Porsche sports cars lapping the famous racetrack in southeast England.
Porsche 911 GT1 ’98, Porsche 911 Carrera RSR Turbo, 80th Goodwood Members’ Meeting, Goodwood, 2023, Porsche AG
Credit Porsche AG
Porsche 911 Carrera RSR Turbo, 80th Goodwood Members’ Meeting, Goodwood, 2023, Porsche AG
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The team at Porsche Heritage and Museum and at Goodwood itself, some 19 cars spanning three decades of racing, had assembled for this unprecedented parade, creating a colorful chronology of works and customer cars that revealed the diverse history of the 911 in its many competitive guises.
Large crowds were drawn to the paddock all weekend, enjoying such rare sights as the Martini-liveried 911 Carrera 2.8 RSR that, due to its experimental ‘Mary Stuart’ rear wing, was obliged to compete in the prototype class during the 1973 season of the World Sportscar Championship. 50 years ago, with Gijs van Lennep and Herbert Müller at the helm, this car was driven to a historic win at the Targa Florio and an equally remarkable fourth overall at Le Mans on the coattails of the V12 Matra and Ferrari prototypes.
Porsche 911 Carrera RSR Turbo, 80th Goodwood Members’ Meeting, Goodwood, 2023, Porsche AG
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Porsche 935/78, 80th Goodwood Members’ Meeting, Goodwood, 2023, Porsche AG
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Rule changes in sports car racing would, by 1976, allow for dramatic modifications to the 911, and for the remainder of the decade, sports car racing would be synonymous with the Porsche 935. This highly evolved, be-winged and turbocharged evolution of the Porsche’s evergreen air-cooled GT would bring countless victories to the factory and its customers. The four privateer examples at Goodwood, an essential part of Porsche’s rich racing legacy, flanked another of the Museum’s most reliable crowd pleasers, the fearsomely powerful longtail 935/78 better known as Moby Dick.
Porsche 911 Carrera RSR Turbo, 80th Goodwood Members’ Meeting, Goodwood, 2023, Porsche AG
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Porsche 911 GT1 ’98, 80th Goodwood Members’ Meeting, Goodwood, 2023, Porsche AG
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Porsche 911 GT1 ’98, 80th Goodwood Members’ Meeting, Goodwood, 2023, Porsche AG
Credit Porsche AG
Further, veterans of Porsche’s long history at Le Mans were visible in the 993-generation 911 campaigned by customers throughout the second half of the 1990s. Four 911 (993) GT2 R versions were again the perfect support act for the last of the Museum’s exhibits for Goodwood in 2023: the 911 GT1 ’98. This technological tour de force gave Porsche its record-breaking 16th win at Le Mans in 1998, 25 years ago. Danish Le Man’s legend Tom Kristensen, who won the first nine victories with the Joest Porsche WSC-95 in 1997, led the field in the GT1 ’98.
The white 911 Porsche Carrera is my favorite car of all time
Porsche 911 GT1 ’98, 80th Goodwood Members’ Meeting, Goodwood, 2023, Porsche AG
Credit Porsche AG
Porsche 935/78, Porsche 911 Carrera RSR Turbo, Porsche 911 GT1 ’98, 80. Goodwood Members’ Meeting, Goodwood, 2023, Porsche AG
Credit Porsche AG
Thanks to more than half a century of continuous competition and peerless performance and reliability, the 911 in all its forms can lay claim to being the single most successful GT car to have turned a wheel in anger. And moments like the 80th Goodwood Members’ Meeting are invaluable reminders to drivers and spectators alike.
