One of the great challenges facing Lord March each year, is how to top an already spectacular event, using essentially the same elements. But as ever, he and his team managed to pull it off this year, turning the clock back to Goodwood Motor Circuit’s heyday from 1948 to 1966.
The focus of the weekend is the cars, but what really sends this event into the stratosphere of must-do experiences is the way it transports you back in time, not only with all the visitors dressing up in period costume, but the brilliantly orchestrated army of volunteers who make up the Goodwood Actors Guild. This year is the 50th anniversary of England’s one and only Football World Cup victory, and to set the scene, Revival visitors were met at the gates by a crowd of 1966 England fans whirling their clackers and cheering ‘Come on England’.
A dozen or more giggling St Trinian’s girls ran amok, sharing crafty fags and waving their lacrosse sticks. And on a busy thoroughfare temporary 60’s-style roadworks had been mocked up, complete with a little red and white-striped hut and a worker asleep in a deck chair. The on-track action was as jaw-dropping as usual, both in terms of driver talent and quality of the cars (in a single race over £100m worth of machinery was being pushed to the limit).
There were iconic single seaters, sports cars, saloon cars and even a race for Austin A30s, driven by the likes of David Coulthard, Chris Hoy and Rowan Atkinson. Even Saturday’s rain couldn’t dampen the mood, instead adding to the racing drama. The Revival marks the end of another wonderful motoring season (although in truth, for the serious hard-core fans it continues throughout the autumn and winter). But fear not, there’s another packed calendar to look forward to next year, which kicks off with Retromobile in Paris on 8th-12th February and continues at Goodwood for the 75th Members’ Meeting on 18th & 19th March.
Main image credit: Goodwood Revival 2016
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