Murphy piloted the Holden Monaro 427C which he’d co-driven to victory in the 2003 Bathurst 24 Hour alongside Peter Brock, Jason Bright and Todd Kelly.
The Kiwi set the seventh fastest time in the top 10 Shootout session that highlights the nostalgia-themed event.
Murphy and Steve Richards, who drove the Nissan Skyline raced by his father Jim in the 1990 Australian Touring Car Championship, were bestowed the Drivers of the Event award.
“The atmosphere is second to none,” Murphy told Speedcafe of the Goodwood event, which is run by Lord March, the 11th Duke of Richmond.
“We do events in our part of the world really, really well, but the scale of this, the population, the venue…
“What the Duke has here and the access and the ability to do whatever he wants and create whatever he wants on his own land and the scale of it, is sublime.
“You’ve got to see it to believe it.”
The 1.9km hillclimb course appears relatively flat on TV but rises over 90 metres from bottom to top.
While that’s no match for Mount Panorama’s 174 metres of elevation, Murphy said the deceptive nature of the climb reminded him of Bathurst.
“You can relate it to Bathurst,” continued Murphy.
“When you go to the top of the Mountain, or stand at The Cutting, you look at it and go, ‘man, this is steep, this is so much steeper than what it looks [on TV]’.
“Again, the TV coverage [at Goodwood] does not do it justice. It is very steep and quite something else to be a part of.
“The biggest focus and the most difficult part are the shadows, dealing with the light change and going from light to dark and bits and pieces.
“A lot of hay bales, no room for error, so we’re being pretty respectful of that, but this is a bucket list for me and for Richo. We feel very honoured.”
Murphy noted that the low-revving and hugely torquey 7-litre V8-powered Monaro was well suited to the hillclimb.
“It labours along but you’ve got to watch it because it can very easily get away,” he said.
“There’s some tricky little pieces here. When you go up through Turn 2 and past the main grandstand area, there’s a very tight corner at the top… you know you’ve got to be a bit careful.
“And then there’s the Flint Wall, [I was] very careful going into there because of the light change and the way the shadows are.
“But the car works beautifully. The torque that it’s got is very suited to this bit of road.”
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