Goodwood Members Meeting Features Bevy Of Porsche Racers

Special Event

Among the many stellar events that line our automotive calendars each year, the Goodwood Member's Meeting is certainly one of the best. Each year, automakers bring some of the coolest builds, one-off concepts, and race cars for this particular outing, and Porsche is no exception. For 2023 - which marked the 80th such gathering - it shipped a host of special historic racers to the UK, too.

Photos: Porsche

Amazing Parade

For this year's gathering, Porsche Cars Great Britain, Porsche Heritage, the Porsche Museum, and the team at Goodwood managed to piece together a whopping 19 different Porsche vehicles spanning three decades of motorsports history for perhaps the coolest parade anyone has ever seen, which a rather large crowd showed up to admire in the flesh. 

Photos: Porsche

Experimental Prototype

That stellar group included 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 behind the wheel, 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.

Photos: Porsche

Present and Accounted For

The iconic Porsche 935 was well represented at Goodwood as well, with four privateer examples present and accounted for, each an important part of the company's rich racing legacy. Those cars were flanked by another of the Porsche Museum’s most reliable crowd pleasers, the fearsomely powerful longtail 935/78 better known as Moby Dick.

Photos: Porsche

Special 911s

Then there are the 993 911 examples that were 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 1998 911 GT1. This technological tour de force gave Porsche its record-breaking 16th win at Le Mans in 1998, 25 years ago. Danish Le Mans legend Tom Kristensen, who won the first of his nine victories with the Joest Porsche WSC-95 in 1997, led the field in the GT1 '98.

Photos: Porsche

Special Appearance

No stranger to the 911, nor to racking up wins for Porsche at Le Mans, former factory driver Neel Jani was one of the guest drivers invited to take part in the Porsche parade. Behind the wheel of Moby Dick, the Swiss driver who hustled the 919 Hybrid to its second overall victory at the 24 Hours in 2016, was delighted to have been a part of such a special occasion and impressed by his first experience in the car.

Photos: Porsche

Stars Align

Overall, this gathering was the perfect way to mark a milestone for the Goodwood Member's Meeting, as well as 75 years of Porsche sports cars and 60 years of the 911. After all, when the stars align that perfectly, it's perfectly understandable that Porsche would want to pull something extra special out of its proverbial hat.

Photos: Porsche

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