GOODWOOD REVIVAL 2008
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
F1-ITALIAN GRAND PRIX
Here’s a headline you’d never thought you’d see. MINARDI WINS ITALIAN GRAND PRIX. Well almost, Sebastien Vettel in the Toro Rosso totally dominated the race winning from pole position and never looking like being threatened. He not only became the first winner for Red Bull/Toro Rosso/Minardi but was also the youngest Grand Prix winner and the first winner in a customer Ferrari engined car. It was also the first Italian team to win a Grand Prix since Juan Manuel Fangio’s last great win for Maserati at the Nurburgring in 1957.
The Toro Rosso team which was created from the purchase of the old Minardi squad by Red Bull, staffed mainly by ex-Minardi crew, based at the old Minardi factory at Faenza, had never finished higher than fourth and hadn’t had a car on the front row of the grid since Pheonix in 1990. In a stunning wet weather drive he took the lead from the start and pulled away from Kovalainen’s McLaren at close to 2 seconds per lap. He only lost the lead during the first series of pit stops, but once they were completed he was never seriously challenged. A stunning win for a nice young kid. Still possibly the best yarn about Vettel is when he was given his first F1 test with Williams four years ago at the tender age of 17, he had to give his school head-master a note excusing him from class so he could take part in the test. “Dear sir, want a day off school to test drive a Grand Prix Williams” Just too bizarre. Not just a great result for Seb but also a brilliant reward for all those long suffering Toro Rosso/Minardi team members who have spent more time on the last row of the grid than the front.
Trying his damned-est to take the attention away from Vettel was Lewis Hamilton. Unfortunately this was not in a good way. His antics were reminiscent of Schumacher and Senna at their very cheating worst. If he didn’t deserve to be penalised at Spa he should have bloody well been disqualified and given a lengthy suspension for his disgraceful behaviour at Monza. His first stunt, which could almost be forgiven due to the heavy spray, was to run Timo Glock off onto the grass in the run up to the Curva Grande. This is dangerous enough in the dry but in the wet is almost murderous. Glock was extremely lucky not to have a BIG accident. He then put a severe swerve on Alonso when he had already passed him leading into the first chicane and finally swerved into Mark Webber when the Australian had the temerity to try to pass. Webber had been closing the gap by over a second per lap, got a great run onto the McLaren’s tail coming out of the Parabolica and surged down the outside into the first chicane. Hamilton took the inside line to defend his position and then swerved to the outside and straight into the side of Webber’s Red Bull. Webber tried to back out but his front wheel still rode up over the rear wheel of the McLaren pitching the front of the Red Bull into the air. Twenty odd years ago this was the sort of incident that killed Gilles Villeneuve at Zolder at shattered Didier Pironi’s legs at Hockenhiem. At least they were just accidents with no malice intended by either Jochen Mass nor Alain Prost (the guys they ran into).
Last week I bitched about the FIA coming down too hard on a good dice, but this week I am blasting them for not giving a penalty when it is warranted. Lewis did nothing wrong at Spa but this was just plain old thuggery and Hamilton (not to mention the other three) is very lucky that no-one ended up in a hospital or a morgue. This sort of behaviour might be accepted from a school-yard bully, but in a sport where a mistake can kill you should be ruthlessly stamped out. Hamilton should have been disqualified and given at least a one race ban. If I were Max, we wouldn’t see Lewis again until next year. Utterly disgraceful behaviour of this type should never be tolerated on a race track.
Sam Snape
15-9-2008
F1-RED CAR RULE STRIKES AGAIN
Once again the FIA has given the impression that it will do just about anything to assist Ferrari and hamper McLaren (or anyone else) in the F1 World Championship.
The demotion of Lewis Hamilton to third place in the Belgian Grand Prix is the latest in a long line of decisions that many fans (and a large proportion of the sport’s media) see as a blatant bias towards the Italian team. The reports from McLaren today that they had queried Hamilton’s move during the last few laps and had been given the OK from race officials just make the impression even greater. McLaren F1 CEO, Martin Whitmarsh, claims that “From the pit wall, we then asked Race Control to confirm that they were comfortable that Lewis had allowed Kimi to repass, and they confirmed twice that they believed that the position had been given back in a manner that was 'okay'. If Race Control had instead expressed any concern regarding Lewis's actions at that time, we would have instructed Lewis to allow Kimi to repass for a second time." Two hours later the stewards penalised Hamilton 25 seconds which dropped him back to third place and gave the win to, you guessed it, Ferrari’s Felipe Massa.
Just two weeks ago Ferrari, and Felipe Massa, received no on track penalty for an extremely dangerous manoeuvre when they released Felipe into the path of Adrian Sutil during a pit-stop. Sure, they were hit with a ten grand fine but for a team with a $250,000,000 budget this is not even a slap on the wrist and caused no harm to Ferrari’s title hopes.
The list of decisions beneficial to Ferrari goes back into the mid nineties. Michael Schumacher was only “stripped” of his 2nd place in the world championship after his disgusting intentional
collision with Jacques Villeneuve during the title deciding race at Jerez. He lost no points, no wins, no suspension, no nothing of any importance. Two years later the Malaysian stewards caught Ferrari with illegal barge-boards and disqualified them from the results, handing the world championship to Mika Hakkinen. Ferrari appealed, and although they admitted the cars were illegal, they were reinstated as winners of the event forcing the championship down to the last race at Suzuka. Fortunately Hakkinen ran away with the race and rightfully won the title. Several years later, in mid-season, Michelin tyres were found to have an illegal profile and Michelin had to produce entirely new tyres within a couple of weeks. That Michelin had been using the same profile tyres for the past two seasons and they had been passed as legal by the FIA seemed to be irrelevant. McLaren were on Michelin, Ferrari were on Bridgestone.
In 2005 it was the banning of Renault’s Mass-Damper suspension system that almost handed Ferrari another title. Again Renault had been using the system which had been passed by the FIA for well over a year. In 2006 Ferrari and Schumacher again escaped any real punishment for his intentional “accident” during the final moments of qualifying at Monaco which prevented any drivers on a “hot” lap from beating his time. Last year we had the ridiculous spectacle of McLaren being hit with a $100,000,000 fine for “spying” on Ferrari. Again, the fact that a Ferrari team member approached McLaren with the information was deemed unimportant. McLaren was found guilty of bringing the sport into disrepute due to the actions of one of it’s team members. Ferrari, whose team member caused the affair was given no punishment at all. And these are just the major ones. This list does not include the minor ones such as Alonso being demoted 10 grid spots for “blocking” Massa at Monza during qualifying in 2006. The fact that Massa didn’t get to within a second of Alonso was neither here nor there. Just a bad joke.
And all this has been brought up again when the FIA are trying to find a way to promote overtaking. What we had was an exciting dice for the lead between two young brave chargers who were both determined to win. To quote Mario Andretti after that sensational scrap between Gilles Villeneuve and Rene Arnoux at Dijon-Prenois in 1979, “It was just two young lions clawing at each other.” That 1979 French GP has gone down in history as one of the truly great races with one of the highest “hit” rates on you-tube. This didn’t last quite as long but it was the best end to a race we have witnessed in many years, and the race, along with the sports credibility was badly damaged by this decision.
Sam Snape
10-9-08
F1-PHIL HILL DIES
It is with regret that we report that 1961 World Drivers Champion Phil Hill has passed away at the age of 81. Phil had been suffering from Parkinson’s Disease for the last few years
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"It's a sad day," Carroll Shelby, a close friend of Hill's, told the LA Times. "Phil was an excellent race car driver with a unique feel for the car, and his real expertise was in long-distance racing."
Hill was born in Miami, Florida, on April 20th 1927. His family soon moved to Santa Monica, California, and the state would become his American home for most of his life. He studied business administration in university, but never finished his degree, getting drawn into the world of motor racing initially driving an offy midget in the late 40’s before purchasing a XK120 Jaguar with which he began a long and stellar sports car career.
He soon switched to Ferrari and had won such races as the Sebring 12 Hour and Carrera Panamericana before being given his chance with the works squad in Europe.
Despite his ties to Ferrari Phil made his Grand Prix debut in Jo Bonnier’s privately entered Maserati 250F at the 1958 French Grand Prix at Reims finishing seventh. By the end of 1958 he had entered four GPs for Ferrari finishing 3rd at both Monza and Morocco and had also won the first of his three Le Mans 24 Hours victories.
In 1959 and 1960 Phil continued to impress in the front engined Ferrari GP car despite the fact that the “Rear Engined Revolution” was well under way and finally won his first GP at Monza in 1960.
When Ferrari’s first rear engined car, the sublime 156 “Sharknose” arrived for the 1961 season Phil, and team-mate Wolfgang von Trips, would dominate the season. In just seven races Hill claimed pole position on four occasions and scored victories at Spa and Monza where he was crowned World Drivers Champion. It was in this last event that his greatest moment of triumph was clouded with sadness as Von Trips had been killed in an accident with Jim Clark early in the race.
Phil continued in Formula One for just another three years with Ferrari, A.T.S. and Cooper without scoring any further victories. His success in sports cars however continued unabated with two more wins at Le Mans in 1961 and 1962 with Ferrari before he joined up with Jim Hall in the Chaparral. He scored more top line wins in the pretty white car including the Nurburgring 1000 in 1966 and in his very last international race, the 1967 B.O.A.C. 500 at Brands Hatch.
After retiring from racing, Hill continued his involvement in the motor racing world through long-running work for Road & Track magazine, and as tour host with Grand Prix Tours. He continued going to Formula One races several times a year and was a regular and much loved face in the paddock.
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In recent years he has made a number of appearances at both the Goodwood Festival of Speed and the Revival meeting where he was always a crowd favorite with his wonderful story telling and charm. Unlike many of the modern “heroes” he was not afraid to get his hands dirty and was often seen working on his own cars in the Goodwood paddock. “You’d never see Schumacher doing that.” was an often repeated comment.
Always a gentleman, Phil was much admired and respected in the motor racing world. He is survived by his wife Alma, son Derek, daughters Vanessa and Jennifer, and four grandchildren.
He will be missed.
F1-FELIPE MASSA – WORLD CHAMPION (For 28 seconds)
There are so many clichés, It ain’t over till its over, till the fat lady sings, till the final curtain, etc. The most hackneyed Hollywood script writer couldn’t have come up with a more corny ending if he were paid by Sylvester Stallone for that most crap of films, Driven. The Formula 1 World Drivers Championship decided on the last corner of the last lap of the last race. Bullshit!!! Except it happened.
After 68 of the 71 lap Brazilian Grand Prix the title was still a no contest. As he had all race, Lewis Hamilton had done just enough to claim the title with a fifth place finish. Sure the final shower of rain had come and just about everyone had changed onto wet tyres. Rival Felipe Massa was winning the race easily but Hamilton was in the place he needed to score the vital four points needed to clinch the title.
Then on lap 69 it all changed. Held up behind some back-markers Hamilton was passed by the hard pressing Sebastian Vettel in the Toro Rosso and all of a sudden it looked like Hamilton would loose the championship by one point or less for the second year in a row. Vettel was visually faster than Hamilton and going into the final lap the only guy in play that hadn’t changed to wets was 13.1 seconds up the road and it wasn’t raining all that hard. Or was it? McLaren strategist Martin Whitmarsh had already told Hamilton to forget about Vettel because he believed that Hamilton could pass Glock’s fourth placed Toyota on the last lap.
The rain kept increasing but at the end of sector 1 (out of 3) Hamilton had only gained 3.2 seconds to be 9.9 behind. Not enough. The rain got harder. The track got colder. The dry tyres lost more grip. Massa crossed the winning line and Hamilton, with 38.9 seconds of racing left was still 5.1 seconds behind Glock. Coming into the start of the final series of curves leading onto the finish straight Glock still led Vettel and Hamilton by 0.3 seconds. Again, not enough. In that final blast up the hill and over the line Hamilton beat Glock by 5.4 seconds to retake that vital fifth place and rob Massa of the title.
For just over half a minute Massa, his family, his home crowd and the Ferrari team celebrated a championship victory. Then the pain of reality set in. The horror of realization on Massa’s fathers face will be an image hard to forget. The boy from Brazil took it well and gained plenty of respect and new fans for his sportsmanship but it must have been a bitter pill to swallow.
It wasn’t a championship Massa deserved to lose. But for an engine failure at the Hungaroring and a monumental pit-lane fuck-up at Singapore Hamilton wouldn’t have even been in the picture in Brazil. But after the appalling FIA decisions against McLaren, and others, over the last couple of years in favour of Ferrari, most felt that they, and not Massa, got what they deserved. McLaren might not have won the constructors championship that they deserved in 2007, but they got the drivers title that Massa deserved in 2008. Good for Hamilton. Justice for McLaren. In-justice for Massa. But bloody hell, what a way to end a championship.
Sam Snape
4-11-2008