Once again Lord March and his merry band at Goodwood delivered another
spectacular 3 days of time-warp motor racing. We went down and
stayed locally so as to be able to get on site nice and early and avoid the
traffic queues that inevitably occur later on.
Friday was primarily
the day for free practice, allowing drivers (experienced and novice) to
familiarise themselves with this oh-so-original racing circuit, based on
the former WW2 airfield of RAF Westhampnett. The circuit, based on the
airbase's perimeter track, first saw motor racing back in 1948 and held
single seater and sports car races throughout the 1950s and into the 1960s,
with the final race being held in 1966. Since then the track was
used for occasional track days and test days by car manufacturers, until
it's re-emergence as a proper racing circuit in 1998, celebrating the
50th anniversary of the first race meeting held at the track.
The weather on Friday was a little overcast, with the odd shower sending us
diving for cover in the paddock area. We (both dad and I) attended
in retro gear, dad suitably smart, and myself kitted out in period brown
overalls, trying to blend in to the background of historic motor racing
cars.
Throughout the weekend the aural senses were battered by the thunder of unsilenced
vintage and classic racing cars, heaven to anyone with even a hint
of Castrol R in their veins. And as if this wasn't enough, there were the
aerial exhibits as supplied by the Old Flying Machine Company, this year
their fleet including a P40, Supermarine Spitfire, Hurricane, and a pair of
North American P51 fighters. Other welcome historic aircraft include a
De Havilland Heron and its smaller DH Dove brother, the latter offering
pleasure flights around the South Downs for the duration of the 3 days. On
display
was a Lysander, regularly used during WW2 for dropping agents into enemy
territory, and the splendid sight of a Scottish Aviation Twin Pioneer,
operated
by Air Atlantique.
Motorcycles were well represented as usual for the 2
Lennox Cup races, and it was great to see Barry Sheene going well
onboard a Manx Norton.
Overnight rain saw us going to day 2 of the race meeting in 'normal' attire,
simply because I didn't want my retro gear getting muddied up, the night
previously
having seen torrential rain .. but as it happened, by the time we'd driven
the 30 minute drive to Goodwood, the weather was beginning to clear, and
developed into a fantastic day, a day which we primarily spent perched up at
Madgwick, the first double apex righthand corner following the
start/finish straight. All day long, while the free and official practice
took place, there were other things to entertain and delight. Members of the
local Police
contingent patrolled on vintage motorcycles, spivs tried to sell dodgy
nylons to the passing punters, period vehicles (some provided by Vauxhall's
historic
arm) ferried drivers around the place, while elderly tractors, dragging
trailers, moved spectators around the picturesque Sussex track.
Later in the
day we went
for a walk around the various displays that were situated behind the main
grandstands near the start, the majority of which were also 'in period',
such as the
Wall of Death motorcycle display, many trade stands selling all manner of
motorsport related memorabilia (for a #price!) including a marquee selling
Murray
Walkers new book, "Unless I'm very much mistaken" which was selling well.
One of my favourite displays, just past the period 'bomb site' car sales
area, was the makeshift scrapyard, where a gallant team took a mightily rusty old pre
- fintail Mercedes saloon (maybe a 180?), and chopped it about into
something
approaching a banger racing car, surrounded by loads of carefully arranged
'scrap' to complete the scene, including derelict examples of Fordson 5cwt
van,
Austin A30, Isetta and Peugeot 403 pickup.
Saturday evening hosted an
evening sportscar race, in the spirit of the old Goodwood 9 Hour races of
the 1950s, with
examples of D Type Jaguar, Aston Martin DB3S, Lister Jaguar and Maseratis to
name a few, pounding around the track, headlamps ablaze, being accompanied
by a fantastic air display by 2 P51s as darkness began to fall.
Sunday dawned nice and clear, so it was back into the period clothing for
the final day, traditionally the busiest day of the weekend, so we wasted no
time in heading
up to our favourite corner and set out our chairs for the days activities.
All day long we sat up at Madgwick, having already checked out the other
corners for viewing
purposes we felt this one provided one of the best views, though it does get
busy. Throughout the day elderly flying machines took off and landed
directly overhead,
whilst on track action continued apace, including for this year a tribute
demonstration to Graham Hill, with the assembly of cars he'd driven being
led by Damon Hill in
his father's old BRM grand prix car.
All too soon the weekends events were
over, and while awards were being presented into Sunday evening, dad & I
made a beeline
for the Goodwood Road Racing Clubs pre-1966 carpark, where members who
attend in an old classic car, and have prebooked, can park in a roped off
area, near to
where the Bonhams auction was held. There were some very interesting cars
parked up in this carpark, and can recommend anyone to have a look in there
as there
were some real rarities. Amongst the usual Triumph TRs, MGBs and MG TFs,
there were examples of vintage Bentley, Alvis, Rochdale Olympic (looking
decidedly
ripe for restoration!), highly modified Triumph Spitfire, and lines and
lines of other unusual old classics.
Ironically one of the most interesting
discoveries parked up,
was not in the pre-1966 car park but out in the main public car park near
us. Initially the red E-Type Jaguar didn't look to be anything particularly
unusual, until we'd
taken a look at its registration plate, 848 CRY, which rang a bell - this
was the red Jaguar that featured on film back in the 1960s, namely in The
Italian Job, when
Michael Caine and buddies attempted to lift a quantity of gold bars from
under the noses of Italian security, using a trio of Mini Coopers, the 2 E
Types and DB4 Aston
having already met their end courtesy of the local mafia. During the film
848CRY was subject to the attentions of a JCB-type digger crunching the top
of it, but in
reality only the screen and frame were damaged, rendering the car easily
rebuildable. The same couldn't be said for the sister fixed head coupe, that
had its roof
well and truly crunched by said JCB. The DB4 survives also I believe, as the
car tipped over the edge of the ravine was a last minute switch, if I
remember right it was
an old FIAT ragtop tipped over the edge, substituting for the DB4. While on
this subject, some of the Mini Coopers tipped off the mountain were standard
Mini shells, as
they didn't all feature the 2nd fuel tank filler as fitted to the Cooper S.
Also see: free historic racing car screensaver, comprising car & aircraft photos taken at the 2004 Revival meeting!
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