The Goodwood Race Circuit is close to the south coast in Sussex on the estate of Goodwood house and rings Chichester/Goodwood Airport. The circuit began life as the perimeter track of RAF Westhampnett airfield which was constructed during the Second World War as a relief airfield for RAF Tangmere. The control tower of 1941 survives. There is a commercial light aircraft activity.

The first motor car race meeting took place in September 1948 at which Stirling Moss won the 500cc class (later to become Formula 3), followed by Eric Brandon and 'Curly Dryden', all in Coopers.

Goodwood has, over the years, played host to many famous drivers - Mike Hawthorn and Graham Hill had their first single seat races there, Roger Penske visited in 1963 and Jim Clark and Jack Sears competed in 1964. The accident which ended the International career of Stirling Moss happened at St. Mary's corner. The circuit also claimed the life of McLaren founder Bruce McLaren in a testing accident in 1970

The Goodwood race circuit became famous for its nine hour endurance races in the late fifties and early sixties, but these events ended along with other such events in 1966 when the circuit closed. The cars that raced in these events can be seen recreating (in shorter form) these endurance races at the Goodwood revival each year in the Sussex trophy and the Royal Automobile Club Tourist Trophy (RAC TT).

Goodwood saw its last race meeting for over 30 years in 1966, because the owners did not want to modify the track with chicanes to control the increased speeds of modern racing cars. Following the success of the Festival of Speed hill climb, racing returned to the Goodwood circuit in 1998 and since then has remained the English home of historic motorsport. The track is now used for classic races, track days and try-out days.