Goodwood Revival 2018
Close racing made the 20th-anniversary Goodwood Revival among the best yet
The first race of 2018’s Goodwood Revival kicked off the 7-9 September event in the best-possible way, with an epic duel in the Kinrara Trophy. The contest, for pre-’63 closed-cockpit GTS, tempted 11 Maranello exotics to the grid, including Carlo Vögele’s fabulous ex-col Ronnie Hoare 330GTO.
When the flag dropped, polesitter Niklas Halusa made a clean getaway in father Martin’s Ferrari 250GT SWB ‘Breadvan’, with Jon Minshaw (Jaguar E-type) chasing him into the twilight. The dice continued after the driver change, as Le Mans legend Emanuele Pirro reeled in Phil Keen, before getting the Ferrari ahead to take a popular victory. “Someone wanted some bread really quickly, so we had to speed up,” joked a delighted Pirro.
As the battle for the lead cooled, it intensified behind for the final podium spot between the E-types of Rob Huff and Nigel Greensall. Huff’s bonnet came loose, leaving him blind under braking and adding to the drama, yet he was able to sneak by on the penultimate lap as Greensall ran wide at Woodcote, fortunately avoiding further damage to the car, whose nose had been remodelled by contact with Vögele’s GTO off the line.
Saturday’s action kicked off with the Fordwater Trophy for pre-1955 roadgoing sports/gt cars. Poleman Sam Tordoff (Porsche 356) fell to last place at the start, leaving Darren Turner (Aston DB2) to get the better of David Franklin (Ferrari 225S) and Stuart Graham (Jaguar XK120), but BTCC ace Tordoff fought back to claim an impressive second behind Franklin.
The St Mary’s Trophy, this year for 1960-’66 saloons, is always a fan favourite. In the first race, featuring a number of star drivers, reigning BTCC champ Ash Sutton’s Lotus Cortina was swallowed off pole by the similar car of Huff, and Matt Neal’s Studebaker Lark Daytona 500. Huff’s great start proved too good to be true, however, earning him a 10-second penalty.
The fierce battle continued until the chequer, with Neal and Sutton joined by the Cortinas of Pirro and Andy Priaulx, who slipped past to take the win from Neal, with Andrew Jordan a brilliant third after a technicality meant his Cortina had to start from the back.
Owners and ‘amateurs’ were driving for race two, and Mike Jordan took the lead from pole in Howard Donald’s Lotus Cortina ahead of Roger Wills’ hard-charging Mercury Comet Cyclone, which slipped back after a hairy trip across the grass. The race was redflagged after just seven minutes, when Duncan Pittaway’s Plymouth Barracuda thumped the chicane.
Jordan was swamped at the restart, with Ambrogio Perfetti’s Cortina leading into Madgwick as Nick Swift’s Mini rallycrossed around the outside, followed by 19-year-old Olivier Hart (Alfa GTA) who soon took the lead. Another big shunt, this time with Peter Chambers barrel-rolling his Cortina at St Mary’s, led to the field being bunched up behind the safety car, but Hart retained the lead when racing resumed and took a crowd-pleasing victory from the Mercury and Steve Soper’s Cortina – with third enough to secure an aggregate win for Soper/priaulx.
The Goodwood Trophy drew a superb pre-war single-seater grid, with nine ERAS and a remarkable set of Maseratis. The Rettenmaier brothers always bring something special, and this year they united 8CLT 3031 and 8CL 3035 for the
first time since the Indianapolis 500 in ’53. Tom Dark made a rapid start from the front row to take an early lead in the Bugatti Type 73C, which never raced in period, and his oily wake caused mayhem behind as Christian Gläsel and Matt Grist’s Alfa Romeo Tipo Bs plus Duncan Ricketts’ ERA E-type spun off at Lavant. As Dark slowed, Calum Lockie’s Maserati 6CM and Mark Gillies in ERA R3A fought hard on the slippery track, but after swapping the lead several times the Maser finished just 0.4 secs ahead.
There was another enthralling, race-long battle in the inaugural Jack Sears Memorial Trophy for cars of a type that contested the 1958 British Saloon Car Championship, this time between the Mk1 Jags of Justin Law, John Young and Grant Williams. In true touringcar style there was much incident throughout the field, and lots of sideways action from Williams, who was third behind Law and winner Young. Sears’ championshipwinning Austin A105, driven by Nick Jarvis, was the final finisher.
Huff was back for the 25-minute, eardrum-splitting Whitsun Trophy for pre-’66 sports-prototypes, this time in a Lotus-oldsmobile 19, and he snatched the lead from second on the grid. Mike Whitaker (Lola T70) got past on lap two and held on for his first Whitsun win while Turner (Hamill-chevrolet SR3) caught Huff and managed to pass at Woodcote to finish second.
Saturday’s final race was the 20-minute Freddie March Memorial Trophy, for cars in the spirit of the Goodwood Nine Hour races. Martin Hunt (Hwm-jaguar) surged into the lead from pole, from Richard Woolmer (Hwmcadillac) and Darren Mcwhirter (Lagonda V12), the latter in pursuit of his fifth Freddie March victory. A collision leaving a car marooned at Lavant brought out the safety car, and when it came in it was Hunt, Mcwhirter, Woolmer into Madgwick – and that’s how it finished, despite Mcwhirter struggling with fading brakes.
Sunday opened with a Formula Junior contest, the Chichester Cup, where Andrew Hibberd (Lotus 22) rocketed off pole pursued by Cameron Jackson (Brabham BT2). Nick Fennell’s stranded Lotus 27 drew another spell behind the safety car, and when racing recommenced Jackson stuck it down the inside at Madgwick to take the lead. There was another moment for Hibberd when Michael O’brien (Lotus 22) mounted his rear tyre out of the chicane, but Hibberd held on and sliced past Jackson at Woodcote on the penultimate lap, winning the race a decade after his father had done the same.
The safety car was back out in the Richmond and Gordon Trophies for 1954-’60 GP cars, when oil on the track caused several spinners. At the restart, Nick Padmore (Lotus 16) had the advantage from early leader Will Nuthall (Cooper T53), but Nuthall was able to seize victory when Padmore missed a gear at Lavant, just a few corners from home. There was an impressive fifth for Ben Mitchell in the fascinating BRM Type 48, making its debut and still sporting its original magnesium body and unusual rear transmission brake.
The Blue Riband RAC TT Celebration, for closed-cockpit GTS, was a fine spectacle. David Hart (Cobra) led from pole, but nudged the chicane and earned a fivesecond penalty in a move he later described as “a little greedy”. Following the driver changes, however, son Olivier soared to victory with a dominant performance, setting the fastest lap on his final tour. Behind, after the Martin Stretton/karsten Le Blanc Cobra faded, and following retirements for the Oliver Bryant/andrew Smith Cobra and Huff/meins E-type, the Minshaw/keen ‘semi-lightweight’ E-type was second. Triple Le Mans winner André Lotterer (Cobra) was pipped to the final podium spot by Mike Jordan’s TVR Griffith.
In a captivating race-long battle, Joe Colasacco’s epic-sounding Ferrari 1512 came from sixth to pip Andy Middlehurst’s Lotus 25 in the Glover Trophy for 1961-’65 rearengined GP cars. Behind them, a last-lap move around the outside took Jon Milicevic (LDS) to third from Timothy De Silva (Lotus 24).
To round off a meeting where many felt they had seen some of the best racing in the event’s two decades, it was fitting that the Sussex Trophy for 1955-’60 sports cars closed the weekend in style. Pole-sitter Keen started from the pits in the Lister ‘Knobbly’, before scything through the field to challenge Wills (Lotus 15) for the lead with two laps remaining. A mistake from Wills on the penultimate lap let Keen through for a fairytale victory. Behind, Sam Hancock (Ferrari 246S) oversteered his way around the circuit, battling with Bryant (Lotus 15) who eventually pipped him to the podium.
It was a fitting end to a wonderful festival of motorsport, warmed by late-summer sun, with Turner a popular Driver of the Meeting after scooping his maiden Revival win.