©Roger Harrison
Mark Gillies in a Tipo 4CL
©Roger Harrison
Willie Green in a Tipo 4CLT
©Roger Harrison
Willie Green gets a lift home!
©Roger Harrison
©Roger Harrison
©Roger Harrison
Julia de Baldanza in an A6GCM
©Roger Harrison
Julia de Baldanza in the A6GCM
©Roger Harrison
Burkhard Von Schenk in an A6GCS
©Roger Harrison
Mark Devis in an A6GCS 'Monofaro'
©Roger Harrison
Thomas Mittler in a rare OSCA Mt4 (Zampieri)
©Roger Harrison
Thomas Steinke in an A6GCS
©Roger Harrison
Burkhard Von Schenk in a Tipo 300S
©Roger Harrison
Fordwater Straight - Thomas Bscher in a Tipo 250F
©Roger Harrison
Fordwater Straight - Micael Hinderer in a Tipo 250F
©Roger Harrison
Barrie Baxter in the TecMec 250F |
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THE GOODWOOD REVIVAL MEETING 2004
by Roger Harrison
In previous years I have only attended the Revival meeting, weather permitting, for the Friday practice sessions. The intention being to see all the cars yet avoiding the huge crowds who flock there over the rest of the weekend. If I wanted more and the weather was dry I might return on the Saturday or Sunday.
However this year the organisers decided the event was to be advance tickets only, so my dilemma was which day would be dry? I bit the bullet and bought a weekend pass for £70, thinking that I would go for one or two days. This year, fortune smiled on me, and I attended all three days; each day brought glorious warm weather with only fluffy white clouds to complement the beautiful setting of the old airfield and track nestling under the rolling wooded slopes of the South Downs. The Earl of March certainly has chosen a perfect spot to live and indulge his hobbies!
Here are some useful hints. It pays to get to the car parks early (by 8.00 or 8.30) so that the long trek from your car to the track is minimised. Remember to take everything with you for the day; it saves returning to the car park and missing action at the track.
This year the fun started in the car park with people quizzing me about my 222 4v including a persistent would-be buyer who made me a ludicrously low offer. He must have thought Christmas was coming early this year!
I noticed that the organisers had introduced an Expo area that one passes through before arriving at the track; here there were more trade stalls than in previous years, alongside the Bonhams auction marquee where on the Friday night a staggering world record £4.18 million was raised for a 1929 supercharged Mercedes-Benz 38/250 7.1-litre Model SSK. (Cor, think how many Biturbos you could get for that!)
The format and content of the Revival weekend is never static; the organisers always introduce new themes, displays and activities from year to year - quite an achievement when one considers that the remit is circuit racing as close as possible to what actually took place at Goodwood post-war to 1966. This year Friday was to be formal qualifying sessions for each of the races taking place on the Saturday and Sunday giving the spectators the chance of seeing all the cars out on the track "going for it" just as they had done in previous years, but with the contenders for each race all competing together for best qualifying lap times. I hope this aspect is retained for future years as it makes Friday more of a "racing" day.
In addition to seeing all the cars on the track on Friday there was a track demonstration of cars associated with Sir Jack Brabham, who was at the meeting in person and driving one of his favourites in the demo, the 1966 World Championship winning Brabham Repco BT19. Another track demonstration featured cars from Goodwood's "Landmark Years" of 1954 and 1964. Also during the lunch break from racing, we were treated to a fantastic air display from four Spitfires, a Mustang and a Thunderbolt as they looped and rolled just above out heads.
Even when the cars and aircraft go quiet, there are other attractions to draw one's attention - the usual trade stalls offering automotive books and art - plus the chance to marvel at the get-ups of those who come in period dress of the 40s, 50s and 60a. This year Bazza's café was the setting for Rockers, Greasers, Teds and plain old bikers with period Triumphs, Nortons and the like; there was a crowd of Mods on scooters elsewhere but I didn't hear of any punch ups!
Up early on Saturday for a blast down to Goodwood across the South Downs on quiet roads, passing the odd E-type or MGB presumably heading there as well.
First race on the card was the Goodwood Trophy for pre-1954 GP, Formula 2 and Formula Libre cars. Four Maseratis took part: two A6GCMs, a 4CLT, and a 4CL which achieved a creditable third driven by Mark Gillies against fearsome opposition from two ERAs which diced for first and second.
The Madgwick Cup for Production Sports Racing Cars pre-1955 this year had as its theme those cars which had a BMW or BMW derived engine, to celebrate BMW's 75th anniversary. So we saw many BMW 328s mixing it with a host of Frazer Nash's and others. The clear winner was a Tojeiro Bristol, driven with beautifully executed drifts around the corners by Nick Wigley.
The Chichester Cup for Formula Juniors 1958-61 brought close racing from the cars, which this year had been limited to mid-engined drum-braked. James Hicks took the chequered flag in a Caravelle Ford MkIII.
This year's bike race had been renamed the Barry Sheene Memorial Trophy. Last year I watched Barry Sheene storming around the circuit on (I think) a Manx Norton. Very sadly, not long after that he succumbed to cancer. This year the race was a two-parter and Saturday's race was won by Australian Wayne Gardner on a Manx Norton 500. Murray Walker commentating on the race told us that the riders lean the bikes to a maximum 57 degrees on the corners. Hmmm, I'll stick to four wheels I think!
More fabulous air displays again today, with Raymond Baxter in the commentary box. Same aircraft as yesterday but you never tire of the sight; if you do, you can close your eyes and listen to the glorious Merlin engines in the Spitfire and Mustang; the Mustang lets out an eerie howl from its supercharger in a steep dive.
After lunch the first of the two-part St Mary's Trophy for Production Saloons 1950-59 kicked off with some very entertaining action as these old saloons were pushed to their limits, and sometimes beyond. Most of us have probably seen an Alvis Grey Lady, but how often have we seen one being pushed hard round the corners? And it came in second in the hands of Gerry Marshall, pipped to the post by Justin Law in a Jag Mk1.
New this year was the Brooklands Trophy for cars raced at Brooklands prior to 1939. Star of the show was Duncan Ricketts driving a Riley Dixon Special to a commanding lead from two Alfa Tipo Bs. A good mix of Bugs and Bentleys here with the odd Delage and Miller thrown in. Only one Maserati here - the 26M driven by Bill Ainscough. Also of note was the world's oldest active racing driver, Tom Delaney, driving, at 93, his 1928 Lea Francis Hyper.
The closing race of the day was the Sussex Trophy for World Championship Sports Cars and Production Sports Racing Cars 1955-60. This brought us fast action and close racing, and featured three Maseratis: the 300S's of Mark Gillies and Burkhard von Schenk, and the 450S of Thomas Bscher. Lister Jaguar Knobblies took first (Julian Bronson) and third, with a Lister Chevrolet Knobbly in second place.
A fitting end to the day was a flypast by a Lancaster and two Spitfires from the Battle of Britain flight.
Another early blast down to Goodwood on Sunday morning with the prospect of yet more thrilling action.
I took time before the racing started to walk around the paddocks. I'm not a member of the Goodwood Road Racing Club and hence I'm barred from going into the main paddock which contains the cream of the cars competing over the weekend. However in my underprivileged role I was able to glimpse some of the cars lined up inside: an impressive gathering of some wonderful racing and sports machines including at least four 250Fs, a TecMec 250F, a JBW Maserati, two 300S's, a 450S, four A6GCS's, two A6GCMs, a 4CL and a 4CLT.
I had free access to the other paddocks holding the saloon cars, Brooklands cars and others. Here I was able to get a close up look at a 26M which competed in the Brooklands Trophy.
The race programme recommenced with the Freddie March Memorial Trophy for sports racing cars which competed in the original Goodwood Nine Hour race. Four Maserati A6GCS's competed in this race which had a clear winner in the HWM Jaguar driven by Michael Steele, but which included very close action in the midfield for all 12 laps. The race had been restarted after an early crash involving Josh Sadler's Allard, and sadly Burkhard von Schenk span off at the restart in his A6GCS.
Some of my favourite cars took part in the Richmond and Gordon Trophies for F1 and Intercontinental Formula cars 1954-61. This encompassed the change from front-engined to rear-engined cars, the latter being represented by Maserati 250Fs, including a TecMec, a Lancia D50, and an Aston Martin DBR4, whilst predictably, perhaps, a horde of Lotus's and Coopers swept the floor with them. Mark Gillies, now driving a Cooper Climax T53 Lowline came in first.
The second part of the St Mary's Trophy for Production Saloons 1950-59 was as action packed as the first part the day before, with the added bonus of seeing a giant killer act from Rae Davis' Austin A35 narrowly beating Grant Williams' Jaguar Mk1. The overall winner of the combined race was the A35 driven by Rae Davis in the second race, and by Tony Jardine, the ITV F1 presenter, in the first race. Earlier in the race a restart had been forced by a Zodiac rolling into the gravel at Madgwick Corner.
Back to the bikes with the second race in the Barry Sheene Memorial Trophy. Jamie Whitham just pipped Wayne Gardner to the post by a fraction of a second, but Wayne Gardner won the combined race. The three leaders, all on Manx Norton 500s had been tussling neck and neck for the entire 8 lap race. Also getting favourable words from Murray Walker was Alan Cathcart, the bike journalist, who contributes bike articles to Auto Italia, making good progress on an Aermacchi 488 to finish in 8th place overall. Murray also informed the meeting that Alan is known in racing circles as "Crashcart" owing to his frequent "offs"!
Sir Jack Brabham was out on track again at lunchtime in the Brabham cars tribute. Sir Stirling Moss was also present at the weekend but sadly was not driving competitively owing to a recent serious back operation. He was driven around the circuit to wave to the crowds from a nice old Mercedes convertible, and I understand that later he took the wheel of the car constructed to the design of the winner of a children's "Design a Racing Car" competition.
Next up was one of the key attractions of the meeting, the RAC TT Celebration race, for GT cars 1960-64. One has to marvel at the people prepared to punish, dent and scrape £30 million worth of automotive jewels, all for our pleasure! The grid included six Jaguars, mainly E types - lightweight or lowdrag, nine AC Cobras and variants, eight Ferraris: two 330 LMBs, two 250 GTOs, two 250 GTO SWBs, a 250 GT Lusso, and a 330 GTO; an Aston Martin Project car, two Stingrays, and a couple of Sunbeam Lister Tigers. But the ace in the pack was the beautiful and swift ISO Bizzarini A3C which clawed its way to a deserved win in the hands of Mark Hales and Richard Attwood, despite being badly dented along the way. What a shame that Maserati wasn't making cars of a type like this to go racing in that period.
The Glover Trophy for 1.5 Litre F1 and Tasman Cars 1961-65 provided us with the fastest cars of the meeting. A close and noisy race was won by Frank Sytner in a Brabham Climax BT4, but not until the race had been restarted following a major crash involving driver Chris Smith, who was hospitalised, but fortunately was not seriously injured.
To close the weekend the Whitsun Trophy for Prototype Sports Racing Cars 1963-66 saw some 10,000bhp let loose onto the circuit. These cars are the "big bangers" of sports car racing and no less than eight Ford GT40s took part, competing against Lola Chevrolets, McLaren Chevrolets, four Ferrari prototypes, and a mix of other monsters. The race was red-flagged twice for spin-offs and stopped following the second red flag with only 5 laps completed. Ray Bellm's GT40 made it to second place but Frank Sytner gained another first in his Lola Chevrolet T70 Spyder. The last race of the day provided the fastest lap time of the weekend - 101.7mph from Frank Sytner's winning Lola.
Well that was it. Someone once said "Give me Goodwood on a summer's day". I'd add "sitting on the grass with a bottle of beer and a pork pie, watching a Maserati 250F at full pelt and then listening to that lovely exhaust note as the car is hauled in before the next corner".
Can't wait for next year!
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