Writing fresh history
Exactly 50 years after the track had originally opened, racing resumed at the Goodwood Motor Circuit in 1998. The occasion was the inaugural Goodwood Revival Meeting and this year the 20th anniversary of the magical step back in time was celebrated. Event host, the Duke of Richmond, marked the occasion by inviting many of the cars that won races during the last 20 editions, many of which were reunited with their original drivers. Leading the way in the Revival Winners parades was Ludovic Lindsay in the ERA R-Type, better known as 'Remus', with which he had won the very first race held at the re-opened Goodwood Motor Circuit. The parade underlined that not only is motor racing history celebrated at the Revival, new history is also written during every edition. There was also a moment of silence during the ceremony to remember Barry 'Whizzo' Williams, who was the star of many races during the last 20 years but had sadly passed away after brief illness during the weekend.
As always, our photographers were on hand to capture all the sights and sounds, on and off the track with this 270-shot gallery as the result.

Racing into the night
A recent addition to the Goodwood Revival program is the Kinrara Trophy for early 1960s GT cars. These often hugely valuable machines previously raced in the blue ribbon RAC TT Celebration but were no match for the highly tuned Jaguar E-Types and Shelby Cobras. Instead the Ferrari 250 GT SWBs and Aston Martin DB4 GTs found a home in the two-driver Kinrara Trophy that has become a set fixture for the Friday evening. Blitzing the competition in the 30-minute qualifying session on Friday morning was the unique Ferrari 250 GT Breadvan shared by Niklas Halusa and Emanuele Pirro. The former started the race and was hounded in the opening laps by Jon Minshaw in the E-Type he shared with Phil Keen. Minshaw got ahead once but Halusa kept his cool and quickly pressed the very low Breadvan back ahead of the E-Type. After the pit-stops, Keen emerged in the lead perhaps helped by the fact that he and Minshaw practiced driver changes all season in the British GT Championship. Five-time Le Mans winner Pirro, however, wasted no time and was right on Keen's tail again within a few laps and made a lovely pass around the outside to claim victory. Third was for the heavily battered E-Type of Richard Meins and Rob Huff.

R.R.C. Walker Racing Team
Even when he could get works drives, Stirling Moss preferred to race for the privateer R.R.C. Walker Racing Team during the late 1950s and early 1960s. The team had been founded in 1953 by heir to the Johnny Walker whiskey fortune, the late Rob Walker, who had 'Gentleman' listed in his passport as his occupation. The Walker Racing Team cars boasted a dark blue livery with a white stripe across the nose to underline the founder's Scottish heritage. Walker and Moss were kindred spirits and together they were hugely successful with Moss scoring the first Grand Prix victory for a mid-engined cars in a Walker entered Cooper and also scoring the first Grand Prix win for Lotus with a Type 12, beating Team Lotus to the punch. In 1960 and 1961, Moss also won the RAC TT at Goodwood in Ferrari 250 GT SWBs. Fittingly, Walker also scored the very last GP win for a privateer with a Lotus 49 in the hands of Jo Siffert at the 1968 British Grand Prix. Before running his team, Walker also raced a Delahaye at Le Mans, wearing a pinstripe suit, and after shutting down his team served as the Road & Track Grand Prix correspondent. The legacy of this remarkable man was celebrated at the 2018 Goodwood Revival by bringing together a remarkable array of machinery from the Walker stable, including the 1958 Argentinean Grand Prix winning Cooper, the 1961 Monaco Grand Prix winning Lotus and the two Ferrari 250 GT SWBs used to win the 1960 and 1961 RAC TTs at Goodwood respectively. Also on hand was the Delahaye, Walker had raced at Le Mans and is to this day still owned by his family.

Further highlights
The two-part St. Mary's Trophy is one of the most highly anticipated races of the weekend. Run for alternating touring car periods, it features a race for professionals and one for the owners with the result determined on aggregate. In 2018, the most modern touring cars were eligible for the race, like Lotus Cortinas, Alfa Romeo GTAs and Minis. While the race for the professionals is usually quite messy, there were few issues this time round in Part 1 of the St. Mary's Trophy. Rob Huff crossed the line first in his Cortina but he was penalised 10 seconds for a false start, handing victory to Andy Priaulx in another Cortina. Andrew Jordan was classified an impressive third despite having been forced to start from the back of the field. The second race was an altogether different affair with Duncan Pittaway first clouting the chicane in his Plymouth Barracuda bringing out a red flag and then Peter Chambers rolling his Cortina after the re-start. When the dust had finally settled, it was young Olivier Hart who clinched victory in Part 2 with his Alfa Romeo. He played no part in the aggregate results as the car dropped out of race one after the gear lever came off. The Cortina that won the opening race was now driven to second by owner and former BMW works driver Steve Soper, which was more than enough to claim overall victory.

Shortly after the chequered flag fell for the second part of the St. Mary's Trophy, it was time for the blue ribband Royal Automobile Club Tourist Trophy celebration race. This one-hour, two-driver race is usually so spectacular that it is broadcast live on British national television. Unfortunately, the messy St. Mary's Trophy race caused such a delay that in order to fall inside the broadcast window, this year's Tourist Trophy Celebration was shortened to just 45 minutes. Starting on pole was the Cobra shared by father and son David and OIivier Hart with David taking the start. He immediately grabbed the lead but was then hounded by the Martin Stretton / Karsten le Blanc Cobra with Stretton at the wheel. During the intense opening laps, Hart also clipped the chicane with a five-second penalty as the result. Stretton briefly grabbed the lead on the road but once Olivier Hart had taken over, there was no stopping the Dutch Cobra. He won with an 18-second lead over Minshaw and Keen in a Jaguar E-Type while Mike Jordan valiantly fought off the Cobra shared by Joe Twyman and Revival debutant Andre Lotterer, to claim third in the TVR Griffith he shared with owner Mike Whitaker.

Amazingly, the very best racing was still to come after the television cameras had been switched off again. We were particularly enthralled by the fight for victory in the Glover Trophy for 1.5-litre Formula 1 cars. Leading the way from pole was four-time winner Andy Middlehurst in the dominant Lotus 25. He was, however, quickly challenged by Joe Colasacco in the magnificent Ferrari 1512 F1. So loud was the Ferrari's 1.5-litre, flat-12 howl that Middlehurst could actually hear Colasacco behind him over his own V8 engine. Middlehurst defended meticulously and cleanly but eventually had to cede his place after a beautiful pass from Colassaco. This allowed the American team to finally score a well deserved and long overdue Revival victory in the marvellous Ferrari. The final race of the weekend, the Sussex Trophy for late 1950s sports cars, started with drama on the line as the Lister Jaguar of pole-sitter Keen stalled. The start was abandoned and Keen had to start from the pit-lane. He spent the next 25 minutes clipping off rivals one by one and, despite very strong opposition, rounded off his remarkable comeback with a victory.

Final thoughts
What the Duke of Richmond has achieved with the Goodwood Revival Meeting is quite unparalleled. Under his stewardship, the Goodwood Motor Circuit has been open longer than it was in period and the Revival ranks among the most prestigious historic motor racing events. Each year, the Duke and his team provide a magical step back in time with uncountable subtle and not so subtle (a full size steam locomotive) cues. Despite the size of the event, there were also subtle personal touches with a beautiful tribute to Dan Gurney who passed away earlier this year and was one of the Duke's absolute heroes. Piloted by Jackie Stewart and Derek Bell, Gurney's Belgian Grand Prix winning Eagle was sent out on parade laps each day to honour his memory. The sight and sound of that fantastic machine alone would have been enough to make the journey to Goodwood worthwhile let alone the rest of the three days of action.
All the aforementioned highlights and much, much more is found in our 270-shot gallery.