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welcomes all cars with open arms, regardless of stature or marque. We set off early the following morning, hoping to beat the traffic, heeding the advice of the Luxembourgian gentleman to take the A285 instead of following the signposts. He also told us not to go ‘towards the mountains.’ I figured Luxembourg is rather flat.
The Goodwood Revival 2015
Still, our new Volvo driving friends advice was sound, and we’d managed to park at the very front of the classic Jaguars only car park, in between another Jaguar MkII and a C-Type.
This period Porsche garage was one of many around the event
The car park was, as ever, filled with incredible pieces of automotive art. If it’s been built, it was probably parked somewhere in that field. From humble Ford Escorts to astonishing exotica like the Lamborghini Muira and Ferrari 250GTO. After a quick breakfast from the tea and crumpet van - less quintessentially English catering vans were available - we made our way into the event and became embroiled in all things yesteryear. This year was a celebration of the miniskirt, and as such all things 1960’s. That saw the opening of the 1960’s style Glenfiddich bar - thankfully empty at 8 o’clock in the morning, the same of which could not be said about the Veuve Clicquot stands - in the miniature high street alongside the Tesco supermarket and Kenwood café.
There are some events that people obsess over all year round. It may be the event that they spend all year looking forward to, or the event that keeps them going. For a lot of people, it’s something like Christmas, for others it’s their favourite music festival. But for me, it’s the Goodwood Revival. This was my fifth year making the 170-mile journey down to The Revival, made all the more special, as I grow older. I’m always accompanied by my father, and it’s becoming increasingly obvious that Goodwood is one of the few times we can bond during our progressively busy lives. This year I was demoted purely to navigator due to an insurance faux pas, not that I necessarily minded. The Jaguar MkII we’d be using for our journey had been modified to Coombs The journey begins - and what a lovely view specification. The 3.8 litre straight-six was more powerful, the exhaust louder, and the suspension stiffer. Even despite the manual 4-speed gearbox being replaced with a Getrag 5-speed system, the car was never really happy unless the right pedal was jammed firmly into the floor – a tiring prospect when you needed to cover half of the country. Nevertheless, as we passed two men squeezed tightly into an Austin 7 on the M40, I realised that there we always worse options than the somewhat savage Jag. As we pulled into our hotel 20 miles away from Goodwood, I immediately remembered what made The Revival so enjoyable. It’s not just the event itself that’s special; it’s the people that truly make it. The owner of an Aston Martin DB5 was happily chatting to the owner of a Triumph Spitfire who’d parked nearby, whilst we’d struck up conversation with the owners of a 3.0L BMW CS, and a group of men who’d travelled 600 miles from Luxembourg in their convey of trusty Volvo’s. Car culture is so often plagued with elitism, yet here, for this event, everybody
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Of course, one of the main reasons The Revival is so memorable are down to the actors and actresses that parade around the event. Some, like the Glam cab girls and Captain Birdseye and his giant fish finger (no, I’m serious) stay milling around in one area, whilst others roam the event searching for their next victims. The two period cleaning ladies who wandered around polishing men’s heads come to mind there. These two roamed the event polishing bald spots left and right
The ever dramatic and often emotional Spitfire flyovers are also always a special moment. This year saw a plethora of Spitfires, P51 Mustangs and Messerschmitt’s. Planes don’t just fly over too, there’s an entire section dedicated to pre-73 planes too. The real attraction though, is of course, the cars. An incredible range of cars are on display, from Rolls Royce and BMW’s housed in period garages and showcases, to modified American hot-rods, to British police cars surrounded by the Old Bill.
One well used Mercedes 300SL, preparing for it’s second stint on the track
And all that is surrounded by the howl of engines as racing takes place on Goodwood Circuit. Racing takes place all day, and races range from Formula One cars, to GT sports cars, to the action-packed touring cars from the St Mary’s Trophy.
One of the Luxembourgian Volvo’s next to an series 2 E-Type
It’s a truly special event, made all the more wonderful by the people that occupy it. So many dress up in period fashion and get enveloped in the whole thing, it’s difficult not to become involved. It’s impossible not to fall in love with it. And every year, when it comes to an end and I make the 270-mile trip back home, I start counting the days until the next one.
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