6.10.09

From 1948 until its closure in 1966 the former RAF Westhampnett, at the base of the Sussex Downs, was a prominent venue in global motorsport. Opened as Goodwood by the current Earl of March’s grandfather, its contribution and that of its entrants and competitors, is marked by several statues in the Paddock, including Jaguar racer and Team Manager, Mike Hawthorn and Lofty England, whilst a garden of remembrance  is dedicated to Kiwi Bruce McLaren tragically killed testing his CanAm car here in 1970. There is also a memorial to Douglas Bader DFC who flew his last ever wartime mission from the adjacent airfield.

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Now in its 11th year the Goodwood Revival combines cars, planes, fashion and culture with some of the globe’s best historic racing and a Bonhams auction. With a record 134,000 attendance over the 3 days, many in ‘40’s/’50’s/’60’s dress, it was undoubtedly the best yet. The
on track activity and Bonhams Auction has received widespread coverage elsewhere but here were my personal highlights:

• An 80 car celebration for the world’s fastest Octogenarian, Sir Stirling Moss who celebrated his milestone birthday the day before the event. The display acknowledged his early success in Cooper 500’s and HWM, as well as his privateer and works Maserati 250Fs, his Mille Miglia winning Mercedes 300 SLR and first GP win at Aintree in 1955 in a Mercedes W196, plus his celebrated victory at Monaco in 1961 in a Lotus 18.

• 50 years of the Sir Alec Issigonis designed Mini with an on track display which included every conceivable body and engine application from Cooper S to pickup via Mr Bean’s 850, the Outspan Orange, to the twin engined Twini!

• 75 years of ERA. Conceived pre-war by the triumvirate of Peter Berthon, Humphrey Cook and Raymond Mays, the Riley derived 1,500cc voiturette was at the forefront of motorsport either side of World War II and has been a backbone to Vintage Sports Car Club and historic racing ever since. Eleven of the 17 remaining cars were on-track over the weekend and it was fitting that the most raced example (R5B Remus) was again a winner in the Goodwood Trophy, driven by long-time custodian Ludovic Lindsay.
  
  
• The sole remaining airworthy, 1960 built, Avro Vulcan bomber XH558 was the only attendee everyone stopped to watch over the weekend! Making low passes on both days, the Rolls Royce Olympus powered Cold War bomber made an interesting contrast to the Battle of Britain memorial flight and the Spitfire and Mustang air displays. If the Olympus engines sounded familiar to some aviation enthusiasts they should, a derivative of it powered Concorde.

• In the central paddock ,where gentlemen are required to wear ties, cars were arranged by marque including Alfa Romeo, Maserati, Jaguar, Porsche, Aston Martin and Ferrari. Undoubtedly attracting the most attention was the aforementioned Mercedes 300SLR, the sadly static BRM V16 and Klaus Werner’s Ferrari Breadvan shared in the RAC TT Trophy by son Max and former F3 racer Claudia Hurtgen.
  
  Despite the best efforts of Jean Marc Gounon and Peter Hardman (in Sir Anthony Bamford’s ‘64GTO) and Emmanuele Pirro and Bobby Verdon Roe (in Harry Leventis’s 330LMB), victory in the TT celebration went to the Jaguar E type pairing of Adrian Newey and Bobby Rahal, whilst Ferrari’s only victory over the weekend, went to former Le Mans winner Richard Attwood in Adrian Hamilton’s Dino 246F1.

• I visited the adjacent pre 1966 car park often during the weekend - the diverse display of collectors cars was undoubtedly worth the trip alone. Proximity to the Channel ports ensures there is something of a Continental European invasion, acknowledged by a Belgian registered Daytona and Dutch Lancia Aurelia amongst many others. Most interesting cars for me were the Petersen Engineering built replicas of the Blue Train and Embiricos Bentleys and two of the very rare Abbott bodied Bristol 405 dropheads.                                  

• Rolex Driver of the Meeting – Frank Stippler.
• Fastest Lap of the Meeting – Julian Bronson – 1:24:470 (102.8mph).
• Fastest Lap by a Lady driver – Claudia Hurtgen
  – 1:28:780 (97.31mph).
• Best Presented Team – John Kotts N.A.R.T. team
• Spirit of Goodwood Award – Michael Schryver and
  Steve Harris.
• Will Hoy Memorial Trophy – Bobby Rahal
• Freddie March Spirit of Aviation – Mark Rijkse
  – Bucker Jungmeister.