Currently reading: Goodwood Festival sculpture celebrates Aston Martin

Central Feature highlights British firm's World Sportscar Championship title win at the venue

Aston Martin is be the subject of this year’s Central Feature at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, with a sculpture celebrating the 70th anniversary of its first race at the venue’s race circuit, and the 60th anniversary of its victory in the World Sportscar Championship.

The sculpture on the front lawn of Goodwood House is a focal point of the festival, and has celebrated a number of car manufacturers through the years – but this is the first time that it has honoured Aston Martin.

Gerry Judah has again design the Central Feature, as he has done since 1997. It represents a never-ending racetrack, and is adorned with a championship-winning DBR1. 

Aston martin sculpture goodwood 2019 5

The British firm first raced at Goodwood in the Lavant Cup, during the 1949 Easter Meeting, with WG Bingley finishing in 10th place.

A decade later, the 1959 World Sportscar Championship title was decided in the RAC TT race at the track, with Stirling Moss in contention for the title. His bid faltered early on when the DBR1 he shared with Roy Salvadori was forced to retire from the lead when it caught fire during a pit stop. But the team put Moss into the DBR1 driven by Carroll Shelby and Jack Fairman, with the trio winning the race to secure Aston the title ahead of Ferrari and Porsche.

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James Attwood

James Attwood, digital editor
Title: Acting magazine editor

James is Autocar's acting magazine editor. Having served in that role since June 2023, he is in charge of the day-to-day running of the world's oldest car magazine, and regularly interviews some of the biggest names in the industry to secure news and features, such as his world exclusive look into production of Volkswagen currywurst. Really.

Before first joining Autocar in 2017, James spent more than a decade in motorsport journalist, working on Autosport, autosport.com, F1 Racing and Motorsport News, covering everything from club rallying to top-level international events. He also spent 18 months running Move Electric, Haymarket's e-mobility title, where he developed knowledge of the e-bike and e-scooter markets. 

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