When it was announced that the PFHC would be visiting this venue I determined to attend because after many years involvement with motor sport there are few venues I have never been to and this was one. I journeyed down with the Website Editor who had been taken there by his father in 1965 to see Jimmy Clark racing a Lotus Cortina.

First impressions were wonderful. It was sunny, the setting was delightful, it is as if the circuit has been suspended in time. There is a grass airfield in the middle and it's all beautifully kept. As we drew in I spared a quiet thought for Bruce McLaren, one of my early heroes, who was killed here testing a CanAm car 40 years ago.

We parked up and made our way over to the Ferraris and soon found out that things were less than ideal. The event had atttacted a big entry of 22 cars but several had failed noise testing. At Goodwood this is at three-quarters of max revs and 105dB rather than the 108dB at two thirds of most venues. This may not sound much, but is in fact a huge difference and cars which had no problems anywhere else were in trouble. This included Richard Prior in his newly acquired ex Mike Spicer 355, Barrie Wood, Adrian Wilson and Dave Tomlin and Nick Taylor. The problem for some drivers was solved with them doubling up and Tomlin using Julian Playford's "cans" as sadly, Julian had had an "off" in practice and damaged his 355. I know noise testing is an inevitable part of modern motorsport, but apparently the process was somewhat random with the same car getting different readings when tested twice and also the noise tester seemingly taking delight in failing Ferraris.

As there was nothing he could do, Nick Taylor withdrew. This was especially unjust after the efforts that he and Fiona had made to get there. Stranded in the South of France by the volcanic ash cloud, they had come back on their BMW motorcyle, a journey of some 1200 miles! His mates expressed their sympathy by clapping their hands over their ears and screaming as if in pain when they fired up the 348GTC to go home..... This denied us the chance to see Nick on his new 1B tyres, which would have been interesting especially as they were different makes on each axle!

Use of 1Bs brings with it a swingeing PEP of +2% and only Nick and John Marshall have gone with it so far, but at least it does allow the option for those with other tipi to have a pop at the Scud and it does brings the Series into the 21st Century. I wonder if anyone's told Joe Billingham so that he can come back? Back at Goodwood there was more mechanical mayhem with Mark Hargreaves Berlinetta Boxer dropping its oil out, so he shared the classic 308 racer with son Jack.

Practice was a strange affair with each competitor getting two laps, the first of which was timed. John Marshall in the Scud did not get a time - timing failure apparently, so on the board it was Andrew Holman (355) who was just quickest on 104.01 from Jon Goodwin (550) on 104.18 and Chris Butler (355) on 105.97.

For the afternoon's first competitive runs the cars were called onto the grid on batches of four or five and set off at intervals, seemingly at random. There was no commentary and out on the circuit no times; so don't expect any incisive reporting. What I can say is that the Ferraris looked fab in the Spring sunlight. John Marshall lifted before the finish line and it later turned out after his noise problems in practice he'd found out where the drive-by noise checks were and was lifting for the three of them. This made his leading margin of six seconds all the more remarkable.

Gooders looked good and V12 power obviously suited the place as he was second on 102.25. Chris Butler was only half a second behind on 102.76, despite an off at Lavant and Dave Tomlin was on 103.08. PG was in the lead of the classic class in her 328 a couple of seconds in front of Mark Hargreaves. Mad Dog Holman bogged his start, was in the wrong gear for the chicane and also went off at Lavant and got gravel in his wheel rim. Sean Doyle (GT4) spun at St. Mary's, this being his first ever drive on a circuit! Both Ed Briscoe (308) and Lorraine Hitchman (328) recorded what were to be their best times.

For the second runs we went to the first corner. The scene was idyllic as a stream of Ferraris came round the iconic circuit, including the back-to-back 550s of Gooders and Pa Hitchman. Peter H was incredibly consistent, recording the same time to three-hundredths. Gooders improved his time to 99.60 which would be good enough for second ahead of Chris Butler (100.94) who just pipped Holman (101.01) for the second meeting in succession, but what was to come would have MD foaming at the mouth!

Dave Tomlin was next up on 101.30 and tested the patience of the marshals as his 355 liberally scattered its exhaust cans around the circuit when driven by him and Adrian Wilson. They tried various things including brown paper packages tied up with strings and for all I know raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, but none lasted long. However, Tommo was well clear of Richard Prior (105.50) who was just in front of Jeff Cooper (360) on 105.81. Jeff having "benefitted" from Gooders' advice on how to drive the circuit.

Mark Hargreaves improved by four seconds to 107.15 to comfortably take the classic class from PG's first run time of 109.18. Swifty (355) was in the 109s too (109.88) as was Jack Hargreaves, who was right behind him on 109.97. Chris Hitchman (355) improved to 111.00. Sean Doyle's 117.45 just pipped Wendy Ann Marshall (117.66). Pete Wilson (348) did well to record 120.01. Adrian Wilson only got one time.

The second runs were confusing with cars running in a strange order and some people seemed to be going round twice. When we got back to the pits we found out it was because some cars had caught others and some had finished with others still on the the grid. Some were red flagged and got a re-run. Clearly not enough attention had been paid to "seeding" the cars and getting the release timing right. John Marshall was not flagged but was not given a time. In his own words "Having parked the car I met John Swift who told me to get back in the car and go to the grid. Which I did but there was already a massive queue. Eventually the marshals got me through and so I got my second time."

So what is a lap round Goodwood in a 430 Scud like? Here John descibes it for us: "The start is just like the start at Snetterton with a good straight run into an open double apex right hander. The Scud is already well into fourth at about 110 by the fifty yard board so a bit of a dab and miss the first apex by a cars width, hard on the throttle now, past the second apex and let the car drift out and then a lift past the first microphone.

"This is a real pain as it spoils the rythym but back on full throttle and take Fordwater flat at about one forty and flow out to the left. The track guide refers to a bumpy track here but says it is OK if the driver can take it. I found a very strong sideways vibration but ignored it and entered St Mary’s very fast while trail braking before turning hard left, clip the curb, full throttle, lift for the second mic and then get a good position for the Lavant double right hander. As this is followed by a major straight it is important to get a very good speed through the second half.

I got the throttle full on between the two apexes and kept it on. Flow out to the right and then aim for the left kink which gets the car quite well loaded at about one fifty. Now looking down the straight I use the marker boards like landing lights and aim down the middle. From about three hundred yards I want to brake, but I stay flat until the 200 board is past and then I stand on the brakes, the car squirms around all over the place and at one point I thought I had lost it, but I backed off just a little and it all squared up. Thank you ABS. Hard right into Woodcote, let the car run out and then back across to the apex, squirt down to the chicane and very fast into the first part, brake, turn, miss the tyres, flat towards the finish and here comes the third mic. Sod the mic, stay flat, chequered flag, slow down, into the paddock and park.

"I’m shaking so much I can’t undo my seat belts and helmet strap but at last I get out of the car and start walking to the timing office. And now I see Wendy coming towards me giving a big thumbs up!" John's time was 92.22 which gave him a winning margin of 7.38 seconds despite the lifts for the mics! After his massive PEP of +5% had been applied he still took the 20 points by 1.77 seconds. Gooders was second o/a and on PEPs with Chris Butler getting the third place double.

The "fun" was not quite yet over as some of the field then started their third runs but at precisely 5pm, when only a few Ferraris had had runs, a marshal put a cone on the starting grid and said the meeting was over! This meant that third run times could not be counted. Andrew Holman was somewhat irritated as his third run time would have beaten Butler. This seemed particularly unfair as Chris had beaten him on the third run at the previous round at North Weald when it did count!

So a shambolic meeting spluttered to an end. Wendy-Ann Marshall spoke for most when she said that she loved the Goodwood circuit and she felt privileged to have been given the opportunity to enjoy such an atmospheric place.

All the more shame about the chaos. I wonder if we'll ever go back?

Next up: Harewood : 8&9 May 2010.

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