The Le Mans-winning Jaguar C-type that raced into the gloaming at Goodwood

Jaguar hadn’t been sitting on its hands, however. New lighter bodywork played its part but the real innovation was the introduction of disc brakes. As soon as the cars went out for practice, it became clear that 1953 would see a repeat of 1951’s victory. Stirling Moss set a 4 minute 32 second lap in the car he shared with Peter Walker and that set the tone for the race. 

The Jaguar would be the car to beat.

That was the good news from practice. The bad news was that Duncan Hamilton and Tony Rolt were disqualified because they shared a race number with another car. Hopes to enter the race, let alone win, were dashed.

They consoled themselves with an all-night drinking session which came to an abrupt end when suddenly they were back in the race. Team manager Lofty England had persuaded the famously belligerent French authorities to allow the entry (after company owner William Lyons had paid a FF25,000 fine).

The fiercely hungover Hamilton and Rolt had to prepare themselves for the 4pm start having had no sleep. You wouldn’t have guessed by watching. Within the first half hour of the race Rolt had set a lap record, which he (and other drivers) would break several more times before the chequered flag fell the following afternoon. When Hamilton took the wheel, he was consistently lapping five seconds faster than the previous year’s lap record.

The Hamilton/Rolt C-type was lying in fourth place; Moss was leading the race and had been tasked with drawing the Ferrari of Alberto Ascari and Luigi Villoresi into a sprint. It’s a technique that worked until Moss had to pit with a dirty fuel filter. In the night, the Hamilton/Rolt car took the lead and exchanged it with the Ferrari several time. Moss and Walker, meanwhile, worked hard to claw their way back through the field following their pitstop. 

As the sun began to rise on the Sunday morning, the circuit was shrouded in mist. When Hamilton handed over to Rolt, he told him it had been the hardest three hours of driving in his life. A lack of sleep was compounded by a broken nose from a bird strike early the race. The bird had also taken out part of the aeroscreen, leading to a tiring amount of wind buffeting. 

Moss/Walker had moved up to second place before coming under pressure from the Cunnigham of Phil Walters and John Fitch. But the Coventry cars had pace to spare and simply upped their speed to re-establish a gap, setting two new lap records in the process.

By 11am the Ascari/Villoresi car retired having been suffering with a failed clutch for many hours, and the Jaguars came home in a one-two victory. It had been the first time anyone had averaged more than 100mph for the 24 hours. Legend has it that, rather than retire for rest, Hamilton and Rolt partied the night away. The mood was presumably much lighter than it had been 48 hours prior.

It’s tempting to enquire whether James Davison and Gary Pearson were well rested before taking that very same historically significant Jaguar C-Type out for the Freddie March Memorial Trophy at the 2025 Goodwood Revival. 

The event’s opening race ran into the dark to evoke the spirit of the Nine Hour races that took place at the Goodwood Motor Circuit in period. This year, as well as fading light, the drivers also had to contend with rainfall.

Up front, Jenson Button and Alex Buncombe were on a charge in their Jaguar C-type, while Davison and Pearson were performing well. The pair made their way from 16^th on the grid to seventh by the time the chequered flag fell to round off a successful weekend at Revival.

Images courtesy of Getty Images.

Goodwood photography by Joe Harding and Charlie Brenninkmeijer.