STEP OUT FROM THE TARDIS

This year, there was a big vintage market, a historic fairground, period shops (though we really missed the 1960s branch of Tesco that has been a memory-jerking highlight of past gatherings – please bring that back, Lord March), multiple genres of musicians and bands, and even a fashion show. Goodwood is just a huge dollop of nostalgia brought convincingly back to life.

Step out from the TARDIS police box – because, naturally, there was one of those – and complete the timetravelling illusion, without having seen any motor sport whatsoever.

However, what really brought Goodwood to life this year wasn’t just British heritage – it was Italian passion, too. The Fiat 500 birthday celebrations included typical tableaux of the Italian café culture, complete with comic Polizia creating accidental traffic jams with wild yelling and gesticulations, and sharply-dressed young Romeos chatting up beautiful girls sipping wine before being chased away by matriarchal chaperones.

It was all done with such lovely humour and attention to detail that it was impossible not to be utterly beguiled. Which is a trick that the Revival manages to repeat year after year after year…