Goodwood Honours Barry Sheene Across All 2026 Events
Throughout 2026, two-time 500cc World Champion and motorsport icon Barry Sheene will take centre stage as Goodwood pays tribute to his extraordinary career and lasting legacy. This marks the first time Goodwood has celebrated a driver or rider across all three headline events: the 83rd Members’ Meeting presented by Audrain Motorsport (18 to 19 April), the Festival of Speed presented by Mastercard (9 to 12 July) and the Goodwood Revival (18 to 20 September).
With 23 Grand Prix victories and back-to-back 500cc World Championship titles in 1976 and 1977, Barry Sheene changed motorcycle racing forever. He thrilled fans with a fearless riding style. He also became the sport’s biggest star through his remarkable recoveries from injury and his larger-than-life personality away from the bike, which secured headlines on the front pages as well as the back.
Barry supported Goodwood with real enthusiasm and attended the Festival of Speed and Goodwood Revival from the early days. In 2002, he won the Revival’s Lennox Cup motorcycle race after a fierce battle with his friend and rival Wayne Gardner. Tragically, it would be his final race before he tragically lost his battle with cancer in March 2003. Goodwood later renamed the Lennox Cup the Barry Sheene Memorial Trophy, keeping his legacy at the heart of the event today.
Goodwood will honour Sheene’s incredible contribution to motorsport by marking the 50th anniversary of his first world championship title across all three headline events in 2026.
At the 83rd Members’ Meeting, up to 30 500cc Grand Prix motorcycles spanning Sheene’s career from 1974 to 1984 will take to the track. The lineup will include the bikes he rode and the machines he raced against. The event will also run alongside the previously announced tribute to 1976 Formula 1 World Champion James Hunt. The weekend will bring the spirit of 1970s motorsport to life, with period cars and bikes showcased in the paddocks and on track.
The Festival of Speed will welcome Barry’s family and feature ten of the most significant Grand Prix bikes from his career. This special class will celebrate Sheene’s racing legacy, with his son, Freddie, riding several of his father’s most recognisable machines up the Goodwood Hill.
The celebrations will reach their peak at the Goodwood Revival in September. Sheene’s championship-winning machines, along with the bikes he rode to victory at the Revival, will take to the Motor Circuit ahead of the Barry Sheene Memorial Trophy.
Steve Parrish, former professional motorcycle racer and friend of Barry, said: “It's been said, 'never meet your heroes', but thank goodness I did! I met Barry Sheene in 1975 at Brands Hatch. Barry became my mentor, father, brother and mate all rolled into one. We became teammates with Suzuki in 1977, and what a wild, crazy, dangerous ride it became. Some say I was often in the Sheene slipstream, maybe so, but what a tow it was. I will never forget it and will always appreciate the memories, the man, my hero. R.I.P Bazza, I hope I get in your team in the upper paddock!”
The Duke of Richmond CBE DL said: “Barry Sheene was an absolute force of nature. A fierce competitor on the track, he remains Britain’s last two-wheeled world champion in the top category. But it was the strength of his personality off the track – warm, cheeky and irreverent in equal measure – and his extraordinary ability to recover from injury, that made him a global superstar. For a generation of fans, he was motorcycle racing. Barry raced many times at Goodwood and won his very last race here, in 2002, just months before he sadly succumbed to cancer aged just 52. The Revival’s bike race was renamed in his honour the following year. I am delighted that we will be celebrating his unique life across our three events in 2026, on the 50th anniversary of his first world championship. Bringing together the bikes that shaped his career, and welcoming his family and friends, will be a fitting tribute to a man who inspired so many.”
Goodwood will share further details of the Barry Sheene celebration in the coming months, alongside additional information about this year’s Goodwood events, including the Members’ Meeting, the Festival of Speed and the Goodwood Revival.