Silver and Gold

Silver and Gold The return of the Silver Arrows will be one of the Goodwood Revival’s greatest moments, but there’s so much more to look forward to at this year’s ‘50th anniversary special’

Like us here in the office, most of you will have looked immediately for one particular sentence in the timetable for the Goodwood Revival: the Silver Arrows demonstration ‘race’.

At 13.20 on Friday September 14 the Silver Arrows will be reunited on track for the first time since the 1930s. And what a sight – and sound – it will be. To mark the 75th anniversary of the cars’ first appearance in Britain, at Donington in 1937, the team at the Goodwood Revival has managed to gather a selection of the thunderous machines – made famous by the likes of Caracciola, Fagioli, Lang, seaman, nuvolari, rosemeyer and stuck – for two demonstration ‘races’.

Every year Goodwood brings something new, but this will trump them all. the question on everyone’s lips come September 17 will be, “how will they beat that?”

Both Mercedes-Benz classic and Audi tradition have got behind the demonstrations (no insurance company would say yes to a proper race…) and 10 cars will take to the track on each day of the event, beginning with a practice session on friday. the Mercedes-Benz W25, W125, W154 and W165, and Auto union c-type, D-type and D-type ‘Doppel kompressor’ will all be represented. And the lucky (read: trusted) drivers? the only one to be confirmed at the time of writing was silver Arrows demonstration regular Jochen Mass.

It’s not all about the silver Arrows over the Revival weekend, though. There will also be a tribute to the AC Cobra’s 50th anniversary with a race specifically for the Anglo-American muscle car (above), as celebrated in this issue. The race will be a 45-minute, two-driver affair and will include some of the special-bodied Cobra-based coupés as well as the usual exotic array of historically important racers.

Every year at the revival a famous driver is honoured and this year it is the turn of the great American racer Dan Gurney, who just happened to win his first Grand Prix – aboard a Porsche 804 at the French GP – 50 years ago in July.

Keeping with the theme of 50th anniversaries, it is exactly half a century since the Ferrari 250G to was first built, which brings us to the usual headline event: the RAC TT celebration. it is one of those not-to-be-missed races and provides arguably the most valuable grid of cars in the world.

But for top wheel-to-wheel competition it’s the St Mary’s trophy that usually steals the show. Last year’s TT winner Kenny Bräck will be piloting an Austin A95 Westminster, hotly pursued by other big names. in the past, eight-time Le Mans winner Tom Kristensen, Aston Martin works driver Darren Turner and ex-F1 driver Martin Brundle have starred in this race for saloon cars built between 1950 and ’59.

The track action, as any revival fan will attest, is only a part of the charm and theatre of the meeting. There’s the usual period dress and garages (look out for the specially built silver Arrows pits), plus the Earl’s Court Motor Show, which this year celebrates the ‘Great British sports car’ with a concours d’elegance. Keep your eye on the sky for the breathtaking air displays and make sure to visit the Motor Sport stand in the trade Village. We’ll see you there.