Goodwood Revival (2011) – Revival Magic

If you arrived at Goodwood just after the gates opened on any of the three days (September 16-18) there’s every chance that you were greeted by the sound of V12 engines firing up. Nothing unusual in that, as the Goodwood Revival is the premier historic race meeting, but these were Rolls Royce Merlin-powered Spitfires accelerating down the grass runway that served as RAF Westhampnett in wartime and around which was built a perimeter road that became a racetrack that exists today very much as originally opened.

This is just one aspect of the multi-layered attention to detail that has become a Goodwood hallmark and which brought record crowds through the gates for the 14th running of this unique theater in which the cars are the stars but the supporting acts can be found wherever you look. Many spectators are themselves supporting acts, choosing to dress in attire that might have been seen during the circuit’s heyday between 1948-1966. So the scene is set for the “magical step back in time.”

The racing was frequently very close with a few spills on this fast 2.38-mile track. Entry for the 16 races, including two for motorcycles, was by invitation only, with the headline races featuring celebrity drivers paired with entrants/owners. In the Sunday one-hour, two-driver, Tourist Trophy notable Formula One, Le Mans or Indy drivers such as Gerhard Berger, Jochen Mass, Jackie Oliver, Richard Attwood, Emanuele Pirro, Arturo Merzario, Martin Brundle, Derek Bell, Eddie Cheever, Kenny Bräck, Tom Kristensen, Vern Schuppan, Brian Redman and Marino Franchitti battled in GT cars of the 1960-1964 period. Bräck and Kristensen took Daniela Ellerbrock’s Shelby American Cobra Daytona Coupe to a worthy victory in challenging damp then very wet conditions, which produced some skilful driving throughout the field on the treacherous track. Second were Brundle/Hales in Nick Mason’s Ferrari GTO, ahead of the recently restored and raucous 1962 Maserati Tipo 151 owned by Lawrence Auriana and driven by Derek Hill (son of the late 1961 World Champion) and Joe Colasacco.

Away from the start of Saturday’s saloon race, eventual winner Paul Radisich gets the drop.
Photo: Peter Collins

The St Mary’s Trophy, run this year for sedans raced between 1960-’66, had the celebrity drivers at the wheel on Saturday while the owners had their turn on Sunday. This brought an aggregate result, in which victory went to the BMW 1800 TiSA of Jackie Oliver/Richard Shaw ahead of a Ford Galaxie and a Mini Cooper S. A number of the professional racers were entered in lesser powered machinery, such as Kristensen, Pirro, Attwood and Bell in Ford Lotus Cortinas, Mass in an Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GT and Merzario in an Fiat Abarth 1000TC, making for some interesting racing.

This year’s Fordwater Trophy was a Jaguar E-Type Challenge, again with professional/amateur pairings. Gerhard Berger took Adrian Newey’s car into an early lead from pole position, but lost out to Martin Stretton and Jon Minshaw after the driver change. Most of the entry featured highly race-developed examples of the E-Type, causing one driver to state that some should probably be referred to as “N-types!”

Spectators, competitors and even hired actors dress in period costume from the ’40s–’60s.
Photo: Pete Austin

Gary Pearson won the Richmond Trophy in his BRM Type 25, with Tony Smith’s Ferrari 246 Dino and Nick Wigley’s Connaught C-Type in pursuit after a safety car period. The Madgwick Cup for small sports cars under three liters was a close encounter between Dion Kramer’s Elva-BMW Mk 8, the similar car of Roger Wills and the Lotus 23B of Chris Goodwin. The ERA R4D of Mac Hulbert won the Goodwood Trophy by just under a second from the hard-charging Julian Majzub with his Alfa Romeo 308C.

The fastest race of the meeting was the Whitsun Trophy for 1963-’66 sports prototypes such as Lola T70s, Ford GT40s and early Can-Am McLarens. A very popular and surprising win went to circuit debutant Jay Esterer with his Chinook Mk2-Chevrolet holding off the close attentions of pole and fastest lap-setting Gary Pearson in his T70 and Chris Chiles driving the Hamill SR3-Chevrolet after Paul Knapfield had a number of off track adventures in his Surtees-liveried Lola T70.

Goodwood always likes to celebrate significant anniversaries, so along with 75 years since the Supermarine Spitfire’s first flight—resulting in ten examples flying over the circuit on Sunday—were parades in tribute to Juan Manuel Fangio who was born 100 years ago. This featured a number of cars from his career, including his Mercedes 300 SLR driven on this occasion by Sir Stirling Moss. Tony Brooks and John Surtees took the wheel of other important cars in the parade over the course of this memorable weekend.

 By Keith Booker