Goodwood Revival

The World’s Premier Classic Motorsports Event

StateofSpeed.com has visited the Duke of Richmond’s glorious Goodwood Estate several times for the Festival of Speed but this was our first trip to the fantastic Revival. 

Goodwood, located near Chichester on the south coast of England about 60 miles from London, has been the home of the Dukes of Richmond for more than 300 years and a house has been on the site since the early 1600s. However, it was Freddie March, the 9th Duke who instilled the 12,000-acre estate with its motorsports heritage. Freddie trained as a mechanic and became a racing driver. After World War II, in 1948, he turned the perimeter road of the wartime Westhampnett airfield into the 2.367-mile Goodwood Motor Circuit that hosted Britain’s first post-War race and was Britain’s most prestigious circuit for eighteen years from 1948-1966. Over the years, the circuit fell a little behind contemporary standards that is until Charles, the 10th Duke, took over and initiated both the Festival in 1993 and the Revival in 1998 on the 50th anniversary of the circuit opening. The circuit is now fully restored to its original glory and can often been seen in movies and on TV.

Twenty-one years on, the Goodwood Revival, with around 150,000 attendees, is one of the world’s most prestigious and yet fun events. There really is nothing quite like it. Notwithstanding all the hoopla that includes air displays, auctions, on-track demonstrations and parades which this year included one celebrating the 60^th anniversary of the Mini, the Revival is above all an event of classic circuit racing for cars and motorcycles. In fact, no modern vehicles are allowed within the circuit perimeter throughout the weekend. That said the new Land Rover Defender was introduced at the Revival.

The gates opened on Thursday but the ‘tra-ction’ began on Friday and ran full throttle beginning at 9:45 am through Sunday at 6pm with the Freddie March Memorial Trophy race.  And these are no parade laps; this is serious racing with the likes of Le Mans’ superstars battling real Cobras against Corvettes, Ferraris and XKEs just like it was in the sixties. Andre Lotterer and Chris Wilson won the Royal Automobile Club TT Celebration race in their ’65 Cobra when Olly Bryant hit the tire walls and, well, retired. Fastest lap was Oliver Hart in a Trojeiro Ford in 1m25.5seconds with an average speed of 100.18 mph.

There was another fantastic race, the Brooklands Trophy, for Pre-War Bentley sports cars that look more like green London busses they are so big. The start looked like a bus jam on London’s Oxford Street but the checkered flag was taken by Martin Overington in a 1929 Blower Bentley. They were averaging 75 mph. 

One of the most prestigious races is the Goodwood Trophy for 1930-’51 Grand Prix and Voiturette cars. That was won by Gareth Burnette driving a 2-liter 1938 single seater Alfa Romeo. His fastest lap was 1m30.909seconds with an average speed of 94.24 mph.

While the historic, pedigree racecars put on a terrific show; a crowd favorite is the St. Mary’s Trophy for 1950-’59 Saloon Cars (sedans to Americans). Here you get everything from large lumbering, Brit-speak Yank tanks that this year included Patrick Watts’ 1957 Studebaker Silver Hawk to diminutive British Austin A40s that look like shoe boxes compared to the Kelvinator-sized American counterparts. Nicolas Minassian and Mike Jordan were the eventual winners in a tiny A40 that was about as big as the trunk on the Festival’s ‘Fastest-man-up-the hill’ Romain Dumas in a Ford Thunderbird that ran a credible 1m34.907seconds with an average speed of 90.27 mph.

In all, there are more than a dozen trophy battles ensuring that every race fan gets his or her fill. One of the cutest races, however, is the Settrington Cup for kids in tiny Austin J40 pedal cars. There were 64 entries including a lot of young ladies but young Harry Dark, the darkhorse, took the flag.

“The Revival is a truly smashing day accompanied by lashings of ginger beer and noisy parp parp, bang bang cars.”Jessica Helen Reinhold

The Revival is not all racing though and there is so much more to see from the themed corporate displays from companies such as SU Carburettor (Brit spelling) to the fifties’ British beach scene for toddlers to the ‘The Wild One’s’ Lee Marvin-inspired Boose Fighters motorcycle gang. Thankfully, they were no more threatening than the kids kicking sand. At Goodwood for the first time American Evonne Morton, dressed as ‘Rosie the Riveter’, said, “Give me Goodwood on a summer’s day and you can forget about the rest of the world”

And while there is no official dress code for the Revival, if you don’t want to feel out of place you’d better be dressed in some kind of relevant outfit from the 1920s, through the 1960s. You can mix ‘n’ match decades and even styles but you’d better be cool or look conspicuously out of place. StateofSpeed.com caught up with Revival regular Jessica Helen Reinhold whose husband Tom is in charge of McLaren Heritage had the last word saying, “The Revival is a truly smashing day accompanied by lashings of ginger beer and noisy parp parp, bang bang cars.” We couldn’t have said it better. For more info visit www.goodwood.com

Goodwood Festival of Speed 2019

Often copied but never duplicated, The Goodwood Festival of Speed (FOS) is perhaps one of the most amazing events on the motorsports calendar. This year the FOS celebrated its 26^th anniversary and StateofSpeed.com was there for the party.

“The Festival is a fantastic event that I always enjoy but running up the hill in the rain is a definite challenge.”Duncan Pittaway, driver The Beast of Turin

The Festival occurs every summer on the grounds of The Duke of Richmond’s ancestral home, Goodwood House, Chichester, West Sussex, 100 miles south west of London, England. The event is centered around a timed hill climb up the Duke’s 1.16-mile drive. The long-standing record for the run was 41.6 seconds set in 1999 by Nick Heidfeld driving a McLaren MP4/13 Formula One car. His average speed was 100.385 mph. Nick’s record for an F1 car remains unbroken as they no longer allow F1 cars timed runs for safety reasons, however, this year Nick’s 20-year-old record was broken by Romain Dumas driving the all-electric VW I.D. R with a time of 39.9 seconds. Dumas might have gone faster on the Sunday but rain prevented a faster run.

The hill climb, which is by invitation only, sees an eclectic field of racecars. We went as a guest of Brit Duncan Pittaway, who muscles the amazing, fire belching “Beast of Turin” up the hill. Built originally in 1911, the 28.5-Liter Fiat ran 132 mph in 1913. Duncan, who recently drove the Beast through the streets of London, restored the car (that’s a book in itself), and drives it with gusto and even ran up the hill in the Sunday rain which sidelined most competitors saying, “The Festival is a fantastic event that I always enjoy but running up the hill in the rain is a definite challenge.”

“[Driverless cars] would be like climbing Mount Everest using virtual reality—who cares.”

Unlike most big-time events, the FOS pits are open to everybody and you can walk around, get up-close-and-personal with the cars and talk to the mechanics, owners and drivers: I bumped into a wide range of drivers from three-time F1 Grand Prix Champion Sir Jackie Stewart to NASCAR star “King Richard” Petty. Others in attendance included Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason and his 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO, now valued at an estimated $85 million.

This year, the FOS celebrated more than 40 categories of Motorsports from Early Speed Record setters through Brickyard Heroes of Indy, to the Giants of Rallying both past Group B cars to the Giants of Modern Rallying. There were also special celebrations of Aston Martin, that made its Goodwood debut in 1949, Bentley, March Engineering, Mercedes’ 125 years of motorsport, Porsche 917, and Michael Schumacher. Indeed, there are so many and so much to see it makes your head hurt.

Besides all the historic gas guzzlers, there’s an obvious and growing technological shift toward electric and even autonomous cars with no drivers. Call me old fashioned, but driverless cars to me means slot car racing and while skill is involved, I just wonder if removing the driver removes the point. It would be like climbing Mount Everest using virtual reality—who cares.

That said, as mentioned earlier, this year’s fastest time was set by the Volkswagen I.D. R electric car that recently won Pikes Peak. Driver Romain Dumas scorched up the driveway in 39.9 seconds during the Saturday practice. Rumor had it that he would have killed it on Sunday had rain not prevented it. It’s also a sign of the times that the fields of Goodwood were littered with supercars. Everywhere you looked there were lines of Lambos, Ferraris, Aston Martins and McLarens, et al. Time was they were a rarity on British roads but no longer.

The FOS’s accessibility to the cars and the drivers, particularly if you are a Formula One fan is amazing in this day and age of restricted access. You can get within a few inches of the cars, check them out, hear them run and meet and greet the mechanics and the drivers. I don’t know of anywhere else you can do that in such a casual atmosphere.

Besides the summer FOS, Goodwood hosts the fall Revival, this year scheduled for the weekend of September 13-15. The Revival is held on the old Goodwood Grand Prix circuit that is also on the Duke’s estate that was an airfield during World War II. The Revival features historic circuit racing with everybody in period dress. Like the Festival, it’s a fantastic event to add to your bucket list. For more info visit Goodwood.com

Goodwood FOS 2018

In the world of automotive events, The Goodwood Festival of Speed (FOS) is right up there on the bucket list with the Indy 500, Le Mans, Pebble Beach, the Daytona 500 and a few others. This year, the FOS celebrated its 25^th Silver Anniversary and The Dawg Box was there for the party.

For those of you who don’t know, the FOS takes place every summer on the grounds of The Duke of Richmond’s ancestral home 100 miles south-west of London, England. It’s basically a hill climb up the Duke’s 1.16-mile drive. The long-standing record for the dash is 41.6 seconds set by Nick Heidfeld in 1999 in a McLaren MP4/13 Formula One car. His average speed up the twisty, cambered driveway with some nasty sharp flint walls was 100.385 mph. Nick’s record remains unbroken as they no longer allow F1 cars timed runs for safety reasons but this year two electric cars came awfully close to breaking Nick’s record. It’s bound to fall soon.

By invitation only, the hill climb sees an eclectic field of racecars; everything from Duncan Pittaway’s fire belching, 28.5-liter, 4-cylinder 1911 Fiat The Beast of Turin to Ernie Nagamatsu’s historic Old Yeller Buick-powered road-racing special to Rod Millen’s Pikes Peak-winning Toyota Celica to electric and even autonomous cars with no drivers. Call me old-fashioned, but driverless cars to me seems a lot like slot car racing. While skill is involved, I just wonder if when you remove the human element you remove the point. It would be like climbing Mount Everest using virtual reality—who cares.

Ironically, This year’s fastest time was set by Frenchman Romain Dumas driving a Volkswagen ID R electric racecar in which Dumas recently won the Pikes Peak hill climb in Colorado. Dumas scorched up the hill in just 43.86 seconds. Second fastest was Peter Dumbreck driving the NIO EP9 electric supercar. Dumbreck made the dash in a staggering 44.32 seconds.

It’s a sign of the times that the fields of Goodwood are now littered with supercars. Everywhere you looked there were lines of Lambos, Ferraris, Aston Martins, McLarens, Koenigseggs, Paganis, Porsche and all the other exclusive brands. Time was they were a rarity on British roads but no longer. McLaren was, in fact, our host and we shall be reporting on our tour of the McLaren Technology Center soon.

One of the most appealing aspects of the FOS is the up-close-and-personal access to the cars and the drivers, particularly if you are a Formula One fan. You can get within a few inches of the cars, check them out, hear them run, and meet and greet the mechanics and the drivers. I don’t know of anywhere else you can do that in such a casual atmosphere. There were displays from all the teams including Ferrari, McLaren, Red Bull, Mercedes, Lotus, and Alfa. There was even a display of driverless electric racecars from Robocar.