The Goodwood Revival – 8
The Atmosphere

Mrs. Goodwin comments on the Goodwood Revival.

Now rather famously I’m not much of a motorsport person but then again with a dad who used to spanner most weekends at Brands Hatch, an older brother who has four star pumping through his veins (and a Jensen Interceptor in the garage) and a husband and stepson for whom every waking moment seems to be another opportunity to test each others knowledge of the facts and figures behind sportscar racing, who can blame me!

I was however intrigued when the invitation arrived to try out the Goodwood Revival. After a very enjoyable day at the Festival of Speed some years ago, and with not a little husbandly encouragement, it sounded like it might be a nice day out.

What I wasn’t expecting was an event with such an enormous attention to detail.

Our opportunity to attend came very late in the day and whilst the period costume option was beyond us, we did make sure to dress smartly and I’m delighted we did, there was barely a baseball cap or a t-shirt to be seen, a really pleasant change from the usual 21st century Brit style of ‘dressing down’. Most people seemed to have made an effort and very many had gone the whole hog with everything from smart suits, beautiful period dresses from the ‘40s, ‘50s and ‘60s, hats and even “shudder” furs, through to military uniform, Teds and Rockers, you name it and you’d find it there.

But it didn’t stop with the costumes! Oh no, the catering set-up was immaculate too, from restaurants and cafes in restored period buildings to wine bars, sandwiches and hot food served not from vehicles that could have been towed straight from a building site but real period vehicles, a tea bar in an old NAAFI lorry and a 1950s ice cream van: not a thing was out of place.

The shops too, a typical 1940s barber shop was doing great business, there was a beautifully recreated 1920s roadside garage and many more besides.

There was music everywhere too, jazz bands on the lawn where champagne and oysters were on offer, deckchairs and 1940s big band sounds by the airfield and military bands too, simply wonderful stuff.

And then there were the set pieces: a fully restored garage with beautiful 1960s Ferraris on display, and a functioning workshop where work was going on on a broken race car: the petrol pumps, the showroom, everything was beautifully done and it showed with smiling faces everywhere, not a raised voice was heard all day.

Adding enormously too to the ‘smile’ factor were more than a smattering of costumed players, a rag and bone man and his missus, the Glamcabs girls from ‘Carry On Cabbie’, a road mending crew in their tatty Mini pick-up, Dads Army (with a very realistic Captain Mainwaring, above) Laurel and Hardy and a couple of scruffy ‘gentlemen of the road’,

Policemen in antique uniforms and in antique police cars too, and some young RAF sorts playing cricket on a small green outside the airfield offices - and even the doormen and gate staff dressed in smart suits and bowler hats. Perfect.

And there were the familiar faces – Stirling Moss and Murray Walker strolling in the paddock (where a jacket and tie was required for the gentlemen!) and then onto the track action where I enjoyed watching our host, the very gentlemanly Oliver Bryant, bring his little Lotus up into third place in a very exciting race.

And for those who tired easily of the on track action there was an awful lot to see behind the scenes too, a wonderful marketplace to browse, none of your boot sale tat here! Vintage clothes, period artwork and a lovely old fairground with old tractors towing trailers around the outside of the circuit, saving those already aching feet from even further twinges for those who wanted to watch the racing from the far side of the circuit.

It was all brilliantly done and made for a simply perfect day out, and wandering back through the classic car park, with a Spitfire flying overhead, it was difficult not to smile after a perfect, but tiring, day. I’ve been on the phone since then and about a dozen of my friends will be back with me next year I’m sure.

I still don’t get the appeal of staying up all night to watch racing though! (a reference to the fact that Trudie won’t be seeing anything of her husband this weekend, as he and the Ed. report on the Britcar 24 Hours at Silverstone. Did you say “sad bastards” Trudie? Ed.)
Trudie Goodwin