No question of doubt, Goodwood just gets more glorious each year: the Revival continues to deliver the most brilliant masala of on and off track delights and surprises. The drivers and personalities you never expected to see, the stunning vehicles tucked away almost unheralded – the sublime, the wacky, the beautiful – while the vintage garbs get those in attendance more than in the mood.
On track, as ever, there were great tributes to 75 years of Lotus and also the 100th birthday of the late, great Caroll Shelby plus emotive laps of the Sussex circuit by Jackie Stewart in the Tyrrell 006. Of course joining the road machines was a marvellous display of aircraft including five Spitfires and massed ranks of Harley Davidsons and other vintage bikes.
The only frustration you have is that you inevitably miss something with so much to see!
Ultimately the Revival is about racing and each year Goodwood has new categories, often for single makes – this year it was Ferrari and Porsche. Other events are tweaked, often the year-spread of classes adjusted, thus always making the schedule fresh and bringing out cars which haven’t raced in years.
Freddie March Memorial Trophy – Friday
Maserati 250S gets ready for Freddie March race
Getty Images
After a busy morning of qualifying, the racing programme commenced on Friday afternoon. This year’s opening event was the Freddie March Memorial Trophy, a one-hour race for sports cars evoking the spirit of the Goodwood Nine Hours held in the early fifties. Those events, of course, went into the night and, with a 6.30pm start, this race would finish in the dusk with headlights blazing.
Perfectly setting up the star-studded action was Jenson Button. He put Jaguar Heritage’s bronze C type – raced once by no less than Juan Manuel Fangio – on the pole in the car he was sharing with Somerset friend Alex Buncombe.
It was Buncombe who started the car and he quickly pulled away from the field followed by Richard Wilson, in his Maserati 250S. Buncombe handed the C-type over to the 2009 world champion at half distance and JB maintained a good 7sec gap over the Maserati now with former Le Mans LMP2 winner Richard Bradley at the wheel – with the added bonus that Wilson had incurred a 10 sec penalty for entering the pits a fraction early.
A year ago Jenson had a comfortable race win snatched from him by mechanical failure and history repeated itself. Bradley started to eat away at the gap and then the C-type could be heard misfiring at high revs. Bradley passed Button on the road, although the C-type still led when the penalty was counted. But then the misfire got worse, and with ten minutes to go, Button had to retire the car to the pits.
Despite fading brakes and with no knowledge of the penalty, Bradley motored home to his second ever Goodwood chequered flag – his first was in a Frazer Nash earlier in the year at the Members’ Meeting. Into an excellent second place came Gregor Fisken in Jonathan Turner’s HWM-Jaguar, with current BTCC championship contender Jake Hill – who hadn’t sat in the car until qualifying – putting in a strong second half. There was also an excellent third place from American Fred Wakeman, co-driven by Sam Hancock in Fred’s C-type, having started from the back of the grid. Just off the podium was former Le Mans 24 Hour winner Benoit Tréluyer and Nick Jarvis in the cycle-winged Allard J2X, just ahead of a terrific battle between the Theo Hunt/Pat Blakeney-Edwards HWM-Jaguar and the Aston Martin DB3S of Darren Turner/Simon Hadfield.
Goodwood Trophy – Saturday
Saturday’s racing commenced with an absolutely stunning last-gasp victory in the 20min Goodwood Trophy for grand prix and voiturette cars that raced between 1930 and 1951. This was expected to be a battle between the Hall and Hall-built continuity BRM V16 Type 15 MkI and an impressive batch of ten ERAs including the famous Remus.
The BRM first appeared late last year but since then Rob Hall has sorted a few niggles and he was happy with second on the grid, less than a second slower than pole man Ben Fidler in an ERA R4D and also ahead of previous race winners Mark Gillies in Richard Skipworth’s R3A and David Morris’s later R11D.
Hall managed to get into Madgwick Corner first and started to pull away but taking Gillies and Morris with him. Fantastic sounds and whiffs of methanol emanated from the BRM and ERA exhausts as Hall and Gillies started to swap the lead all around the Sussex track. Making good progress in fourth was the rare Surbiton-built Alta raced by hill-climber Ian Baxter. Gillies started to pull away as the BRM had a grassy moment but so did Gillies as the track got oily. But with three laps to go the BRM started to slow and then retired to the pits. Meanwhile Baxter slipped into second place.
With a lap to go the ERA had a 3sec lead but two miles later Baxter was harrying Gillies, though he was still behind into the chicane. Amazingly he got better drive out of it and edged passed the lime-green ERA in the final few feet to the flag and a last gasp win by a tenth of a second. What a way to start the day!
St Mary’s Trophy – Race 1 – Saturday
Thunderbird is go
Andrew Marriott
Lunchtime saw Part 1 of the St Mary’s Trophy for saloon cars covering the years 1950 to 1959 with an amazing line-up of drivers including everyone from seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson – who loved his first Revival a year ago – to renowned comic actor and classic car enthusiast Rowan Atkinson.
The race was pure entertainment. Class of the field was 2010 and 2016 Le Mans winner Romain Dumas driving Bill Shepherd’s big 1959 7-litre Ford Thunderbird in what he described as “a perfect race”. He led from start to finish and despite fading brakes at the end had a handy two second margin over World Touring Car champion Rob Huff in Don Law’s 3.4 Jaguar Mkl1. But the drive of the race came from Tom Kristensen, the nine-time Le Mans winner re-united with Nick Naismith’s Austin A90, a car he raced to victory when he first competed at Goodwood 13 years ago.
TK lost a wheel in qualifying and started from 24th on the grid. He slid the car all the way up to third, passing an incredible scrap between Garage 56 Le Mans team-mates Jenson Button in Geoff Gordon’s Alfa Romeo Giulietta Ti and Johnson in Trevor Parfitt’s Austin A40. At the flag JB just had it over Johnson for fourth. Sixth was 2011/12/14 Le Mans winner Tréluyer in an Austin A105.
Lavant Cup – Saturday
Next was the Lavant Cup for Ferrari GT cars that raced between 1960 and 1966. There was a superb selection of different models, and Rob Hall put the Collier Collection 250 LM on pole, half a second quicker than Gary Pearson in a similar car with the front row completed by Emmanuel Pirro in the silver Ecurie Francorchamps 250SWB/C. Sadly, Pearson had a problem in practice so couldn’t start. At the back was Alex Ames in the Halusa Family’s famous Drogo-bodied Ferrari 250GT SWB. In practice the Ferrari ‘Breadvan’ was found to have run 8kg under its official weight – they should have put a few loaves in the back!
At the start Hall led away but three corners in had a dramatic spin, touching the banking and denting the rear of the car, so it was Pirro who hit the front. Ames was already charging through while it took Hall another four laps to regain the lead. Then Karun Chandok’s 250 GTO had an eruption of flames at the rear from a broken oil line. Karun deftly pulled it up onto the grass, with a safety car period following while it was pushed out of the line of fire. With just two laps left Hall raced to the flag ahead of Pirro and Ames in the Breadvan.
Rudge-Whitworth Cup – Saturday
After an emotive display by Sir Jackie Stewart in his 1973 Tyrrell 006 World Championship winning car it was on to the Rudge-Whitworth Cup, a 30 minute two-driver race for cars that raced at Le Mans in the 1920s. Sadly the Talbots which dominated the similar race at the Le Mans Classic this year weren’t entered.
After a Le Mans start to commence the warm-up lap, it was a rolling start with Welshman Ben Collings immediately into the lead in the 1925 Bentley Speed Model, but he was soon passed by the 1929 Bugatti T44 of Belgian Francois Fabri, with the pair then passing and re-passing each other. This continued throughout the race even after Fabri handed over to Jonathan Bailey and Collings to owner Gareth Graham. At the flag the Bentley got it by half a second. Third was snatched on the last lap by Nick Swift who had taken over Hugh Apthorp’s Bentley Birkin Blower just pipping the Chris Cowins/Gregor Fiskin Vauxhall 30-98 Brooklands Special. All the cars in this race ran on synthetic fuel.
Rudge-Whitworth Cup saw some enthralling scraps
Andrew Marriot
Fordwater Trophy – Saturday
Type 56 readied for Lotus parade
Andrew Marriott
Next was a tremendous display of Lotus racing cars, some 75 cars representing 75 years of Lotus from the re-creation of the Lotus MkI through to many of Colin Chapman’s grand prix cars. Several were driven by various descendants of Colin and Hazel Chapman and led by his son Clive. My favourite was the Lotus 56B turbine four-wheel-drive car driven by Arthur Chapman, Colin’s grandson.
With the sun still beating it was on to a new race for the Revival: the Fordwater Trophy, a two-driver race for early 2-litre short-wheelbase Porsche 901 and mainly 911s. The roster of top drivers for the race was amazing, headed by former grand prix winner Mark Webber, racing at Goodwood and making his return to competition for the first time since his 2016 Porsche WEC campaign. He was sharing with Skyscanner co-founder Bonamy Grimes in a Tuthill-prepared car.
WEC racer Oli Webb was the early leader then Richard Tuthill had a high-speed shunt and scattered the tyre wall and brought out a long safety car period. Once the 45min race got underway again Mathew Holme handed over to Andrew Jordan. The former BTCC Champion clearly had the legs on everyone and pulled away to a decisive win over James Thorpe/Phil Quaife and Rory Butcher/William Paul. Webber had a great run to fifth after taking over from Grimes.
Whitsun Trophy
Lola-Chevrolet T70 Spyder uses all the road and a little more in Whitsun Trophy
Andrew Marriott
Final race of the sweltering day was a 25min race for unlimited sports-prototypes that raced in 1966, which effectively meant mainly early Can-Am cars. With Stuart Hall on pole in the 1966 McLaren M1B just fractions ahead of long-time rival Oli Bryant in a Lola T70 Spyder, a great battle was on the cards. However, there was disappointment that fifth-place qualifier Johnny Herbert was a non-starter in the Lotus 30.
But it was Aussie former IndyCar racer James Davison, from the outside of the front row who got the best start to lead into Fordwater in Brad Hoyt’s McLaren M1B, driven in period by Peter Revson. Indeed he was able to keep ahead of Hall and Bryant. With 14 mins to go Julian Draper crashed out of fifth place in the ex-Walt Hansgen Lola T70 Spyder Chevrolet and brought out the safety car.
Davison made a great re-start and stayed ahead to win by a second half from a hard-charging Bryant – who won the race last year – with Hall third, Andrew Haddon in Julian Bronson’s McLaren-Chevrolet M1A took fourth. It is no surprise that Davison had a big smile on his face, as it was a last-minute call from owner Hoyt for him to drive. They might be almost 60 years old but these big banger sports cars never fail to excite and it was a great way to end a brilliant and sweltering day. Davison’s 1min 18.740sec (108.81 mph) was the fastest lap of the meeting.
Chichester Cup – Sunday
Sunday’s race card started with the Chichester Cup reserved for Formula Junior cars with disc brakes up to 1963. In addition to the regular hard-chargers, Chris Goodwin – a past Goodwood winner – followed in the footsteps of father Dr Tony, a one-time professional driver in the category – by stepping into a Junior for the first time. Also looking quick was another FJ debutant in sports car star Alex Brundle.
But there was no surprise at the start with Horacio Fitz-Simon in the ex-Bob Anderson Lotus 22 and arch-rival Sam Wilson in his similar ex-Dave Charlton Lotus 22 hitting the front with the Trans-Atlantic commuter Fitz-Simon keeping ahead by inches. The battle continued after a brief safety car period. Behind there was a great battle for the final podium slot between the Lotus 22s Andrew Hibberd, Clive Richards, Brundle and Goodwin. Goodwin retired, Hibberd had a late off so it was Richards third, Brundle fourth and Hibberd fifth. But unlike Silverstone where Horatio and Sam swapped places constantly this time Wilson never managed to pass his rival. At the flag about two car lengths separated them.
Richmond and Gordon Trophies – Sunday
Lunchtime’s time race was the Richmond and Gordon Trophies event for 2.5-litre grand prix cars from 1954 to 1960, an era when Cooper was persuading everyone that the engine should be in the back. Nevertheless it was Philip Walker’s front-engined Lotus 16 driven by Miles Griffiths which took the initial lead but was quickly under pressure from Will Nuthall in Giorgio Marchi’s lowline Cooper Climax T53. After a tense struggle Nuthall took the lead and headed to the flag. The 16 retired near the end with mechanical maladies so Andrew Willis was a distant second in his BRM P48 with Andrew Beaumont third in the rear-engined Lotus 18. But Griffiths had the consolation of fastest lap.
Royal Automobile Club TT Celebration
There was a major surprise for competitors in the one-hour, two-driver Royal Automobile Club TT Celebration for cars which raced in the TT in the early 1960s. At the start Marino Franchitti got off to a cracking start in the Cobra he was sharing with Oli Bryant.
But a several laps in, the clouds darkened and there was a sharp rain shower no one had forecast. Franchitti kept it on the asphalt but others didn’t and there were two hefty shunts which brought out the red flag.
After a considerable wait they re-started. By now Bryant was in the red and gold Cobra but with its leaf spring rear suspension it was going to be no match for the faster independently-sprung Jaguar E types. An epic four-way battle commenced between Bryant, Romain Dumas in the Shepherd family Cobra and the E-Types of Nicholas Minassian, (owner Richard Kent had started it) and three-times World Touring Car champ Andy Priaulx, driving with William Paul who had recently imported the maroon machine from Oklahoma.
Priaulx showed the skill that made him a factory BMW and Ford driver and, in the final stages, pulled away to win. “There is life in the old dog yet,” he joked as he received his garland. The Kent/Minassian car was second with Bryant heading a trio of Cobras in the next three spots. Without the rain, it might have been another story.
Glover Trophy – Sunday
It was back to grand prix cars for the Glover Trophy for the rarely raced 1500cc machines which competed between 1961 and 1965. Tucked away in the entry list was one car that didn’t quite fit the category – a rare Formula 2-litre Cosworth SCA powered 1964 Brabham F2 BT10. The car has just completed a long restoration by Speedsport and exciting new prospect Sam Harrison would drive. Team boss Mike O’Brien told me before practice that a podium was on the cards.
Andy Middlehurst in the beautiful ex-Team Lotus 25 was strong favourite and was on the pole but the track was still very wet – it was Andrew Willis in the BRM P261 and Ben Mitchell in the South African built LDS-Climax who favoured the tricky conditions. Willis took the honours by a couple of lengths after a terrific battle. And Harrison? Mike O’Brien was right – he bought the little car home a sensational third ahead of Middlehurst. I hadn’t heard the rasp of an SCA motor for the best part of fifty odd years.
Sussex Trophy – Sunday
The penultimate race was the Sussex Trophy for world championship sports cars from 1955 to 1960. There were nine 2-litre Lotus 15s, a gaggle of Listers and D-types but for Ferrari fans there was the beautiful 246S Dino with Sam Hancock entrusted with the Leventis family’s rare machine. Oli Bryant has raced his fast 15 here for over ten years but never won. Finally, he did it but only after a wonderful scrap with the similar cars of Miles Griffiths and Kiwi Roger Wills plus Hancock. All had a turn at leading but ultimately Bryant prevailed ahead of Hancock, Griffiths and Wills with Harvey Stanley fifth in the Tojeiro.
St Mary’s Cup – Race 2 – Sunday
Austin A35 on its way to do battle in the St Mary’s duel
Getty Images
So to the final race of the weekend: Race 2 of the St Mary’s Cup, this time the ‘50s saloon cars driven mainly by their owners or semi-pros. The total time of the two races decides who gets the Trophy and Dumas was up to make it a hat-trick in the Shepherds’ Thunderbird but only if the owner’s son Fred could stay in front of the Jaguars. Chris Ward in the Jaguar did lead the 7-litre monster for a while but ultimately power told and the Thunderbird won as Ward’s transmission snapped just metres away from the line in one of the weekend’s most thrilling finishes.
Behind was a titanic scrap between the Jags driven by Tom Butterfield and Justin Law, who got pinged into the barriers in the closing stages. So, the easy overall winner was Dumas/Shepherd, with Butterfield/ Stewart Graham Jag second and a remarkable third overall for the little Austin ‘Rorty’ 40 driven in Race 1 by Jimmie Johnson but with equal gusto by former British GT competitor Matt Manderson.
Yet again Goodwood not only delivered great racing and wonderful entertainment but also reminded us of all of how, back in those pre-ground effect, pre-computer days of 40-plus years ago, that motor sport can be such a stunning and exhilarating spectacle.
Goodwood Grabs
Le Mans hero Derek Bell stands centre with all-time La Sarthe winner Tom Kristensen to his left
Andrew Marriott
• The Alta which Ian Baxter drove to his surprise last-second win in the Goodwood Trophy started its career with a devastating accident. Built by Geoffrey Taylor’s Surbiton company for enthusiast Philip Juncher in 1937, it was the first true single-seater Alta. Juncker gave the car its debut outing at Douglas, Isle of Mamn, but in practice he sideswiped a post supporting the wires of the Manx Electric Roadway and was killed. The damaged car was brought back to Surrey where George Abacassis heard of it, paid £175 for the damaged vehicle and another £250 having it re-built.
• Before Friday’s Freddie March Memorial Trophy race we had the emotive sight of the Duke of Richmond driving a parade lap in the Jaguar SS100-based Pycroft Special, which won the first ever race on the Goodwood track. He was followed by his son, the ‘new’ Charles, Lord March in the Aston Martin DB3S which won the 1953 Goodwood 9 Hours driven by Reg Parnell and Eric Thompson. March was also competing in the Fordwater Trophy alongside James Turner.
• Rising historic star Horatio Fitz-Simon has been commuting back and forwards across the Atlantic. After competing at the Rolex Festival at Monterey winning in his Elan, he headed to the Silverstone Festival to race in his Formula Junior. Last weekend he was back in the States at to Lime Rock, Connecticut where he drove a Formula 2 Brabham BT23C and then received a last-minute offer to compete in a Chevron-BMW B36 2-litre sports car. It was the Anglo-American’s first time on wings and slicks but he won the race and set fastest lap of the day. Then the 24-year-old was on a plane to compete at the front of the Goodwood Formula Junior race. Horatio was born in Towcester but moved to Pleasanton, California aged two.
• Steve ‘Stavros’ Parrish used the occasion of the Revival to announce his retirement from racing after competing in Goodwood’s two Barry Sheene Memorial bike races in which he shared a Manx Norton with Sheene’s son Freddie. Parrish was a former factory Suzuki GP racer and team-mate to Sheene, and made a hugely successful transition to Truck Racing with the factory Mercedes team winning the European Championship for four years. Now 70, the man known for his practical jokes has decided to call it a day after a career spanning 47 years.
• Derek Bell, one of Goodwood’s greatest supporters, found himself without a drive at this year’s Revival until the people at the Automobile de L’Ouest suggested he might like to compete in a 1925 Lorraine-Dietrich B3 Sport which finished third at Le Mans that year. The 81-year-old shared the car with ACO CEO Stephane Darracq in the Rudge Whitworth Cup. “I am more driving it than racing it,” said Bell. “It is bit tricky because the rev counter isn’t working!”
• Martin Stretton can’t remember how many races he has competed in or won but he has kept a record of every racing car he has tested or raced. At the Revival he got his total up 353 different machines. He’s been racing for 45 years now and has 28 seasons competing in Cosworth DFV cars, which he reckons must be some sort of record.
• The 1965 Ferrari 250LM chassis 6217 which won the Lavant Cup in at the hands of Rob Hall, despite a lurid spin, had been shipped from Miles Collier’s Revs Institute Museum in Naples, Florida. From new the car was mainly hill-climbed successfully in Italy by Eduoardo Lualdi. The following year it was exported to New York, modified for street use by the Pedretti Sportscar Service and was later traded by them for a Miura. It went through various owners including the Nelson Ferrari Collection in New Zealand before being purchased by Collier. Since then it has raced but twice at Laguna Seca in the hands of Gunnar Jeanette.
• Six-times Le Mans winner Jacky Ickx was a guest at Goodwood at the track to help the celebration of Jackie Stewart. A surprise guest was Noel Edmonds, former top disc jockey, television personality and handy touring car racer. Noel had flown in from New Zealand where he now lives.
• Four-times Le Mans winner Marco Werner was a little wary of sharing Afschin Fatemi’s 1962 Tojeiro EE-Ford GT in the Royal Automobile Club TT Celebration race. The last time Werner raced it five years ago at Paul Ricard, the left rear suspension collapsed throwing him into a huge spin on the Mistral Straight. Fatemi subsequently crashed the car badly and the machine, raced by Jackie Stewart in 1964, has just been re-built after a four year restoration in Belgium. Fatemi is one of Germany’s best-known dermatologists.
• Former AF Corse Ferrari WEC racer Bonamy Grimes persuaded Mark Webber to dust down his overalls. I introduced the Skyscanner founder to Mark on a yacht in Cannes on the occasion of the launch of the film I produced – Steve McQueen – The Man and Le Mans, part-funded by Bon. In conversation Bon talked of his desire to go racing in a classic Ferrari he owned. Mark and I persuaded him to go modern Ferrari racing – safer you see. Johnny Mowlem coached and raced with Grimes but ironically now Grimes has reverted to historic cars and roped in Mark!
