GOODWOOD REVIVAL 2008
- 27 May 2013
After a wet and dismal summer the Sun Gods once again smiled on Lord March and for three glorious days in mid September bathed the Goodwood circuit under warm clear blue skies. The spectacular weather was then equaled by the sensational racing, and when combined with some stunning machinery, some of the greatest names in the sports history and the usual jaw-dropping air display, the world’s premier fancy dress race meeting was, as always, a resounding success. Three days of pure, unadulterated, absolute pleasure. And so thought the over 120,000 fans who attended. I guess there was probably someone who was disappointed (there is always one miserable git) but if there was, no-one noticed. Big Brother is ignoring you………
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You may feel a bit self conscious when you get dressed up in your outlandish 1940s-60s outfit for the early morning trek to the circuit but within ten minutes of arriving you realize that most other people have gone to even greater lengths and that your outfit is rather conservative. The only people that look totally out of place are those who couldn’t be bothered and their jeans and baseball caps stand out like a tall white pointy hat at an ANC rally. Everyone from Lord March to the drivers, pit crew, press, marshals, catering and attendance staff, club members and most of the general admission fans get right into the spirit of the event and dress in period clothes. I imagine most of the outfits cost vastly more than the entry tickets and that the animal lib nutters hate this place as there is plenty of fur on display. It was, after all, the height of fashion back then. Just watching the crowd and what they are wearing is half the fun.
Well not quite half. But the rest of what is going on is a bit of sensory overload. It’s a bit like stepping from a sensory deprivation tank and into a KISS concert. There is just something always happening everywhere. Quite apart from the incredible on-track action you have to try and take in the World War Two air display (which this year showcased Spitfires, Mustangs, Corsairs, Hurricanes, Curtis Hawks and Lancaster bombers), the vast array of WW2 military vehicles which are used to shuttle the staff and press about, the equally vast array of other period cars and bikes, the fun-fair and market stalls, the multitude of actors playing the parts of spivs selling dodgy watches, St Trinian’s school girls, communist spies (he was particularly amusing), Dad’s Army, Laurel and Hardy, the road maintenance crew, Mods and Rockers. Add to this little lot several jazz bands, the “Earls Court Motor Show”, the Shell Woad Corner showroom which this year featured Porsches, the Spirit of Aviation aircraft display and just a wander through the paddock and your brain is about to just give up. What starts out on Friday morning as “Oh wow, look at those Spitfires” becomes “Oh, just another Spitfire display” by Sunday afternoon because you are still trying to take in everything else you missed while watching in open mouthed astonishment those aerobatics and the furious racing earlier in the weekend.
Despite that, however, it is the racing that most people are really there for. There are a few that just come to be “seen”. There are a few thousand that don’t care about the cars and just set up opposite the Warbird display to watch the air-show. But none of that would be there without the racing. And what racing it was. Yet another fantastic collection of 2 and 4 wheeled and 2 legged greats gathered for the party. Of the human variety in attendance where Stirling Moss, Jackie Stewart, Emerson Fittipaldi, Derek Bell, Tony Brooks, Martin Brundle, John Whitmore, Jean-Marc Gounon, Marc Surer, Jochen Mass, Jackie Oliver, Richard Attwood, Emanuele Pirro, Bobby Rahal, Henri Pescarolo, Vern Schuppan, Brian Redman, David Hobbs, Desire’ Wilson, Rauno Aaltonen, John Fitzpatrick, Arturo Merzario, David Piper, Wayne Gardner, Freddie Spencer, Jeremy McWilliams and Niall MacKenzie to name just a few (dozen). But as always, the cars are the stars with the great drivers the icing on the cake. From pre-war ERA, Alfa Romeo and Maserati Grand Prix cars to Le Mans Ferraris and Ford GT40s it is a drool inducing mix. On hand, for the first time in many years, was a BRM P30 with it’s screaming 1.5 litre supercharged V16 engine. I watched with breathless anticipation as they fired her up and gave her a few good revs… Roar…. howl… scream…whoomp… (whoomp?????). Whoomp was definitely a wrong sound. The huge ball of flame coming out the left hand side of the engine didn’t look quite right either. Although they patched it up and it ran slowly later on, missing out on that noise was probably the one big disappointment of the weekend. Still, it was true to it’s history and at least this time no-one threw pennies at it
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Getting the action started was the Goodwood Trophy for Pre-1951 Grand Prix cars which saw a 1-2-3 finish for ERA with Ludovic Lindsay winning in the ex-Prince Bira ERA R5B “Remus”. The field included 5 former Scuderia Ferrari Alfa Romeo Tipo Bs along with the later Alfa 308 & 312 models, a brace of Maseratis including one 4CLT-48 “San Remo” and one very slow, but wonderful sounding 1950 8CLT, a handful of Altas and a Bugatti Type 34. I would have gone just for that. Simon Frost won the 500cc Formula 3 Earl of March Trophy before Carlos Monteverde pulled off possibly the most popular win of the weekend, taking out the Madgwick Cup in his Ferrari 206SP Dino after ten years of trying.
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Arguably the best race of the weekend this year was the Sussex Trophy for pre-1960 sports cars. Barrie Williams led early in the Tojeiro-Jaguar but was passed by Jamie McIntyre in his Knobbly-Lister Chevrolet. McIntyre then had a “moment” at Woodcote corner and dropped back to third place behind Williams and Mark hales in the Costin bodied Lister-Jaguar. Within a couple of laps though McIntyre had his testicles back in place and in one sweeping movement passed both Hales and Williams through Fordwater corner to regain a lead which he would not lose. He didn’t have it all his own way though and won by just over half a second from Hales followed by Williams and Gounon in a Ferrari 196S Dino in fourth place.
For eight laps the Chichester Cup for Formula Junior cars was an absolute blinder with no less than eight cars disputing the lead. Unfortunately it all came unglued on lap eight when Emanuele Benedini in his Brabham BT6 lost it big time on the exit of Woodcote and plowed into Mark Woodhouse’s Lotus 22 and laying a huge oil slick through the chicane. The race would finish behind the safety car with Michael Hibberd leading through a Lotus 1-2-3 from Martin Walford and Joaquin Folch.
To close out Saturdays racing the Freddie March Memorial Trophy was for only the second time run into the evening. As a race it was as tedious as they come with Emanuele Pirro and Stuart Graham winning by over two laps in the Austin Healy 100S, but as a spectacle it was breath-taking with the setting sun blazing bright red behind the trees at the back of the circuit. The sight of all those Aston Martin DB3s, C-Type Jaguars and Ferrari 750 Monzas blasting by with headlights ablaze to that backdrop was worth the price of admission alone.
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Patrick Blakeney-Edwards kicked off Sunday’s action with a comfortable win in the Fordwater Trophy driving a Frazer Nash Sebring before Jochen Mass gave everyone a nasty fright by rolling the Lancia D50 in the Richmond and Gordon Trophy. Mass was enjoying a spirited battle with Barrie Baxter’s Tec Mec but entered the chicane on lap seven miles to fast, clipped the chicane wall and spun backwards into the barriers. Instead of just sliding along the barrier the Lancia bounced back out from the tyre wall and it’s right rear wheel dug into the turf and slowly rolled, pinning Jochen under the car. Baxter to his great credit stopped immediately and ran back to assist the marshals and drag Jochen free. Thankfully Jochen suffered only minor cuts and bruises from what appeared to be a very nasty accident. Once again the race ended behind the safety car with Rob Jolly taking the win in his Cooper T45 from Folch (Lotus 16) and John Harper in a Cooper T51.
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Aussie two wheeled world champ Wayne Gardner again displayed his class and totally dominated the Barry Sheene Memorial Trophy while the two part St Mary’s Trophy for touring cars was won by John Fitzpatrick and John Young in an Austin A95 Westminster.The first part of the race on Saturday ended spectacularly when Tony Jardine in an Austin A35 got it all wrong at the chicane and pushed Fitzpatrick into the chicane wall. Fitz’s A95 then rolled onto its right side and slid across the track taking both itself and Jardine into the tyre barriers. Amazingly these two cars would still fight out the win on Sunday with John Young taking the honours in the battered A95 from Rea Davis in the “guilty” A35. Andy Rouse and Shaun Rainford took third in the Volvo PV544S ahead of Anthony Reid and Justin Law in a Mk1 Jaguar.
In the main event, the one-hour RAC TT Celebration, Ferrari finally took a win at the Revival. Peter Hardman and Bobby Verdon-Roe in the glorious Ferrari 330LMB took the flag just over two seconds ahead of Law and Reid who teamed up again, this time in a Lister-Jaguar coupe. The battle prior to the driver-change pit stops was as good as you are likely to see with six drivers dicing for the lead. Law led early but was passed by Hardman on lap eight while Adrian Newey (E-Type Jaguar), Gounon (Ferrari 250GTO), Bellm (Shelby Cobra Daytona) and Pirro (E-Type Jaguar) were scrapping like mad just behind them. Once the driver changes were completed the race settled down to a straight fight between Verdon-Roe and Reid and after a brief safety car period the Ferrari held off Reid’s challenge for the final seven laps to take the win.
The Glover Trophy also saw a fine stoush for the lead with the Brabhams of James King (BT7) and Duncan Dayton (BT11) trying to find a way past Simon Hadfield’s Lotus 21. They made it into the lead at half distance as Hadfield was slowed with a deflating left rear tyre but Dayton had to pull out with just two laps to run with engine problems. This left King to take the win from Hadfield and Frank Sytner (Lotus24) who had had a spirited scrap with Brian Redman in a BRM P578.
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Hadfield did get a win though in the final race of the weekend, the Whitsun Trophy, in his Lola T70 Spyder. With a huge field that included seven Ford GT40s and six Lola T70s there was, as usual, drama a-plenty. Sytner (Lola T70) led from the start but Hadfield had taken the lead by the time they got to Woodcote. Further back Bellm had spun his GT40 at St Mary’s giving the closely following Jon Minshaw (Lola T70) a very nasty fright. Also on lap one Pier Enrico Tonetti’s Huffaker-Genie Chevrolet went bang in a big way laying a huge oil slick through St Mary’s. This unpleasant surprise was first discovered by Hadfield who had a big twitch and Sytner who lost the Lola. They were followed by the very expensive sight of three spinning GT40s (Shaun Lynn, John Hugenholtz and Joaquin Folch). All managed to rejoin but then Howard Spooner, in David Piper’s Ferrari 250LM began laying a new line of oil around the circuit. He thoughtfully continued to do this for two laps before pitting. Out came the safety car and when racing resumed Hadfield was leading from Chris Jolly (Cooper T61 Chevrolet) and Roger Wills (McLaren M1B Chevrolet) who had started down in 20th place. Jolly couldn’t hold onto his place though and both Wills and Bellm got by. On a very slippery track Wills closed to within 7/10ths of Hadfield’s Lola when the flag dropped.
So ended another superb Revival meeting. For three glorious days we could suspend reality and take that “Magical Step Back in Time” but as we walked out of the gates on Sunday evening, the real world awaited. I have just 362 days to figure out a way of actually making a profit out of next years Revival
Sam Snape
26-9-08