► Goodwood Revival 2017
► A picture gallery and tour
► Lose yourself in yesteryear
Evening racing has been introduced at the Goodwood Revival, bringing a touch of Le Mans-style adventure to proceedings. Jaguar E-types hogged the top seven places in the Kinrara Trophy (above). GT stars Phil Keen and Jon Minshaw emerged victorious in the amended results, with Gregor Fisken and last year’s winner Tom Kristensen placed in silver – just a second behind. It’s always a surprise to see such close racing at Goodwood, despite the seven-figure valuations many of the cars carry.
Porsche sports car great Richard Attwood was among the celebrity drivers queuing up for their turn to compete at the Revival. Even the racing garments are old-school (although most drivers wear modern Nomex underneath the period overalls).
Stuart Roach won the Chichester Cup on Saturday. And look at the remarkable sunshine and blue skies! Kind relief from the slate skies and drizzle of Friday. Mind you, the track was still slippery, Roach sliding on to the grass after a coming-together with a back marker – yet he still brought his Alexis single-seater home in first place.
The 2017 Goodwood Revival roared into full swing on Friday 8 September – with scudding clouds bringing a showery morning and not a little mud in the car parks. While this didn’t dampen the crowd’s enthusiasm for the retrofest spectacular, it certainly made conditions tricky for the historics rolled out. The chicane (above) was a particular slide hotspot.
The Revival has never struggled to attract big name drivers and this year was no different. Alongside the usual spread of BTCC pilots was Tiff Needell, Jackie Oliver, Marino Franchitti and multiple Le Mans winner Tom Kristensen.
TVR chose to relaunch at the 2017 Revival. The new Griffith was unveiled to the world first thing on Friday morning, attacting quite a crowd to see the new Gordon Murray-designed, Cosworth-engined V8 for the first time. Read the full story here.
The Goodwood Motor Circuit was first christened in September 1948, playing host to the first post-war motor racing meeting at a permanent venue. The first Revival event came about 50 years later, and continues to attract thousands of visitors to this historic circuit in West Sussex.
Many Volkswagen camper van owners – including TV chef Jamie Oliver – chose to fit a 2.4-litre air-cooled Porsche engine to their mobile homes. Fetching as it is, we doubt that this Rennsport-liveried example from the Porsche Museum was the inspiration.
As ever, this year’s Revival features high-street shops as they would have appeared back in the 40s, 50s, 60s. Outlets include a Shell petrol station, Kenwood Tea Room and Betty’s Salon, where visitors could book hair and make-up appointments to complete their Revival look.
A collection of mock-up posters for the Earls Court Motor Show, with a nod to the all-new TVR Griffith unveiled on Friday at the Goodwood Motor Circuit.
Vintage cars means vintage-style tyres with crossply rubber a common sight throughout the event. General grip levels are low and are made worse by some cars dropping oil, fuel or water (often all three) onto the track.
Fiat’s 500 celebrated its diamond anniversary at the 2017 Goodwood Revival. The cinquecento parade was one of the most joyous sights on the West Sussex track, with Italian bubbles of every shape, age and hue visible – all accompanied by grinning drivers and occupants.
British 500s, Italian ones, rare prototype ones, taxi ones… Fiat 500s in all shapes and sized descended upon Goodwood track on the Friday. Bright Fiats were in perfect contrast to the leaden sky.
A Jaguar E-type splashes through the puddles at the 2017 Goodwood Revival. For much of the Friday the track was sodden, as witnessed by the sheets of standing water lurking on most corners.
Inner peace: the paddocks provide a moment of reflection for the pre-66 classic racers that dominate the action at Goodwood. Well worth a visit to the inner sanctum, if you can tear yourself away from the racing and the shopping on the outer perimeters.
Friday was all about practice, as the drivers relearn their cars and preferred racing lines. Racing proper starts Friday evening before the main event on Saturday and Sunday, when all hell will break loose, judging by previous years’ close racing. Fingers crossed it’s drier over the weekend…
As ever, the fashion on show at the Revival was nothing short of mesmerising. Your correspondents from CAR even dressed up (badly). Far more elegant were the models parading proper period dress at Goodwood’s catwalk show.