Torrential rain — that good old British specialty — failed to dampen spirits at the just-wrapped Goodwood Revival race meeting. Known for its unique time capsule atmosphere, the event, with its pre-1966 theme, invites visitors to step back in time for a weekend and watch a dizzying whir of historic mechanical toys — classic motorcars, motorcycles and airplanes — in action. There’s also a fabulous vintage fashion element, with guests dressed up in looks from the 40s, 50s and 60s, from country tweeds for the gentlemen to fascinators and floral tea dresses for the ladies, and even streets of retro stores to visit in between car spotting.
Located near Chichester in West Sussex, England, the three-day event is held on a former WWII airport, later a race track, on the Goodwood Estate. The Goodwood Motor Circuit once ranked alongside Silverstone as Britain’s leading racing venue throughout its active years between 1948 and 1966, and was reopened by Lord March, the heir apparent of the 10th Duke of Richmond, in September 1998. March is president of the British Automobile Racing Club, patron of the TT Riders Association, and president of the Motor Racing Cycle Industry Association. Each festival he throws an extravagant Goodwood ball, this year set to a cowboy theme with a set to rival Dollywood.
Messerschmitt Spitfires, P-51 Mustangs and Northrop XB-35 bombers roar up the airfield’s runways as, revving their engines, a snaking line of growling Ford GT40s, created 50 years ago, file to the racetrack. In the Goodwood paddock sit rows of historic race cars grouped into categories, opening with a series of the first Formula 1 motorcars from the 20s and 30s. They include a 1923 Aston Martin 11hp ‘Razorblade’ in aluminum, with a crude temperature gauge atop its radiator marked ‘Normal,’ ‘Cold,’ ‘Freezing,’ and ‘Boiling.’ A few rows down sits a scarlet 1953 Alpha Romeo 3000 ‘Disco Volante,’ its perfectly symmetrical engine on display, and just beyond it, an iconic 1960 white Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato, one of the finest sports cars of its time. Standing nearby is driver and owner Tom Alexander, who goes on to win his race. “This is a very fast circuit, with very fast bends; you are right on the edge of adhesion with these tyres,” he said.
Eyeing up a grass-green 1963 Ferrari 250 GTO (estimated to be worth around $30 million), this time with French racing champion Jean Alesi in the driving seat, Jonny Shears, a classic car specialist for Silverstone Auctions in England, said, “They race them, and they bend them, and they crash them; that’s what these cars are designed to do, that’s what this whole weekend is about. It’s great to see them being used and not mothballed in a museum.” With their historic tyres, he likened racing one of these cars to driving on gravel at 10o mph (160 kmh). “It’s not like driving a modern car at all, it’s an art form,” he said as a crumpled white Maserati Tipo 61 rolled by on a truck, fresh from a crash.
“People go to Goodwood to see cars running or to run their cars. These are not just museum pieces. A car is made to be used. If you just look at it, you’re missing something,” echoed Maison Veuve Clicquot’s Edouard de Nazelle, who led a convoy of classic cars from the golden age of car-making — 1955 to 1965 — to the event from Paris, including a 1965 E-type Jaguar. Nazelle drove Veuve Clicquot's grand mascot: a 1961 Bentley Continental Flying Spur painted in purple and "Clicquot Yellow." The champagne house was the official sponsor of Goodwood, adding to the "period" atmosphere with its iconic "Clicquot Yellow" branding found throughout the grounds and in the large Veuve Clicquot champagne bar located inside the race circuit.
Goodwood this year paid tribute to the 50th anniversary of legendary racing driver Jim Clark's first World Championship, as well as the 110th anniversary of the first Tour de France race, with cyclists riding period racing bikes. Among the weekend’s auction highlights, meanwhile, Bonhams sold an ex-Tazio Nuvolari 1935 Alfa Romeo Tipo, a magnificent pre-war Grand Prix racing car, for £5.9 million, or $9.4 million at average exchange rates, before the buyer’s premium.
There was a touch of British humor to the whole event, with retro-styled ladies sat gossiping as they rocked vintage prams, and vintage bicycles leaning against hedgerows. Beyond the gates, vintage buses ferried passengers to and from the grounds, where a field was transformed into a temporary car park strewn with magnificent classic cars. It was a filmic sight when, at the end of the event’s opening day on September 13, visitors returned to fetch them in the rain. With open-top sports cars and their passengers shielded by giant umbrellas, there was a mood of camaraderie in the air that united people with a common passion for the beauty and art de vivre of a bygone era.
To have a look at vintage cars, motorcycles and looks at the Goodwood Revival, click on the slideshow.
