Keith Bluemel @gentlemendrive
Nov 20, 2018
Goodwood Revival Meeting, 07 – 09 September 2018.
The 20th Anniversary Goodwood Revival Meeting was held over
the weekend of 07 – 09 September, attracting the regular massive crowds to the picturesque Sussex circuit for the annual step back in time. Whereas the 2017 running had been blighted with terrible
wet weather, the sun shone virtually continuously on the anniversary event, with very pleasant ambient temperatures. The occasional grey cloud drifted through, fortunately with no precipitation, although rain did fall quite heavily only a few miles away on the Friday. It never ceases to amaze that people of all ages go to great lengths to “dress for the occasion”, and surprisingly this has seemed to increase year on year, rather than wane with familiarity and the passage of time.
It is said that “familiarity breeds contempt”, but the opposite is the case with the Goodwood Revival Meeting.
With a 15 race programme, plus the practice/qualifying sessions, together with the track parades and demonstration runs, there is almost continuous activity from Friday morning through to Sunday evening. Then there the multitude of peripheral attractions, both within the track boundaries and “Across the Road”, which features a further plethora of trade stands, food and beverage outlets, the funfair, Butlins roller skating rink, Bonhams Auction and classic car parking area. One of the endearing features of the event are all the “theatre acts” that portray a real image of bygone days, whether it be the road works gang, the “Glam Cabs” girls, the hockey stick wielding “St Trinian’s schoolgirls”, the military camps, the “Mods & Rockers” and even a Tazio Nuvolari lookalike. This year they excelled with an operating steam locomotive and tender on a section of track just inside the main entrance. The transport logistics for this 89 ton leviathan must have been a nightmare! This was belching steam, which with the railway guard, a porter with a trolley laden with cases, a bored gentleman reading his newspaper waiting for his train, and a “little lady lost”, provided a wonderful nostalgic trip down memory lane, definitely one of the off-track highlights. Another was the driver’s club setting, which like the sculpture in front of Goodwood House for the Festival of Speed is always eagerly anticipated as to what form it will take. This year it was a farmyard scene, with antique farm machinery, a hay barn and even some sheep, presumably drafted in from nearby pastures, grazing.
Apart from the races the track activity included a celebration of Bri- tish Transport Parade, with an eclectic mix of vehicles that graced the roads of the country during the fifties and sixties, which opened pro- ceedings each morning. As a celebration of the events 20th Anniversary, there was a parade of cars and motorcycles that had won races at the meetings through that period. There was also a celebration of the great gentleman driver turned entrant, Rob Walker, whose name is synonymous with that of Sir Stirling Moss, who won the 1960 and 1961 TTs at Goodwood in Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinettas entered by him, both of which were in attendance to take part in the parade. The event also celebrated the centenary of the Royal Air Force, which was very apt, as the airfield around which the circuit runs was a WW II fighter base, and the Freddie March Spirit of Aviation display was RAF-themed for this anniversary.
As usual the racing was fast and furious in virtually every category, none more so than in the opening race of the weekend, the Kinrara Trophy on Friday evening, that ran from daylight into dusk. The hour long race featured a tremendous duel that swung like a pendulum throughout, between the Minshaw/Keen driven Jaguar E-Type and the Halusa/Pirro driven Ferrari 250 GT “Breadvan”, with the latter eventually pulling out a slight breathing space in the closing stages to take the win. The first race on Saturday morning, the Fordwater Trophy, fittingly saw works Aston Martin driver Darren Turner, take victory in an Aston Martin DB2. The two part St Mary’s Trophy sa- loon car races always keep the crowds enthralled, with a wide variety of shapes and sizes of cars taking part, from miniscule Mini Coopers to corpulent Ford Galaxies, usually using all the track and then some, with some interesting cornering angles and techniques thrown in for good measure! There were all the usual antics, and a number of retirements either through mechanical problems or untoward excur- sions, and at the end of the day the aggregate result was that Lotus Cortinas filled the podium with Steve Soper and Andy Priaulx on the top step. There was a bonus of a third saloon car race this year, the Jack Sears Memorial Trophy, for cars of the type that raced in the1958 British Saloon Car Championship. That was the year that the championship was inaugurated, and the late Jack Sears was the first winner of the championship in that season. This race featured a dice the equal of that in the Kinrara trophy between the Jaguar Mk Is of Justin Law and John Young, with the latter just making it across the line first.
In the Glover Trophy for pre-1965 Grand prix Cars, Joe Colasacco, in a screaming Ferrari 1512 F1 car, came through the field froma 6th place qualifying position to take a fine race win, just 1.3secs ahead of the Lotus 25 of Andy Middlehurst, a previous winner of this race. The TT Celebration race on the Sunday afternoon is one of the meeting’s highlights, and provides great spectacle with thundering Cobras doing battle with the svelte Jaguar E-Types and the rest of the field. After all the shuffling of the first few laps of the 60mins race,
it was the Hart/Hart Cobra that established itself at the head of the field and went on to take a comfortable win, despite a 5secs penalty for clipping the chicane. The Minshaw/Keen Jaguar E-Type took
the runner-up spot, with the TVR Griffith 400 of Whitaker/Jordan claiming 3rd, to make it three different makes on the podium.
Roll on the 21st Birthday!
Race Podiums
Race 1 – Kinrara Trophy
1st - # 16, HALUSA / PIRRO - Ferrari 250 GT SWB ‘Breadvan’ - 1961
2nd - # 33, MINSHAW / KEEN - Jaguar E-type - 1961
3rd # 12, MEINS / HUFF - Jaguar E-type FHC - 1961
Race 2 – Fordwater Trophy
1st - # 11, Darren TURNER - Aston Martin DB2 - 1950
2nd - # 600, Sam TORDOFF - Porsche 356 - 1953
3rd - # 72, Stuart GRAHAM - Jaguar XK120 Roadster - 1950 Race 3 – Barry Sheene Memorial Trophy (Part 1)
1st - # 1, McGUINNESS / ENGLISH - Manx Norton - 1953
2nd - # 12, HILLIER / BAIN - Manx Norton - 1953
3rd - # 11, CORSER / SCHWAB -BMW R57 Compressor – 1929 Race 11 – Barry Sheene Memorial Trophy (Part 2)
1st - # 11, CORSER / SCHWAB - BMW R57 Compressor - 1929 2nd - # 1, McGUINNESS / ENGLISH - Manx Norton - 1953
3rd - # 12, HILLIER / BAIN - Manx Norton - 1953
Aggregate Result
1st - # 11, CORSER / SCHWAB - BMW R57 Compressor - 1929 2nd - # 1, McGUINNESS / ENGLISH - Manx Norton - 1953
3rd - # 12, HILLIER / BAIN - Manx Norton – 1953
Race 4 –St Mary’s Trophy (Part 1)
1st - # 7, Andy PRIAULX - Ford -Lotus Cortina Mk1 - 1963
2nd - # 55, Matt NEAL - Studebaker Lark Daytona 500 - 1963 3rd - # 77, Andrew JORDAN - Ford -Lotus Cortina Mk1 - 1963 Race 12 – St Mary’s Trophy (Part 2)
1st - # 4, Olivier HART - Alfa Romeo 1600 GTA - 1965
2nd - # 69, Roger WILLS - Mercury Comet Cyclone - 1964
3rd - # 7, Steve SOPER - Ford -Lotus Cortina Mk1 - 1963 Aggregate Result
1st - # 7, PRIAULX / SOPER - Ford -Lotus Cortina Mk1 - 1963 2nd - # 77, JORDAN / JORDAN - Ford -Lotus Cortina Mk1 - 1963 3rd - # 13, HUFF / WOLFE - Ford -Lotus Cortina Mk1 - 1965 Race 5 – Goodwood Trophy
1st - # 23, Calum LOCKIE - Maserati 6CM - 1938
2nd - # 11, Mark GILLIES - ERA A-type R3A - 1934
3rd - # 21, Gareth BURNETT - Alta 2 Litre Single Seater - 1938 Race 6 – Jack Sears Memorial Trophy
1st - # 31, John YOUNG - Jaguar Mk1 - 1958
2nd - # 8, Justin LAW - Jaguar Mk1 - 1958
rd - # 12, Grant WILLIAMS - Jaguar Mk1 - 1959
Race 7 –Whitsun Trophy
1st - # 46, Mike WHITAKER - Lola -Chevrolet T70 Spyder - 1966 2nd - # 63, Darren TURNER - Hamill -Chevrolet SR3 - 1965
3rd - # 19, Rob HUFF - Lotus -Oldsmobile 19 - 1962
Race 8 – Freddie March Memorial Trophy
1st # 3, Martin HUNT - HWM -Jaguar - 1954
2nd - # 7, Darren MCWHIRTER - Lagonda V12 Le Mans - 1954 3rd - # 15, Richard WOOLMER - HWM -Cadillac - 1954
Race 9 – Chichester Cup
1st # 9, Andrew HIBBERD - Lotus -Ford 22 - 1962
2nd - # 66, Cameron JACKSON - Brabham -Ford BT2 - 1962 3rd - # 21, Sam WILSON - Lotus -Ford 20 - 1962
Race 10 – Richmond & Gordon Trophies
1st - # 10, William NUTHALL - Cooper -Climax T53 ‘lowline’ - 1960
3rd - # 2, Rod JOLLEY - Cooper -Climax T45/51 - 1958
Race 13 – Number Not Used
Race 14 – RAC TT Celebration
1st # 1, HART / HART - AC Cobra – 1963
2nd - # 33, MINSHAW / KEEN - Jaguar E-type ‘semi-lightweight’ - 1965
3rd - # 86, WHITAKER / JORDAN - TVR Griffith 400 - 1965 Race 15 – Glover Trophy
1st - # 13, Joe COLASACCO - Ferrari 1512 - 1965
2nd - # 25, Andy MIDDLEHURST - Lotus -Climax 25 - 1962
3rd - # 17, Jon MILICEVIC - LDS -Climax F1 - 1964
Race 16 – Sussex Trophy
1st - # 33, Phil KEEN - Lister -Jaguar ‘Knobbly’ - 1959
2nd - # 25, Roger WILLS - Lotus -Climax 15 - 1958
3rd - # 21, Oliver BRYANT - Lotus -Climax 15 - 1958
Text: Keith Bluemel
Photos: Unai Ona / Rolex