All the fun of Goodwood Revival – vintage dressing, dancing and must-see motors
n event of two halves as we had the normally loud noise of vintage cars racing round the racetrack of Goodwood, but we also had silent wheel power as bikes through the ages followed.
I had to laugh at the two Army boys on a tandem but then I guess during world wars bike power was often turned to for getting to and from places when petrol was rationed.
A warm sunny first two days saw grey clouds on the last day, the day I attended with friends. Having splashed out on a new vintage dress, all of £20, I was ready to take on my role of a lady sporting the 1950s look with gloves and hat.
The bikes arrived on top of vintage cars and had a special section among the many stalls of vintage clothing, vehicles badges, watched over by the boys in blue – you had to make sure the difference was noted from the real boys in blue and the bobbies from the past that patrolled the mods and rockers.
The mods hung around outside the beauty salon where
Ayou could have your hair styled for the occasion. Opposite were the Triumph motorbikes, power of yesteryears sat to be admired. It was good to see not only the mods that looked like the Small Faces or Paul Weller with sharp haircuts, sharp suits, and sideburns, but also a younger generation that are obviously going to carry on the tradition of mopeds with lots of spotlights.
In the 1950s and 1960s, mod culture dominated most of what was going on in the UK in terms of culture. Mods were hip and cool, and it was reflected in the trendsetting fashion and music to come from that time.
We sat and ate pizza and drank Champagne; we tried our footwork at learning to dance under expert tuition before the professionals and those with better footwork took over the dance floor once more.
Into the pits and a group of Scottish-themed mechanics kindly posed for a picture. We lost our men folk to the array of vintage cars for sale as well as engine parts. We found new hats and bags for the event next year.
The Casino we passed by but the car showroom of new and old Minis, BMWs and Aston Martins was a must-see.
The fire brigade chatted with Red Bull team members; the old vintage clothing next to the modern rain jackets – they needed them on Sunday! The old engines looked very ancient with all the manual hoses and pumps.
The girls sang to audiences as attendees ate packed lunches while watching the racing as well as viewing the vintage planes parked alongside the airfield. The dance troop moved from singing and dancing – ‘If I knew you were comin’ I’d’ve baked a cake’ – to where the rock’n’roll jives boomed out from the live band set by the vintage American cars that had been on the racetrack earlier.
Even armoured vehicles got to do a lap of the racetrack, but the main attraction, as ever, were the vintage cars worth more than most houses being risked on wet tarmac to bring pleasure to their lucky owners and the audience old and young.
I can’t wait until next year.