Goodwood Revival 2008

Vintage cars, vintage planes, vintage clothes . . . The Goodwood Revival has it all.

As I wrote last week, the Goodwood Revival recreates the golden age of motor racing from the 1950s and 60s. The event is held on the motor circuit at Goodwood House, just outside Chichester.

It's a wonderfully atmospheric event. Visitors are strongly encouraged to dress in period costume, and many of the spectators make tremendous efforts to dress the part. Only pre-1966 vehicles are admitted onto the grounds, which helps give the whole event a terrific time warp quality. Spectators who arrive in their own vintage cars can park close to the action, but modern vehicles must be left in remote car parks.



The main event is motor racing, with 16 vintage car races spread over the weekend. There are also lots of other attractions, including displays of vintage aircraft, a fairground with a carousel and helter skelter, and a huge market selling vintage clothes and car accessories.













One of the highlights is a flypast by the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight. This unit of the Royal Air Force includes Spitfire and Hurricane fighters and a Lancaster bomber.







Many of the spectators are turned out in period clothes. Here's a selection of pictures from around the grounds.















The principal race of the weekend is the Royal Automobile Club TT Celebration. This is a one-hour long race for closed-cockpit GT cars from the early 1960s.

Ferrari 250GTO and Jaguar E-type lowdrag coupe


Aston Martin DB4GT






Racing can be a dangerous sport, especially with vintage cars. Despite many of the cars being highly valuable, the races can get very competitive. There was a heart stopping moment when Jochen Mass, the German Formula 1 veteran, flipped over his Lancia-Ferrari D50A when coming out of the chicane. The marshalls quickly pulled him out of the car to safety.



The Man of Mode belongs to the Goodwood Road Racing Club, which gives him access to the paddock. Here are a few shots of Ferraris in the paddock, just before their races.

Goodwood Revival - coming soon

The Goodwood Revival is coming up next weekend. It's a unique mix of historic motor racing and vintage fashion, recreating the golden days of motorsport at Goodwood in the 1950s and 60s. Here are a few photos I took the last time I went (all photos are my own, except the fashion ones which are borrowed from the Goodwood website).

The races include 1950s Grand Prix, early Formula 1 and GT cars. There are plenty of unusual (and valuable) cars being thrashed around the track, including Shelby Cobras, Ferrari 250 GTOs and Aston Martin DB4GT Zagatos.

The entire weekend is done in period style, with many spectators dressed in vintage clothes. The racecourse is closed to modern vehicles, and many visitors arrive in classic cars (a couple of particularly choice examples shown at the bottom).

Land Rover at 60

The Land Rover burst into the world sixty years ago. The chief designer of the Rover car company designed it in 1948 while at his farm on the island of Anglesey, off the coast of Wales. He was inspired by the World War II Willys jeep, but created a sturdy workhorse that is uniquely British.

Since then, they've been used in the toughest conditions around the world. Mechanically simple, they were designed to be serviced in the field and to run on the poorest quality fuels.

The manufacturer has developed other models, including the upmarket Range Rover, the Discovery, and the Freelander. However, the classic Land Rover (now labeled the Defender) is the definitive model, and remains very close in appearance to the original 1948 design.

Here are some photos I've taken of Land Rovers on my recent travels and around London.

Electric cars

I have seen the future . . . and it's a clown car.

With oil still trading far above the $100 per barrel mark, electric cars are all the rage. While petrol fuelled hybrids like the Toyota Prius get most of the attention, there are also a few models available that just run on electricity. These cars have some major drawbacks: they are very small, they have a limited range (under 50 miles), and they must be plugged in for several hours to recharge the batteries. However, those factors are perfectly tolerable in a city car that is designed for short trips around town.



These little 2-seaters may look a bit clownish, but they're quite practical for a short commute or shopping trips in central London.

Some local councils in London are promoting the use of these cars by offering free on-street parking. Electric cars are also exempt from the 8 quid a day Congestion Charge. An article in this week's Economist notes the popularity of these cars, and the efforts by local governments to encourage their use, although it comments that many of these benefits are now being cut back.

The best perk I've seen is on Berkeley Square. The City of Westminster has installed several charging points that are free to use for drivers of electric cars; drivers just pay a nominal annual fee for a key to turn on the juice. With petrol prices at record highs, I can't think of anything better than having the local government pay to power your car.