Goodwood Revival - The perfect place to parade, come Shine or Rain


 

“If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.” As this September dawned, Lord March had been staging his Revival for two decades, and the successful formula, if anything, is still getting better. Thankfully, nothing radically revised, but the creativity and planning is certainly enhanced with additional elements of detail and entertainment, seemingly year upon year. It’s not, by any means, merely a set of historic motor races. They are the centre piece, of course, but Goodwood’s little enclave of the Sussex countryside is a microcosm of a world gone by, and one overflowing with flair and panache.

Combine inhabitants from the most fashionable districts of Vienna, Berlin and Geneva, the elegant shoppers of Bond Street, Fifth Avenue and Rodeo Drive, then add the best dressed Parisiennes, Monégasques and Milanese. The result still won’t match the visiting masses to an airfield, first opened in 1938, on the English south coast. Without doubt, whenever the former Earl of March and Kinrara organises an event based around his passion for old cars, there is no place on the planet with more style. Ladies, gentlemen, and their children attending Goodwood must outnumber those remaining in all corners of the globe, who have an instinct for sartorial elegance and subtle sophistication.


© 2017, Classique Car Conduits

For 2017, there was a huge amount of planning and creativity put in to staging fully choreographed fashions shows, with music and dance, spanning the ‘40s to the 1960s. By all accounts the story, which told of a couple’s life together spanning thirty years, moved some to tears at its finale. We were apparently in the realms of London West End theatre production standards.

However, as much as those on the permanent staff, or Goodwood’s freelance specialists, could create the retro atmosphere, it needed the public and participants to make it all work. And play their part they most certainly did. So much individual effort and imagination had gone into costumes, general attire and, particularly by the females, hairstyles. Those who weren’t able to buy or hire the full vintage look, still arrived very smartly dressed. I’ve never seen neckties and tweed suits worn by so many in my life. I would say 80% of men were wearing collared shirts with ties, under tailored jackets, and most of the rest substituted with cravats or wore military clothing. Army, Navy and Air Force were predominant, but civilian uniforms were also evident; police officers, nurses, teachers in black gowns and mortarboards. Bikers and Teddy Boys were appropriately portrayed, with Wartime land girls, construction workers and road menders looking totally authentic, as well. Presentable and accurate, each and every one. No day-glow jackets or hard-hats in re-enforced plastic for them. ‘Elf ’N Safe-Tee’ had yet to be invented.

Close by, to the fashion show Emporium, was a ‘50s Drive-in Cinema showing hit movies such as West Side Story, Grease and The Italian Job. Entry was free and complimentary boxes of popcorn given to viewers who lounged on striped deck chairs. The most authentic facet, for those who booked, was to watch from the seats of gargantuan 1950s American sedans or coupes. These were already parked in a crescent formation so all occupants had a perfect view through the screen…of the screen!

Historic and classic cars were by no means restricted to displays and racing paddocks. Over in the public cars park were hundreds and hundreds of them, and throughout the day these favoured fields remained busy. If it wasn’t wandering admirers with cameras, it was families and groups of friends settling down to eat and drink. From hampers spread out on blankets, to formal luncheons upon decorative tables complete with lace cloths, fine crockery and silver cutlery. Nothing from a grand dining room had been omitted by some, as fine wine was poured from cut glass decanters and freshly arranged vases of flowers added decoration and colour.

A couple of rows further forward, a group of six were sitting on tartan rugs, passing round cold meats and salads, sipping from champagne flutes and all of them were women. At what other automobile event when the primary attraction or objective is racing round in circles, as fast as possible, does that happen? Men weren’t needed, at all, for the ladies here to fully enjoy their day. These girls could well be more knowledgeable about cars and possibly better drivers than their other halves who were, likely as not, heading habitually to their Saturday football games or off down the local pub to watch satellite channel matches from the bar.

Emerging from the tunnel into the centre of the circuit, I passed two random fellow visitors in the other direction, but of widely contrasting appearance. Where else would the man in the pink and orange striped suit, an oversized trilby and white spats, simply ‘blend’ imperceptibly, along with his waxed moustache and boxy suitcase, compared to the unshaven guy a few paces behind, sporting a scruffy nylon Man.Utd. shirt, ripped jeans and footwear meant for running around an athletics track? Perhaps the exit stewards could have had a quiet word on his departure and, looking so out of place, less than one in a thousand, he will reconsider and won’t return dressed like that again.

I finally focussed for a while on some competitive and other track action. Of the major racing themes this year, the biggest centred upon Ecurie Ecosse, the ostensibly private racing team which won Le Mans in back to back years. Originally put together by Edinburgh accountant and wine merchant, David Murray, this celebration of success included a mass gathering of his sports racing cars, all painted in Scottish ‘Flag blue’. From a Jaguar XK120, through C-types, D-types, Lister, Cooper and Tojeiro, among others, the flock was shepherded from the rear by the world famous Ecurie Ecosse, three-car, Commer TS3 transporter. Leading the circuit parade were the one-two finishers from the 24 hour race of 1957, being Jaguar chassis XKD606 and XKD603, respectively. For team recognition and differentiation from a distance, the fronts of Murray’s cars were adorned with a single, double or triple white stripe. Thus, referred to internally as, Lance Corporal, Corporal and Sergeant.

More contemporarily, we witnessed the relaunch of a lost British sports car firm, originally begun seventy years ago by a certain Mr Trevor Wilkinson. Initially ‘Trevcar Motors’, he soon abbreviated his christian name in a different way and called the fledgeling company, TVR. The new saviour, and Chairman, entrepreneur and arch TVR enthusiast, Les Edgar, chose Goodwood’s own Earls Court Motor Show to unveil the latest Griffith model. Two of his delighted staff advised me, now only a day later, that over 500 deposits had already been taken for production cars, which begin being manufactured next year. The prototype certainly looked to be in the true spirit of its recent predecessors; loud, proud, fast and free of electronic aids or digital trickery. This, notwithstanding, what probably most encouraged potential buyers was that Les Edgar has some world renowned, and globally respected, partners: Professor Gordon Murray who most famously created the McLaren F1 road car and 1995 Le Mans winner - as well as many Brabham Formula One cars - plus the most well known and successful F1 engine builder, Cosworth Engineering.

Older cars were also for sale in the outer display areas, but everything was discreet and subtly shown. No price tags in windows but all sorts, from barn finds to recent restorations, were on offer. Some you had to examine extremely closely before realising they were actually brand new and devoid of familiar logos but, nonetheless, all hand-built and most meticulously constructed by craftsmen.

Who are the purchasers of these very well made replicas and re-creations, I wondered? Would they be those with far less disposable income than the original versions necessitated? ‘No’, I was told. The majority have the real thing back home alright, and many more valuable vehicles in their collections, to boot. But they just want to enjoy the sense of Ferrari, Jaguar, Aston, Porsche or Maserati-like travel on an everyday basis, without the worry of parking it in a public place, getting stuck in traffic or running up too many miles. One such purveyor reported a group of five Belgian gentlemen had shown casual interest in something, seemingly from Maranello, when appearing well after darkness had fallen, the evening before. After twenty minutes of inspection and demonstration, within the ‘Mirage Automotive Developments’ tent, they had learnt enough to move on elsewhere. But that was only after each one had left a substantial four figure sum, as a deposit, with MAD Ltd.

In another conversation with a different vendor, based in the East Anglian county from which the firm takes its name, I was amused to hear him confidently state;

“And I don’t sell cars to people wearing trainers, or who listen to gangster rap.” He did mention a specific ‘artiste’, but discretion is probably best, here in print. I believe in America he’d say sneakers, however, the interesting thing being that this chap wasn’t a fuddy-duddy septuagenarian, but a young man, with a sense of humour as sharp as his waist-coat, under thirty years of age. He had a high quality product - a unique example in a striking shade of yellow had drawn me in - and was successful enough to be discerning about the profile of his customers. Here, at Goodwood, he certainly wasn’t short of appropriate candidates.

Heavy rain fell again, late on Sunday afternoon, but that didn’t dampen spirits of the diehards. What it did do, though, was showcase the immense bravery and skill of historic racing car drivers. One such was veteran Julian Majzub, in his open-topped sports car, built in 1958. With prodigious power and timed by the speed trap in excess of 123mph, the fastest entrant careering down what was now a shallow river, the 5.4 litres of Chevrolet V8, in his Sadler Mk3, induced wheel-spin in top gear and caused the whole car to snake viciously on every lap. Julian was the bravest of the brave, for he never once backed-off. While the winning Ferrari 246SP Dino was more stable, with less power from its more modest 2.4 litre V6, the crowd knew the much younger, yet similarly talented, Sam Hancock could tame his galloping, rather than prancing, thoroughbred Italian horse and keep it a little more sure footed, throughout.

Hopefully, the accompanying pictures will give you an idea of the huge variety and quality of cars I found, both sheltering in the racing paddocks and as brought along by spectators, with some pristine Bonhams auction machinery, included as well. It was impossible to pick out absolute favourites from the weekend, but a procession of almost 150 little Fiat 500s - cheerful cars with cheerful occupants - came close. However, a squadron of nine 250 GT Short Wheel Base Ferraris and a 330 GTO, battling five Aston DB4GTs, was the major highlight. And that was just half the grid, for one race! The British ranks were re-enforced by a proper Cobra, made by AC, a pair of big Healeys and ten blisteringly quick E-types, which filled the top seven places, at the chequered flag.

And, talking of pristine machinery, this wasn’t restricted to automobiles. I’ve attended quite a few concours events over the years, but never one for aeroplanes, so the ‘Freddie March, Spirit of Aviation’ was a first. Many aircraft displays specifically major on military machines, but this one profiled civil aviation from the ‘30s to the end of the ‘50s. Sleek contours, graceful curves and acres of mirror finish metal, forming wings and fuselages, or huge cowled radial engines in vivid primary colours, were everywhere. Think Howard Hughes Aircraft Company meets Busby Berkeley’s ‘Flying down to Rio’, and you get the picture of an aviator’s dream film set, all present in the fitting location of RAF Westhampnett.

Graceful curves leads me to another recollection: On the way in, that morning, still a mile from the circuit’s main entrance, I’d spotted an immaculate pale lime green Aston Martin DB2, in the village of East Lavant, and felt compelled to stop for a few photos. Amazingly, it was still there at 8.15pm on Sunday night, now completely alone as every other car had departed while I, too, was finally heading home. Yet two figures, visible in the drizzly distance, were trudging towards it as I passed by. I just had to turn round in case they were connected. Indeed they were. What a co-incidence! We got talking, found shared interest in David Brown cars, and I learnt this father and son had visited the Revival five times since its full restoration was completed in 2012. Now they were heading back to Haute-Savoie in eastern France, driving a 1951 classic Aston into the Alps, almost as far as Switzerland. That’s the magnetic pull of Goodwood, a perfect example, demonstrated right before me. And there would have been hundreds of similar stories, with dedicated journeys from even greater distances, by road, air and ocean.

The 11th Duke of Richmond, as Charles Henry Gordon-Lennox has recently become, will already be preparing for the 76th Members’ Meeting, fittingly held in the middle of March, 2018. As a new season opener, all those present at the circuit for the 20th Goodwood Revival, can hardly wait.

John Godley
Classique Car Conduits