Goodwood Revival report: Better than the Festival of Speed? #blogpost

My burger is very underwhelming - it cost me £8 and is of comparable quality to ones you got for school lunch. Just as I'm scorning over this the unique Lister-Costin Coupe screams past, but this time not a scream from the engine but from the tires as it does a full 360 pirouette right in front of me.

SATURDAY, 7:10 AM: Up bright and early to embark on the 2 hour drive down to Sussex. It’s the furthest I’ve driven solo and as soon as I join the A3 it’s new territory for me, so for now I’m focusing on the drive ahead. I’ve been to the Festival of Speed 4 or 5 times (I’ve lost count) and this year I wanted to try something new. Besides, many established car nuts I’ve talked to value the Revival higher the the Festival (for short) so I’d be stupid not to take their advice.

8:55 AM: I arrive in one piece. I remember when I went to the Festival when I was younger with my dad we went down the A286 and I thought ‘I could drive this road when I’m older!’. It’s a classic fast country road- although today I spent most of it stuck behind a Vauxhall Mokka doing at best 5 under.

Parking is a similar affair to the Festival- in an enormous field with marshals guiding you into position. And despite being the punter’s car park there’s quality machinery everywhere you look (more on that later). But it doesn’t stop there; the reserved classic’s car park is by the entrance to the event. Purely vintage cars as far as the eye can see. One could easily spend the whole day there (one of these days I will), so I try not to distract myself too much.

10:00 AM: After walking around briefly to familiarise myself with the confusing, confined layout of the event I grab a spot as close to the start/finish line as I can get to watch the first race, the Fordwater Trophy. Also, worthy of note- literally everyone dresses up to a certain extent: from mechanics to Navy officers via grouse hunters. Most aren’t costumed-up, but they are wearing smart-casual, tweed-and-chinos get ups with flat-caps, obviously, and the ladies dresses and sometimes hats.

Anyway, the race - Sam Tordoff is on pole in a gorgeous green-nosed Porsche 356, but he stalls as the flag drops and is immediately playing catch-up with the entire grid. Darren Turner takes an early lead in an Aston Martin DB2. Tordoff absolutely storms through the pack, but unfortunately doesn’t catch the Aston before the chequered flag and takes second. It’s a cool class- limited to road-going sports/GT cars that raced up to 1955, it includes everything from Jag XK120’s to Connaught L2 via Lancia Aurelia B20 and Ferrari 212. A common theme throughout other races is that Porsches and Jags are very loud.

10:25 AM: It’s paddock time. For me it’s always the highlight of the Festival. However, unknown to me, you require a specific paddock pass to get in, which is unfortunate, and is one of a few small things that makes this event feel more exclusive than the Festival for the worse. Fortunately, the odd layout of the event means there’s many bits of paddock that are unguarded and for the bits that are fenced off you can just look around the back. Also you can get up nice and close to the finishers’ enclosure and see all the drivers and mechanics moving the cars around.

Andrew Jordan dissects the field beautifully in his Cortina as he started from the back, until a titanic battle (literally) with Romain Dumas' Ford Galaxie sees him through to 4th

12:05 PM: Burger and chips acquired, I go track-side to chow down. Proper grassroots style. If your chips don’t taste of race fuel you’re doing something wrong. The RAC TT practice session continues as I stand at the end of the Lavant Straight, cars coming in at full chat, then on the brakes and downshifting. Though there isn’t a huge variety of cars in this segment (predominantly AC Cobras and E-Types) but they are very quick. My burger is very underwhelming - it cost me £8 and is of comparable quality to ones you got for school lunch. Just as I’m scorning over this the unique Lister-Costin Coupe screams past, but this time not a scream from the engine but from the tires as it does a full 360 pirouette right in front of me. Yep, you don’t get that anywhere else in the world.

1:00 PM: A change of pace for the Rob Walker Tribute parade. It features all the highlights from the most successful privateer’s racing career, from Stirling Moss’ ‘57 Argentine GP winning Cooper T43, ‘61 Monaco GP winning Lotus 18, and ‘60 RAC TT winning Ferrari 250 GT SWB, to his first race car, a 1936 Delahaye 135S and his 1962 Facel Vega Facel II daily driver. A very special occasion indeed.

1:30 PM: Immediately following this was my highlight of the day, the St Mary’s Trophy. A category for one of the greatest motorsport eras, 1960’s touring cars. You know, David versus Goliath, et cetera. The driver line up promised fireworks too - there was hardly a name I didn’t know! Blomqvist, Coronel, Lotterer, Priaulx, Plato, Mass, Pirro, Needell, Neal, Shedden, Dumas and Tarquini, to name just a few.

It doesn’t disappoint. Matt Neal leads in a gorgeous Studebaker on the first lap but despite expert defending he can’t hold off the swarm of Lotus Cortinas behind him (he likened them to ‘pesky wasps’). Andrew Jordan dissects the field beautifully in his Cortina as he started from the back, until a titanic battle (literally) with Romain Dumas’ Ford Galaxie sees him through to 4th (I think, it was hard to keep track). Tom Coronel shows off his Dakar skills as he uses the dirt generously in his Alfa 1600 GTA. Andy Priaulx & Steve Soper went on to win in a Cortina Soper built, as Rob Huff was given a 10-second penalty for jumping the start. I will also mention that Soper’s Cortina is up for sale for £150k…

Shortly after Sir Jackie Stewart does a parade lap in possibly the prettiest F1 car of all time, Dan Gurney’s Eagle T1G. Need I say more?

2:15 PM: I take a break from watching races to scope out the Motor Show, which is aptly dressed-up as Earl’s Court. Last year TVR revealed the new Griffith to the world here, so my expectations are fairly high. I should’ve curbed them somewhat; it’s a little disappointing. 3 manufacturers are represented: Maserati, Aston Martin and BMW. This doesn’t even take up half the hall, so the rest of the show is a Sky Movies promotion, which isn’t bad - it includes cars driven by Steve McQueen (not sure if they were the real ones), but I came for a motor show, not a museum. And sure, the manufacturers all have their freshest vehicles here (Including the DBS Superleggera, Vantage, 8 Series and DB4 GT Continuation), but just 3 is not what I anticipated (and no Z4 from BMW - missed a trick there).

4:30 PM: I rush back from the car park (I got distracted) and settle down for the final 2 races. First up is Whitsun Trophy: a category for pre-66 sports prototypes - Can-Am cars! Lola T70 Spyder, McLaren M1A, Cooper T61’s, and a few GT40’s and Porsche 910’s to mix things up. These cars are almost certainly the loudest of the day. They’re fast too, proper modern supercar fast. Karun Chandok, despite early reliability problems, does the fastest lap of the entire weekend during the race in a black McLaren M1A. Unfortunately he’s well off the lead - the race is won by a gorgeous ex-Surtees Lola. Even with their speed these cars (and drivers) are still very capable of close racing, as the battle for P2 shows.

The final race of the day is the Freddie March Memorial Trophy, for 50’s sports cars. Some very exotic machinery is in this one: Ferrari 500 TRC’s, Jaguar C-Types, Aston Martin DB3S’ and even Maserati 300S’ and A6GCS’. At the point I’m starting to worry about avoiding the crush leaving the Revival, so I watch long enough to take all the cars in, and I bail as the safety car comes out when a car gets beached int the gravel.

5:45 PM: Sadly I don’t beat the crush, but form the start of it instead. It’s all very processional out onto the A285, a stark contrast to the racing just before. Luckily the A3 and M25 are kind to me again, so I’m home in no time.

the added bonus of a circuit - as someone once told me - is that the cars come past more than once!

So, what’s the verdict? Is the advice of other aforementioned enthusiasts sound? Well I’m going to give you a bit of a non-answer here: it depends.

The racing is unreal. It makes the hill-climb look tame. And, the added bonus of a circuit - as someone once told me - is that the cars come past more than once! Also seeing all the big names out on circuit and in the paddock at once - just wow. It’s raises the hairs on the back of your neck, that’s for sure.

The major drawback for me though was the lack of variety. Now hold your horses for a minute… I knew what I was getting into; this is an event dedicated for pre-66 cars, and is a highly-detailed throwback to the “good ol’ days”, so this is not the event’s problem, it’s mine. I love classics as much as the next guy, but I equally enjoy modern cars. One of the things that got me coming back to the Festival year after year was the stupendous variety of cars there. Not a single era, segment, nationality goes unrepresented. I didn’t think I’d miss it at the Revival, but it turns out I did (especially with the lacklustre motor show). It’s a preference.

I wasn’t exactly charmed by the old time-y vibe either. Maybe it’s because I’m too young and I can’t really relate to it. It made me feel like I was on a Year 5 school trip again.

As I mentioned earlier, the layout is a bit confined and confusing to me. I might have been a bit unfair there, since the Festival has the blank canvas of a massive field to play with, whereas the Revival already has the decades-old circuit facilities to negotiate. It certainly exacerbates the effect of all of the dawdling people. It may also be a product of me being unfamiliar to the event, so I’ll probably get used to it.

I mean, if I wasn’t a cash-strapped student, I’d probably go to both…

FS sorry it’s a bit of a long one