Why the Peter Collins Trophy is my favourite Goodwood race | Frankel’s Insight

There will be Astons, Jaguars, Ferraris, Listers and Lotus, and I’ll pore over every one of them in the paddock, but first a word about the man himself.

When seen from a modern perspective, where Formula 1 drivers lose not one moment to report a rival and will do anything to try to secure an advantage (fair or otherwise), what Peter Collins did at Monza in 1956 seems almost impossible.

It was the last race of the season and Ferrari team-mates Collins and Juan Manuel Fangio both had a mathematical chance of winning the Championship. Collins was behind and needed to win outright with Fangio fourth or lower to triumph. So, yes, it was a long shot. But a shot it undoubtedly was.

And it became a great deal shorter when Fangio was forced into retirement with broken steering. At this stage Collins would still needed to have caught and passed Stirling Moss’ Maserati to be Champion which was perhaps not that likely, but at the time he made his decision, it was still a distinct possibility.

But knowing Fangio had a better chance of winning the Championship, he came into the pits at the next tyre stop and simply gave up his car. It was a gesture of the most astonishing sportsmanship, rivalled only two years later by Moss’ decision to help get the disqualified Mike Hawthorn re-instated in the Portuguese Grand Prix, and going on to lose the title to him by a single point.

Should Fangio, already a triple World Champion, even have accepted the offer? He had no love for Ferrari, but the truth is he merely had to finish second to Moss and not beat him to be crowned Champion. What would you have done?

For the brave and chivalrous Collins, there was almost a nasty sting in the tail as Moss was pushing so hard he ran out of fuel and had to rely on outside assistance, in the form of Luigi Piotti in his private Maserati pushing him into the pits. Moss won, Fangio and Collins came second, and the great Argentine driver was Champion.

I remember reading somewhere that Collins said he’d done it because, aged just 24, he still had plenty of time to win his title. Fangio, on the other hand, was 45 and might never get another chance. Sadly, it worked out precisely the opposite way: Fangio got not only his fourth Championship but a fifth the following year, while Peter Collins would die at the Nürburgring two years later aged just 26.

Collins was 21 when he sensationally won the first Goodwood Nine Hours at the wheel of a DB3 Aston Martin in 1952, the first really big sportscar race held in Sussex, so it is so apt for the race to be held in his honour.

What are the cars like? I’ve not driven them all, but have some experience of most of the front-runners. For all their successes there, D-type Jaguars were not really built for circuits like Goodwood, but tracks with vast straights and tight hairpins like Le Mans and Reims where their superior aerodynamics and disc brakes played to their strengths. I’ve never driven a ‘D’ in anger at Goodwood, but I know what they’re like and I expect keep their drivers rather busy there.

I’ve driven a couple of DB3Ss at Goodwood however, both works cars, and if I could choose to drive just one more car around that track, the little Aston would probably be it. Limited by engine power as it was, the DB3S was rarely the fastest car at places like Le Mans (despite coming second there no fewer than three times) but within one lap you’ll understand why every driver who ever raced one fell instantly in love with them. 

There is no sweeter, more forgiving or better balanced car of its kind, and if you just wish to experience the pure joy of driving around a real driver’s circuit like Goodwood, there is none better.

I’ve raced a Ferrari 750 Monza at Goodwood, too, and was looking forward to my podium cigar when something broke in the back axle with four minutes to go, not that I’m still kicking myself about it.

It’s about as different to a DB3S as can be, though similarly specified in engine size, power and lap time terms. Whereas you might guide the Aston with your fingertips, the Ferrari is an all-in, elbows-out wrestling match.

You have to command the car, bend it to your will and really tailor your lap to its strengths — torque thanks to its big banger four cylinder engine and traction courtesy of its transaxle gearbox. Through the quick stuff where neither is needed, you just hang on, and what fun it is. And there’s a sense of occasion and achievement not even a DB3S can match.

But frankly, there’s not much I wouldn’t do to be in any one of them next spring.

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Images courtesy of Getty Images.

Goodwood photography by Jayson Fong.