TIME TRAVELLERS

TIME TRAVELLERS

FOR THREE AMAZING DAYS YOU CAN SUSPEND REALITY AT THE ANNUAL GOOD WOOD REVIVAL PAUL LAWRENCE IS YOUR GUIDE TO A WEEKEND OF UNADULTERATED NOSTALGIA — BOTH ON AND OFF THE FAMOUS TRACK

Ills THE ULTIMATE IN MOTOR RACING TIME TRAVEL.

Over the weekend of September 6-8, Goodwood race circuit winds the clock back 40 years and more to a golden era.

But this is more than a series of races for glorious cars. It is a total experience, with incredible attention to detail at every turn. In the paddock, period dress, period vehicles and wall-to-wall motorsport heroes add to the unique atmosphere.

On the track, an impressive 13-race programme through Saturday afternoon and Sunday brings together an exquisite array of cars recalling the circuit’s 18-year history. The entry list for each is subject to a careful selection process to ensure the best and most original cars are on the grid.

Yet it is not just the cars that make the event. Sprinkled liberally through the field are star drivers, some reliving former glory, while an array of current aces enter into the spirit of the occasion. Patrick Tambay, Bobby Rahal, Henri Pescarolo, Jackie Oliver, Richard Attwood, Derek Bell, Barry Sheene and Phil Read are just some of the motorsport legends lined up to compete. From the modern era come Emanuele firro, Gabriele Tarquini, Jason Plato, Darren Manning, David Leslie and more. New for 2002, and sure to be a major attraction, is the Freddie March Memorial Trophy for cars

in the spirit of the Goodwood Nine Hours. This two-driver, 90-minute race runs on into dusk on Saturday, the headlights cutting through the Sussex evening just as they did 50 years ago. The race pits Ferrari against Lotusjaguar, Aston Martin and Frazer Nash in an evocative recreation of one of Goodwood’s best-loved events.

An incredible tally of seven Ford GT4Os has been assembled for the Whitsun Trophy for mid-engined sports-racing prototypes. Attwood, Oliver and Manning are aboard three of them and they should take the battle to Ferrari, McLaren and Porsche. Simon Hadfield (Lotus 30) and Frank Sytner (Cooper Monaco-Chevrolet) add more fireworks.

Another crowd favourite should be the St Maly’s Trophy race for production saloons. Run this year solely for 1950s cars, the wonderfully diverse entry is matched with a host of star drivers in the twodriver contest Imagine Gerry Marshall in a Jaguar Mkl, Barrie Williams in a Morris Minor, Tarquini in an Ma Romeo Giulietta and British Touring Car Championship battlers Leslie and Anthony Reid in MG Magnettes and you have it. Three races charting the progress of Formula One cars from 1948 to ’65 bring some gems to the grid. The Goodwood Trophy spans the first six yea’s, with ERA and Connaught taking on Maserati,

Ferrari and Alfa Romeo. The Thinwall Special from the Donington Collection is this race’s star entry. The Richmond & Gordon Trophies race covers the 1954-61 era with a trio of Maserati 250Fs and BRM P25s ranged against Cooper, Lotus, Connaught and the stunning Lancia D50 of Robin Lodge. The rearengined revolution is recreated in the Glover Trophy race for Fl and Tasman cars that raced between 1961-65. Lotus, Brabham, BRM and Cooper are represented, along with rarities such as ATS, BRP, Scirocco and Assegai. Sytner, Duncan Dayton and James King top the driver line-up.

Massive fields of 500cc F3 and rear-engined Formula Juniors will complete the single-seater programme. In the Chichester Cup for the 1960s Juniors, a fierce contest is assured with category aces Mike Flibberd, Denis Welch, Martin Walford and Michael Schryver at the head of the furious pack.

Barring a brace of Lennox Trophy ‘bike races, sportscars make up the balance of the action. And for many fans, the main race of the weekend will again be the Royal Automobile Club TT Celebration Race for closed cars in the spirit of the Tourist Trophy races run between 1960-64. Consider for a moment the prospect of Tambay and Pescarolo in an AC Cobra, Sandro Munari in an Alfa Romeo Giulia 171, Plato and Marshall in Chevrolet Corvette Stingrays, Rahal in a Ferrari 250GT0, and last year’s winner Pirro in a lightweight Jaguar E-type. And it goes on.

Wrapping up the races are the Sussex Trophy, for a magnificent field of world championship sportscars from the late 1950s, and the Fordwater Trophy for production-based sports and GT cars.

If you only attend one classic race meeting this season, this surely must be it. Truly, there is nothing like Goodwood. II

PROVISIONAL TIMETABLE

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 6 08.45 Air display 09.00-14.45 Free practice 15.15-17.45 Official practice SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 7 08.45 Air display 09.00-14.00 Official practice 14.30 Air display 15.00 Track blessing 15.10 Air display 15.20 Racing begins Race 1 Goodwood Trophy Race 2 Earl of March Trophy Race 3 Lennox Cup (Part 1) 17.15 Air display Race 4 Freddie March Memorial Trophy 19.00 Racing finishes SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 8 08.45, 13.00 & 14.00 Air displays 09.00 Racing begins Race 5 Chichester Trophy Race 6 Fordwater Trophy Race 7 St Mary’s Trophy Race 8 Richmond & Gordon Trophies Race 9 Lennox Cup (Part 21 Race 10 Royal Automobile Club Tr Celebration Race Race 11 Glover Trophy Race 12 Sussex Trophy Race 14 Whitsun Trophy 18.00 Racing finishes