It would have been the 100th birthday of the motorsport legend.
The 2023 Goodwood Revival is celebrating Carroll Shelby on what would be the world-famous racing driver and vehicle designer's 100th birthday. The Goodwood Revival takes place this year on September 8-10th and will feature a variety of cars spanning the entirety of Shelby's illustrious career.
It's hard to impress upon people just how much of an impact Carroll Shelby had on racing and road cars. Without his racing success and automotive design prowess, the world wouldn't have been gifted with cars like the Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe, the Shelby Cobra 427, the Mustang GT500 and 350, the Ford GT40 of Le Mans winning and Ferrari Defeating fame, and the ridiculous Dodge Shelby Omni GLHS. The 1959 Le Mans winner left a legacy that we still see in many cars today, so the celebration at Goodwood only seems fitting.
Goodwood is also celebrating 75 years of the Motor Circuit, 25 years of the Revival, and 100 years of Le Mans winners. This means the festival has a ton of legends to celebrate, making the official Carrol Shelby announcement that much sweeter. Shelby raced at Goodwood during the circuit’s heyday in one of the greatest races of all time: the 1959 RAC Tourist Trophy.
He won this race in the DBR1/300 with his co-drivers Jack Fairman and Stirling Moss (a late addition to the crew thanks to his car being destroyed in a pit fire.) This DBR1 was a big deal to Shelby as it was the same car he and co-driver Roy Salvadori used to win Le Mans earlier that year.
Winning that Tourist Trophy helped to secure the World Championship for Aston Martin. When the festival was revived, Shelby attended the third iteration of the event in 2000 where he ran a Shelby Daytona Coupe driven by American Indycar champion and F1 driver Danny Sullivan.
The Revival this year will feature many of Shelby's greatest cars too, like the MG-TC in which he competed for the very first time in 1952, along with an assortment of Cobras of all kinds. The Cobras will be raced in the Royal Automobile Club TT Celebration, And the Whitsun Trophy will feature quite a few GT40s as well.
“Goodwood held a very special place in my grandfather's heart,” said Aaron Shelby, board member of Carroll Shelby International. “He competed there as a driver in an Aston Martin and returned to race at the Circuit with the Shelby American team cars during the 1960s. We're honored that the Duke of Richmond and his team have chosen to honor the 100th anniversary of Carroll's birthday this year.”
Keyword: 2023 Goodwood Revival To Celebrate Carroll Shelby's Life And Accomplishments