GARY PUSEY

T he E nthusiast

AS WE drove the 1970 press launch Velar onto the hallowed tarmac that is the hill climb at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, a mint and immaculate mid-1970s Range Rover pulled alongside. The last time I’d looked in the mirror the vehicle behind us was a Classic LSE, but clearly the interloper had been waiting in the shrubbery somewhere and joined the convoy at the last minute, just as we came onto the run-up to the starting line.

As it rolled to a halt, the lady in the passenger seat leaned out to compliment us on the gleaming Tuscan Blue paintwork, remarking that she preferred it to the ‘vomit yellow’ of the car she was in. It was TV celebrity Julia Bradbury, complete with film crew in the back, being driven in one of JLR’S Reborn Range Rovers. She was obviously not a fan of Bahama Gold!

It was an amusing start to the 70th anniversary parade up the hill, meticulously organised by JLR’S UK PR team headed by Kim Palmer with the stalwart assistance of Roger Crathorne, and for me this was going to be the highlight of what has already been a remarkable birthday year. In fact, it was Kim’s idea to celebrate the birthday with a parade of 70 Land Rovers incorporating everything from the Centre Steer replica to the latest models, but little did Kim know what a logistical challenge this would turn out to be when he first thought it all up!

JLR cast their net far and wide to secure the vehicles. Some, including the Centre Steer, came from the Dunsfold Collection, and others came from JLR’S own fleet, but nearly 30 were brought along by their private owners, all of whom had received a tap on the shoulder at some point over the past few months. Most of those invited were only too keen to accept, but a number declined given that no contribution to their expenses for travel and accommodation could be made.

Participants were instructed to gather early on Thursday morning in the car park at the Goodwood motor circuit. We arrived pretty early, but the majority of the vehicles were already there, neatly arranged by model and more or less in date order. We had an hour or two to kill before the briefing but this was no hardship because there’s always something happening on the track at Goodwood, and the bacon butties on offer certainly hit the spot. There were a great many familiar faces and it was excellent to meet some old friends. The sun was shining, and everyone agreed that it was a real privilege to be there to mark not only Land Rover’s 70th but also the 25th anniversary of the Festival of Speed.

And it just shows how far the marque has come over the past few years. I confess that I had never in my wildest dreams expected to see the Land Rover take centre stage at Goodwood events, which are more usually associated with priceless classic racing cars in the case of the Revival, or modern supercars with the Festival of Speed. But it first happened in 2015 when a convoy of Land Rovers drove around the circuit at that year’s Revival, marking the imminent end of Defender production, and this year it was to be the turn of the Festival of Speed.

Once the drivers’ briefing was done and dusted, we set off in a lengthy convoy on a circuitous route from the motor circuit to… a long and dusty farm track, where we sat in the scorching sun for an hour and a half or so, awaiting our slot on the hill. Eventually the radios crackled as we were instructed to head to the end of the farm track, across the public road, and suddenly we were there – with stern-looking stewards and race marshals hustling us into position.

And then we were off, through the trees, and into the Festival itself, crowds either side, cameras snapping away. Ten to 15 mph had been the guidance so we were not going to set any fastest-time-of- day records, although I suspect we may lay claim to a new record for the slowest hill climb ever! We certainly set a record for the largest number of vehicles to have been on the hill at the same time in the history of the Festival of Speed.

Someone in the crowd shouted to us to close our windows because it was raining at the top of the hill. It seemed unlikely but, half way up and passing the vast, double-story JLR exhibition stand, the first spots of big summer rain did indeed plaster the windscreen, and as we were passing the marshal at the top of the hill, who to my huge amusement was waving his chequered flag, it was raining with a vengeance. Thankfully it only lasted for ten minutes or so, although that was enough for the crews in the open cars to enjoy a bit of a soaking!

Once the team photographs had been taken it was time to find a suitable spot for a bite to eat and a pint. And that’s when I bumped into our LRM editor Patrick, who unfortunately was one of the invited owners who had failed to make it. Sadly, the water pump on his Bmw-powered Defender 2.8i had packed-up on the drive to Goodwood the evening before…

Gary Pusey is co-author of Range Rover The First Fifty, trustee of The Dunsfold Collection and a lifelong Land Rover enthusiast. What this man doesn’t know, isn’t worth knowing!

“I never expected to see the Land Rover take centre stage at Goodwood events, but it first happened in 2015 at the Revival”