1998 and 1999 Formula 1 World Champion Mika Hakkinen will make his debut at the 74th Goodwood Members’ Meeting after being invited by luxury Swiss watchmakers IWC Schaffhausen, the official Timing Partner of the event that runs across the weekend of the 19/20th March.
The former Lotus and McLaren F1 Team driver will driver alongside another legend of Formula 1 – Jochen Mass – in a pair of 1950s Silver Arrows race cars.
The Silver Arrows – Mercedes-Benz W196 Grand Prix cars – will take a demonstration run around the Goodwood Motor Circuit, with Hakkinen taking part on Saturday 19th March.
Mass, who is one of the house captains at the exclusive Members’ Meeting, is excited to welcome the twenty-time Formula 1 race winner to the event for the first time, saying: “I’m excited about welcoming Mika to the Members’ Meeting and driving the Silver Arrows. The W196 is an incredible car, it helped [Juan Manuel] Fangio to back-to-back titles in 1954 and ’55 and I promise that Mika and I will put on a show for the spectators.”
The special IWC garage will also feature another Silver Arrow with the Mercedes-Benz W35, a car to the same design that took Rudolf Caracciola to the European Championship title back in 1935.
The Members’ Meeting will host eleven races, featuring a number of historical cars, while the 2016 event will also host motorcycles for the first time in its history, with event creator Lord March delighted to see the Silver Arrows taking to the track this March.
“The Silver Arrows are among the most famous and instantly-recognisable racing cars ever built, so it will be a real treat for our visitors to see and experience them in their natural habitat – on a race track,” said Lord March.
“It will be particularly special to have one of Grand Prix racing’s enduring and most popular characters making his event debut at the wheel.”
