The mighty 5-litre Group 5 giants that raced from 1969-71 were celebrated at the Goodwood Members Meeting 2016, held March 19-20 at the 2.4-mile Goodwood Motor Circuit in West Sussex, England. The 74th Goodwood Members’ Meeting showcased this iconic era of sports car racing with a special high-speed demonstration on the Goodwood Motor Circuit, giving visitors a real sense of the brutal power and immense speed of these machines.
Under the regulations at the time, prototype racers were limited to 3-litre engines, but ‘production’ cars — of which at least 25 examples had to be built — were allowed to use 5-litre units.
This loophole was included to allow cars like the Ford GT40 to continue racing but, against the expectations of the governing body, manufacturers exploited it, building production runs of what were, in effect, prototypes with 5-litre engines. The result included the Porsche 917 and Ferrari 512.
Doubtless helped by the Steve McQueen’s 1971 cult classic movie, Le Mans, the sight of a slippery and super-fast Gulf Porsche 917 running flat-out at Le Mans against its nemesis, the Ferrari 512, is one of the most evocative in sports car racing history. How thrilling, then, that their battles during the heyday of the International Championship of Makes were recreated, in demonstration form, at the 2016 Goodwood Members Meeting.
The line-up included several Porsche 917s, including the 1970 Le Mans 24 Hours winner and examples in the iconic Martini and Gulf liveries. Many Ferrari 512 models also took to the track, including examples of the 512S and 512M derivatives, as well as a low-drag ‘Coda Lunga’, designed to maximise straight-line speed on the Mulsanne Straight at Le Mans. A selection of Lola T70 Mk3Bs were also featured, including the car raced by ex-F1 racer Jo Bonnier.
Similar to 2014 and 2015, Sports Car Digest also documented the 2016 Goodwood Members Meeting, with Senior Photographer Tim Scott offering images from the demonstration run for 5-litre Group 5 cars that raced from 1969-71. We split up Tim’s pictures into two galleries. The first gallery starting below features our favorite images, all displayed in the full-width view of Sports Car Digest, while the second gallery can be found on the last page of the article and gives a comprehensive view of all the photographs. To see more from Tim, visit fluidimages.co.uk.
Goodwood Members Meeting 2016 – Group 5 Featured Photo Gallery
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[Source: Goodwood; photos: Tim Scott]
