Oulton Park International Gold Cup
The International Gold Cup is a prize awarded annually to the winner of a motor race held at the Oulton Park circuit, Cheshire, England, UK. In the 1950s and '60s it formed one of a number of highly regarded non-Championship Formula One races, which regularly attracted top drivers and teams. With the increasing cost of F1, the number of non-Championship events dwindled and the Gold Cup fell by the wayside in the mid-1970s. After this time the cup was run in events for Formula 5000 cars, then Formula 3000, before finally being reduced to a courtesy award made for the winner of the race deemed "highlight of the weekend"[1]. The Cup proper was reinstated by the Historic Sports Car Club in 2003, for the winner of a race for historic F1 cars at the same circuit.
The Oulton Park circuit opened in 1953 and the first Gold Cup meeting was held the following year. As a sign of things to come Stirling Moss won both the first and second events; he would go on to win the Gold Cup a further three times before an accident prematurely ended his career. Perhaps appropriately it was Moss that was at the wheel when the Ferguson P99 took the first ever victory by a four-wheel drive F1 car, in the 1961 Gold Cup race. Other famous winners include Jack Brabham and Denny Hulme.
[edit] Winners
- Races shown with a pink background indicate non-Formula One races.
- 1956 - Formula 2 / Sportscars
- 1957, 1964-65 - Formula 2
- 1958 - Sportscars
- 1973-75 - Formula 5000
- 1976-77 - Shellsport G8 Series (F5000)
- 1978-80, 1982 - British Formula One Series
- 1981, 2002-04 - Historic
- 1983-87 - Thundersports
- 1988 - Formula 3
- 1989-91, 1996 - British Formula 3000
- 1992 - British Formula Two
- 1993-94 - British Touring Car Championship
- 1999-2001 - British GT Championship
