29 September 2022
Charles Henry Gordon-Lennox, 11th Duke of Richmond, 11th Duke of Lennox, 11th Duke of Aubigny, 6th Duke of Gordon, one of the most influential men in motorsport.
The Duke of Richmond’s grandfather, Freddie Richmond, opened the Goodwood Motor Circuit in 1948. In 1993, the Duke of Richmond founded the Festival of Speed at Goodwood House; in 1998, he instituted the Goodwood Revival, bringing motor racing back to Goodwood. In 2014 he inaugurated the Members Meeting.
The very same man failed to impress his mother when he ‘borrowed’ her Morris 1100 and attempted the now famous Festival of Speed Hill Climb; on the way back, he hit some gravel and drifted into some trees.
The Duke of Richmond once drove a Porsche 924 Carrera GT from Goodwood House to Chelsea in 54 minutes. His grandfather, who wasn’t a fan of bureaucracy, drove a Jensen flat out up the Edgeware Road in London in protest of the newly imposed 70mph speed limit. These exploits are what is lovingly referred to as Great Britishness.
Oh, and by the way, Rolls-Royce is a tenant 0f the Goodwood Estate.
