Goodwood Revival preview
1 Friday evening’s Kinrara Trophy is billed as having the most valuable grid in motor racing. Cars with total value stretching into hundreds of millions of pounds will race for an hour into the dusk of the Sussex evening and the big-engined pre ’63 GT cars will make a glorious spectacle.
2 There are almost more Le Mans winners in action than you could shake a stick at. Topped by nine-time winner Tom Kristensen, the list of 24-hour victors racing this weekend includes Richard Attwood, Jochen Mass, Derek Bell, Marcel Fassler, Neel Jani, Emanuele Pirro and Benoit Treluyer.
3 The racing return of Dario Franchitti will be special. Five years on from Indycar injuries that ended his mainstream career, the Scot has been cleared to race in historics and will drive both a Ferrari 250GT SWB and an AC Cobra. Few modern racers have more passion for motor racing history.
4 Few drivers are as visible in their passion for racing at Goodwood as Mini ace and leading engine builder Nick Swift. This year he’ll switch to a Mini-based sportscar to race the
1966 Mini Marcos of Martyn Spurrell in the Fordwater Trophy for pre ’67 road-going GT and sports cars. He’ll give lots of horses away to most of his rivals, but if it rains, then look out.
5 The Studebaker marque does not have a great European racing pedigree but former BTCC racer Patrick Watts likes a challenge and has built up a striking 1959 Silver Hawk for the St Mary’s Trophy. He’s been out testing recently and is ready to share the be-winged car with former
F1 racer Karl Wendlinger.
6 Nick Padmore remains one of the fastest drivers around Goodwood in the circuit’s second life thanks to his pace in a Lola T70 Spider. This weekend, the Historic F1 ace will step back even further in the racing history to race the thundering 1958 Chevrolet-powered Lister Knobbly of John Saunders in the Sussex Trophy. He will be a contender.
7 With 20 different marques in the 30-car field, the Earl of March Trophy for 500cc Formula 3 cars is a glorious recreation of the early postwar days of single-seater racing. Edwin Jowsey will end a sabbatical from racing to field a 1949 Iota Wasp while Richard de la Roche will take on his son Peter, the current Formula Junior champion, in a two-car team.
8 Evoking the spirit of Brooklands in the 1920s and 1930s will be a grid full of Bentleys for the Brooklands Trophy to mark the centenary of the timeless British marque. Race fan, actor and comedian Rowan Atkinson will race a rare 1926 Parkward Saloon.
The 1927 special of Oliver Llewellin should set the overall pace.
9 Three young guns of historic racing will drive grand prix cars that pre-date them by around by three decades in the Glover Trophy for one and a half-litre Formula 1 cars of the early 1960s. Rising United States star Tim da Silva (Lotus 24) will go up against Ben Mitchell (Lola T60) and
Sam Wilson (Lotus 24) in a star-studded entry.
10 The entry for the TT Celebration race is as stellar as ever, with a host of F1, Le Mans and touring car stars in pre ’65 GT cars. Former F1 racers on the grid will include Jochen Mass, Emanuele Pirro, Karl Wendlinger, Karun Chandhok, Henri Pescarolo, Derek Bell and Tiff Needell.