Goodwood Revival Historied Ferraris duel on the Sussex Downs
Stunning 250-series cars made historic racing debuts at the Revival, despite crashes
Racing at the 20th Goodwood Revival was marred by crashes, heavily damaging many of the star-attraction cars, but it was still a spectacular showcase for a pair of newly restored Ferraris and some groundbreaking Sixties single-seaters.
Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa
‘We’ve just finished rebuilding this Ferrari,’ said restorer Neil Twyman of the striking blue 1957 Testa Rossa contesting the Sussex Trophy. ‘It actually began life as a 315S, but after just two months of racing it was crashed by Wolfgang von Trips.
‘It was sent back to the Maranello factory as wreckage, where Luigi Chinetti found out about it and paid to have it rebodied and rebuilt as a 250 Testa Rossa before being shipped to the US.’
The 315S chassis was very similar, but the TR’S new bodywork rendered the 315S obsolete with better aerodynamics and improved brake cooling.
‘Chinetti sold it to a casino owner who campaigned it in the Sports Car Club of America racing series in the 1958 and ’59 seasons, where it won every race. But that was less impressive than it sounds because back then the SCCA didn’t have a particularly sophisticated class system, so he found himself up against things like MGAS!
‘After its racing career it became an occasionally-used road car in the US. This is the first time it’s raced in Europe since 1957, and the first time it’s been seen in the UK.’
Ferrari 250GTO
Gary Pearson and Andrew Smith gave Carlos Monteverde’s 1962 Ferrari 250GTO its first outing since he bought it at the Bonhams Monterey auction in 2014 for $38.1m (£22.8m at 2014 rates), which at the time was a world record.
Chassis 3851GT was back in the Grigio Metallic colour it wore when Jo Schlesser and Henri Oreiller drove it to second place in the 1962 Tour de France Auto, the same year in which Oreiller crashed it fatally at Montlhery. Said Gary Pearson, ‘I had a ten-minute test in it at the Silverstone circuit on Tuesday and apart from that, this is its first run in a long time, the first time it’s raced in 20 years. We built up another engine and gearbox to race, and stiffened up the dampers, but apart from that the preparation has mainly been crack testing.’
The GTO’S Kinrara Trophy race was cut short after the car was rear-ended on the start line by the Jaguar E-type of Rob Huff/richard Meins.
AC Cobra
David Cooke was sharing his freshly prepared Cobra with Jonny Adam in the RAC TT Celebration race. Said Cooke, ‘It’s a tribute to COB6006, the 1963 Cobra that David Purley destroyed in an accident at Brands Hatch in 1968. Afterwards he cut it up and threw it away. His cousin was Cobra racer Derek Ridler, who persuaded him to have a go at racing, but against all advice Purley went straight in and bought a Cobra. Within three races he’d destroyed it.’ Cooke likes to have missing cars recreated, ‘We inherited a road car based on an Aceca chassis number, and we’ve only had time to do an hour and a half of testing.’
After qualifying in 26th, Cooke and Adam brought their Cobra home 15th in Sunday’s TT race.
Lola-cosworth T60s
The Glover Trophy saw two of the Midland Racing Partnership Lola T60s – plus the ex-eric Offenstadt car re-liveried as a third – reunited for the first time since 1965. ‘They were MRP’S team cars, driven by several significant drivers in Formula Two and Three,’ said restorer Rob Shanahan. ‘MRP was effectively Eric Broadley’s factory-backed Lola team, before Lola itself took on those duties, and they had a rotating list of drivers which included Richard Attwood, John Surtees, Chris Amon and Jo Bonnier. One of the reasons why this apparently small team was able to attract this kind of talent was the all-day parties it would hold every year, which were massively popular, and would involve karting. Jim Clark won one of MRP’S kart races once, although he didn’t go on to drive for them.
‘Number eight was the most successful, winning the 1965 Oulton Park Gold Cup with Surtees, the Rome Grand Prix with Attwood and the Solitude Grand Prix with Amon. Frank Gardner took it to second place at the Reims Grand Prix, but beat Jim Clark in the process – perhaps it was revenge for the kart race?’
Gemini-ford Mk4
This remarkably modern-looking Formula Junior car was making its first appearance in the UK, and was baffling onlookers in the paddock who speculated that the unusual front halfshafts could be part of a four-wheel-drive system.
‘It looks like it has four-wheel drive, but in reality it has inboard front brakes,’ said driver Tim De Silva. ‘Gemini only built three of them, and this is one of just two survivors – the third was crashed and damaged beyond repair when it was new.
‘Gemini had Formula One aspirations, but didn’t have the budget to compete at that level. It entered Formula Junior instead, but still embraced all the innovations it wanted to take into F1. It has inboard brakes all round to reduce unsprung weight, inboard lateral pushrod suspension, twin side-mounted radiators, a smooth profile nose design 30 years ahead of its time, and a bespoke six-speed gearbox.
‘Gemini even had a decent driver in Howden Ganley, but unfortunately all this experimental technology made the Mk4s very unreliable, and as a result of this it never even managed to finish a race. It’s still breaking down now but it’s very fast when it does work.
‘It’s been a very long project. We bought it in 2014 and it had been just sat there in a garage unused for 50 years. Absolutely no generic replacement spare parts fit it, so we’ve had to handmake everything.’