This weekend’s glorious Goodwood Revival will not only be celebrating motorsport history in style, but it also will be making its very own history – in a world first for historic racing, every car competing will be running on a sustainable fuel. 

In what is heralded as a major milestone in securing the future of historic motorsport, all entrants will be required to use fuel with a minimum of 70 per cent sustainable components.  

“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,” said The Duke of Richmond, founder of the Festival of Speed and Goodwood Revival. 

The move follows on from the successful running of last year’s Fordwater Trophy which saw 30 sustainably-fuelled pre-1966 Porsche 911s put on a great show raced by drivers including Jenson Button, Tom Kristensen and Mark Weber. 

“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.” 

These new regulations introduced by Goodwood for the Revival have been carefully considered and researched, and old engines will require no modifications in order to run on ‘drop-in’ sustainable fuels.  

There is also no performance deficit. In fact, there many even be some advantages according to Ben Collins who was the Revival’s first-ever sustainably-fuelled winner. Sharing his 1925 Bentley Speed Model with Gareth Graham, Collins beat all his rivals running on standard fuel to win the Rudge Whitworth Cup at the 2023 Revival. 

“The change could not have been easier,” he enthused. “We did back-to-back testing with a fuel air/ratio meter and there was no noticeable difference in the readings. That was with no change to fuel jetting, ignition advance or valve timing. 

“In terms of engine performance, we were over a second a lap faster than we had been previously with the same car. We qualified on pole position and managed to secure the first synthetic fuel race win at Goodwood and also the first race win for this car after many years of trying on conventional fuel.” 

Collins was so impressed that he now runs many of his pre-war icons on sustainable fuel without any adjustments needed – even his 1898 Benz on the annual London to Brighton Run. 

“Synthetic fuel produced using green electricity must surely be a sustainable way forward for not only historic motorsport but current motorsport, too,” he concluded.