Circuit Revival 

The Goodwood Revival is a 3-day racing event that takes place in West Sussex England. The event started in 1998 50 years after the circuit originally opened. The circuit was closed in 1966. When the circuit was reopened it was kept as true to the original as possible. Many of the original buildings were restored or rebuilt to keep the feel of the 1960s. The entire event is set in a period with most of the spectators dressing in period-style clothing.

The festivities begin on Thursday with a cricket match at Goodwood House which is just up the road from the circuit. The cars in the parking lot are much more interesting than watching the cricket. People drive in all sorts of strange and rare machinery. As I was driving in I was being followed by a ½ scale Aston Martin DB5. After the cricket is over guests are treated to some low pass flybys from a WWII Spitfire making a beautiful sound.

Track action opened Friday morning with a parade of good old American Hot Rods. There were practice/ qualifying sessions for all the groups that would be racing over the course of the weekend. There were also two other parades, one dedicated to Stirling Moss and the other celebrating BRM racing cars. The first race of the weekend was the Stirling Moss Trophy. This is a two-driver 60-minute race into the twilight with the race beginning at 6:20 in the evening. This race is for pre-1963 GT cars and consisted of many Jaguar E-types, Aston Martin DB4’s and Ferrari 250 SWB’s as well as a few Porsche 356’s. The E-types ended up finishing 1-2 with a Ferrari coming home in 3rd. A couple of the front-running E-types uncharacteristically retired with engine failure. It was a close-fought race with a beautiful background as the skies turned golden as the sun was setting.

The 1st race on Saturday was the Festival of Britain. This was a 25-minute race for Grand Prix and Voiturette cars that raced between 1930 and 1951. This group consisted of many ERA’s, Maserati’s along with a few other makes. It ended in an ERA 1-2-3 finish with Mark Gillies holding off Michael Gans for the win and a fine 3rd place finish for Duncan Ricketts in the Grand Prix ERA GP1.

Next up was the always popular Settrington Cup which is a 247-yard race for children piloting Austin J40 pedal cars.

The Barry Sheene Memorial Trophy was up next. This was part 1 of a 25-minute two-rider race for motorcycles up to 1966. This was won by the glorious-sounding MV Augusta 500cc triple of Michael Dunlop and Steve Plater. 2nd place was the Matchless G50 of Peter Bardell and James Haydon. Coming home 3rd was the Manx Norton of Michael Rudder and Michael Russell.

Next on the agenda was the John Whitmore Trophy for Mini Coopers. This was a 45-minute 2 driver race split between pro drivers and car owners. I was really looking forward to this having owned several Mini’s in the past. I was not disappointed! Seeing 30 of these tiny cars being driven at and sometimes beyond the limit was incredible. 1st place went to the Super Team of Andy Jordan and the always entertaining Nick Swift. The paint scheme on their car was designed by a 9-year-old. It looked a little strange but went like hell. Second place went to Romain Dumas and Chris Middlehurst followed by Matt Neal and Jeff Smith.

The Glover Trophy was the next race. This was a 25-minute race for 1.5-liter Grand Prix cars from 1961-1963. No surprises here as Andy Middlehurst came home 1st once again in his Lotus-Climax 25. In second place was Timothy de Silva in a Lotus-BRM 24 and in 3rd place was the Lotus-Climax 21 driven by Mark Shaw.

The ST. Mart’s Trophy was up next. This was a 2-part race of 25 minutes for saloon cars raced between 1950-1959 with the pro drivers in the cars for part 1. This is probably my favorite race group of the weekend as it really is a Davey vs Goliath battle. We had everything from a 950cc BMW up to a 7-liter Ford Thunderbird along with a gaggle of Austin A40’s and Jaguar MKI’s. In the end, cubic inches prevailed and the Thunderbird of Romain Dumas came out on top followed by the Austin A40’s of Andrew Jordan and Marcel Fassler.

The penultimate race of the day was The Whitsun Trophy for unlimited sports prototypes up to 1966. This was another pretty diverse group with several Ford GT40’s, Lola T70’s, McLaren M1’s and a few other lesser-known makes. Phil Keen put in a fantastic drive to come from behind to take the win in a Lotus 30 followed by the Lola Chevrolet T70 Spyders of Oliver Bryant and Tony Sinclair. The last race of the day was The Sussex Trophy for world championship sportscars from 1955-1960. This race featured lots of Jaguar-powered cars with many Listers and a few Tojieros in the mix. The Lotus brand was also well represented with 5 Climax-powered Lotus 15’s. Roger Wills had the early lead in his Lotus 15 but could not deny the Tojiero-Jaguar of James Cottingham the checkered flag. The Ferrari 246S Dino of Sam Hancock was also able to get past the Lotus to take second place.

Sunday’s action started out with the Chichester Cup which was for front-engined Formula Junior cars between 1958-1962. This was a really varied grid with 20 plus different makes of car amongst the 30 cars entered. There was a great battle between Andrew Hibberd in a Lola MK2 and Peter de la Roche in another Lola MK2 until Hibberd spun off allowing de la Roche to take the victory. He was followed home by the very quick and boxy-looking Mallock U2 of Will Mitchum with the Terrier MK4 of Chris Drake coming home third.

The bikes were up next for the second part of the Barry Sheene Memorial Trophy which followed the same format as Saturday’s race. No surprises in this one as the finishing order was the same as Saturday.

Next on the agenda was The Richmond Trophy for front-engine Grand Prix cars from 1954-1960. The rain started to come down at the start of this one and it turned into a very slip slidey affair with     taking the early lead. It was not to last however as the track became more slippery, he dropped down to fourth. It was a great display of car control at the front with the BRM Type 25 of Ben Mitchell taking the victory. Miles Griffiths in the Lotus Climax 16 was just able to hold off William Nuthall in a Cooper-Bristol MK2 to take 2nd place.

The next race on tap was the Brooklands Trophy, a 2-driver race for post-vintage sports cars. Patrick Blakeney Edwards got off to a great start in the screaming Fraser Nash ‘The Owlett’. Conditions were very tricky, and he put on an amazing display of car control. Once the driver change took place the Fraser Nash of Edward Williams was able to overtake the Owlett and take the victory. This was another superb demonstration of car control in the wet with the car being drifted at some incredible angles. It was a Fraser Nash sweep with Duncan Pittaway and Edward Williams in 1st followed by the team of Patrick Blakeney Edward and Nick Swift with Patrick Blakeney Edwards and Theo Hunt coming home third. Yes, he drove two cars in one race.

The crown jewel for many was next in the form of the RAC TT Celebration a one-hour two-driver race for closed-cockpit GT and prototype cars in the spirit of those that raced in 1963-64. It was an all-Cobra front row with 11 Cobras listed as entries including ex-Formula 1 world champion Jenson Button making his historic racing debut. There was also a large contingent of Jaguar E-types set to do battle. The Jaguars were moving through the field well but as the track began drying out the Cobras were able to lay down their horsepower. In the end, it was the team of Oliver Bryant and Darren Turner taking the victory in a Cobra with the very cool Lister Jaguar Coupe of Emanuele Pirro and Fred Wakeman taking 2nd and Shaun Lynn and Andy Priaulx coming home in third.

Next, we had part 2 of the St. Mary’s Trophy this time with the owners handling the driving duties. As a fan of the smaller bore cars I was hoping for rain but alas it was not to be. Once again the mighty 7 liter Thunderbird was able to take victory with Bill Shepard behind the wheel followed home by the MKI Jaguar of the always sideways Gran Williams and Richard Meaden in an Alfa Romeo Giulietta Ti in third.

The closing race for the weekend was the Freddie March Memorial Trophy. This was for sports cars that would have raced in the 9 hours races held between 1952-55. There were some very beautiful cars in the race including Jaguar C and D types as well as several Maserati’s and Aston Martin’s. In the end, it was historic racing regular David Hart bringing home the Maserati 300S in 1st place with the Jaguar D-type of Steve Brooks in 2nd followed by Martin Hunt an HWM-Jaguar.

The racing was fantastic as always at this event with the cars really being pushed to the limit and sometimes beyond. The atmosphere was electric with all that goes on besides the racing. There is so much to see and do here I wish they would add an extra day so I could check out the rest of the event without missing any of the racing action.

After last year being a no-go, it was great to see the crowds back and people out enjoying themselves again. I don’t know what the total attendance was, but I heard it was 50,000 on Saturday. I’m already looking forward to next year so come on over and join me and check this one off your bucket list!

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