Widely regarded as one of the world’s greatest historic motor racing events, the Goodwood Revival will again see every competitor use sustainable fuel across the three-day event.
Taking place this weekend, September 12-14, the Goodwood Revival began experimenting with sustainable fuels back in 2023, before using the fuel for every race the following year. Back again for 2025, the fuel is a way for historic motor racing to lower its carbon footprint, while ensuring the racing itself is unchanged.
Taking place at the Goodwood Motor Circuit in Chichester, on the south coast of England, the Revival began in 1993 and has grown into one of the most-loved historic events in the annual motorsport calendar. Cars built between 1948 and 1966 – when the circuit was first in use – are eligible to compete, with races for specific eras spread across the weekend. The circuit itself is decorated to fit the same era, and spectators are encouraged to dress up in outfits from the 1940s, 50s and 60s – with practically everyone getting into the spirit.
Sustainable fuel is created using captured carbon, or other waste material, instead of by refining crude oil. Goodwood implements a rule where competitors must run their cars on fuel that is at least 70 percent sustainable content, helping to ensure the event’s carbon footprint is reduced, while accommodating the specific needs of historic, and sometimes highly-strung, race cars.
Carbon is still emitted from the tailpipe of a car running on the fuel, but since pre-existing carbon was used to create the fuel in the first place, no more is being created or added to the environment, hence the claim of sustainability.
“It’s been quite an interesting journey, and one that we’re still very much on,” says Matt Hearn, Goodwood’s head of event content. “It’s the right thing for us to be trying to do…When people think about sustainability, it’s easy to immediately think about emissions and climate change. But for us it’s also about laying the right foundation so that historic racing can remain culturally sustainable – so it’s something that people still think is acceptable to do – is really important as well.”
Although it flies somewhat below the radar for now, sustainable fuel has the potential to become a huge business – especially in countries where building an electric car charging infrastructure is more difficult, but also across the entire motorsport spectrum. Formula One will use 100 percent sustainable fuel from the 2026 season, while the F2 and F3 divisions switched to the fuel in 2025.
Big industry players like Shell and TotalEnergies have invested in sustainable fuel development, along with small startups like P1 Fuels in the US and Zero Petroleum in the UK. The latter is headed by former F1 engineer Paddy Lowe and is working on producing synthetic gasoline, diesel and jet fuel using captured carbon dioxide and renewable hydrogen. Porsche is also developing a sustainable so-called eFuel, which it uses in its own motorsport series and at its customer experience centers.
On how Goodwood’s sustainable fuel rule has been received by competitors, Hearn added, “For the most part, it has worked really successfully. There was some uncertainty at first about what it might do to historic vehicles, but in reality it’s just the same.”
Although older vehicles were built to run on lower-quality fuel than what’s available today, most consume sustainable fuel in the same way as any other, with no drop in performance. Hearn added, “You don’t need different carburetors or physical parts, you’ve just got to set the car up correctly to run on it.”
Hearn said the only real logistical change is how cars need to have their fuel systems fully flushed when switching between different fuels, and two fuels (sustainable and regular, for example) can’t be mixed in the same tank. Competitors at Revival can either use Goodwood’s own fuel provided on-site, or bring their own, which is then tested to ensure it meets the 70 percent sustainable rule.
The 70 percent rule could be increased – even to 100 percent, in line with Formula One from 2026 – but Goodwood says there’s a balance to be struck. “For us, the key is making as few changes as possible,” Hearn said. “Every time you change the fuel spec, people have to set up their cars again, and that’s costly. We want to give competitors plenty of time to adapt.”