The 2024 Goodwood Revival will be the first historic motorsport event exclusively use sustainable fuels following a successful trial at this year’s running of the event.
At the 2023 Revival in September, the Fordwater Trophy was run with 30 pre-1966 Porsche 911s running on sustainable fuel. Now the initiative from that race – which featured the likes of Jenson Button, Tom Kristensen and Mark Webber – will be rolled out across the entire event. Ahead of the revival, the 81st Members’ Meeting on April 13-14 at the track will feature the all-Mustang Ken Miles Cup and the Gordon Spice Trophy both run exclusively with sustainable fuels.
“It was great to be a part of the Fordwater Trophy which brought together classic cars and the very latest in sustainable fuel technology,” said Button. “What’s so exciting about these fuels is that they can guarantee the future of historic racing, enabling us to enjoy combustion engine cars for years to come.”
Revival organizers say that the switch won’t require any modifications to cars, while there will be no performance deficit either, compared to the use of traditional fuels.
“Goodwood has an illustrious motorsport history and one which we are delighted to continue with the announcement that at next year’s Revival, all of our races will run on sustainable fuel,” said the Duke of Richmond, founder of the Festival of Speed and Goodwood Revival. “I am proud that we are the first to be mandating the use of sustainable fuels at the event, and would like to thank all of the participating owners, drivers and preparers for their support.”
The move to a fully-sustainable Revival and sustainably-fueled Members Meeting races comes after Sebastian Vettel’s appearance at the 2023 Goodwood Festival of Speed, where he drove a 1992 Williams FW14B and 1993 McLaren MP4/8, both running on renewable fuels to show that historic cars can still be driven and enjoyed while minimizing their impact on the environment.
“It was clear to me at the Festival of Speed that the team at Goodwood share my love of motor racing,” said Vettel. “I enjoyed sharing my ‘Race Without Trace’ initiative with the fans at the Festival of Speed and having the opportunity to show that sustainable fuels are a fantastic way to ensure a possible future pathway for the sport that we love.
“It’s great that Goodwood is leading the way in promoting the use of sustainable fuels at historic racing events.”