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2019 Goodwood Revival
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Indian Summer
If England is famous for one thing, it is the weather. Despite being traditionally staged in September, the annual Goodwood Revival meeting is usually spared the worst of it. Event host, the Duke of Richmond, clearly used all of his connections to sort the weather for this year's edition as there was sunshine virtually from start to finish. The 22nd Goodwood Revival included all the familiar ingredients that formed a lovely period backdrop to three days full of racing. Popular events like the Kinrara Trophy; a two-driver race into the sunset, the Whitsun Trophy for big-banger sports cars and the blue ribband RAC Tourist Trophy Celebration were all on the 2019 ticket. In addition to the racing, the Revival also marked 75 years of D-Day as well as 60 years of the Mini, Aston Martin's World Championship securing Tourist Trophy race at Goodwood and the first Cooper Formula 1 World Championship victory.
We once again dressed up in our finest tweed outfits to capture the 2019 Goodwood Revival in its entirety. The result is this class-by-class, action-packed 250-shot gallery.

Racing into the sunset
Following a full day of timed practice sessions for the various groups, the racing kicked off on Friday evening with the Kinrara Trophy for early 1960s GT cars. Scheduled at around sunset, the two-driver, one-hour race has been a set fixture at the Revival since 2016. The winners that year were Tom Kristensen and Joe Macari in the latter's Ferrari 250 GT SWB Comp '61. The eight-time Le Mans winner once again qualified the blisteringly quick Ferrari on the front row but saw his time scratched for a technical infringement. During the race, the two drivers fought valiantly to climb all the way up the order to fourth overall. Pole position was for the Ferrari 250 GTO shared by Andrew Smith and Gary Pearson. Their fastest lap in practice was over 1.7 seconds faster than the nearest rival. In the opening stages of the race, Pearson was challenged by Aston Martin factory driver Darren Turner in a DB4 GT shared with Simon Hadfield but ultimately the GTO's leading position was never in any real danger. Third behind the 250 GTO and the DB4 GT was the Swiss entered Ferrari 250 GT SWB Comp '61 that was raced with great verve by seasoned hand David Franklin and Swiss racer Remo Lips.

Touring cars
A particular popular fixture at the Revival is the two-part St Mary's Trophy for touring cars. The first 25-minute race is for celebrity drivers while in the second the cars' owners go head to head. The period of touring cars eligible alternates and at this year's edition the earliest group (1950 - 1959) were due out. Racing against diminutive Austin A40s and slightly bigger Jaguar Mk1s, a pre-race favourite this time was the absolutely massive Ford Thunderbird shared by Bill Shepherd and new Goodwood hill-climb record holder Romain Dumas. Unfortunately, the car had rolled during testing and never seemed to run trouble-free. Another V8-engined behemoth, the Studebaker Silver Hawk of Patrick Watts and Goodwood rookie Karl Wendlinger was on song and qualified on pole for both races. Wendlinger duly won his, on his Goodwood debut, only to see the victory snatched away due to technical infringements. A very close second race saw Grant Williams manhandle his famous Jaguar Mk1 'BUY 1' claim victory ahead of Mike Jordan in an Austin A40. Thanks to the result scored by Nic Minassian the previous day, the little Austin was declared the overall winner.

RAC TT Celebration
One the most highly anticipated races at each Revival is the one-hour, two-driver Royal Automobile Club Tourist Trophy Celebration, which is run for mid-1960s GT cars. The annual Tourist Trophy has been run by the RAC since 1905 for touring cars, sports cars and GTs at a variety of tracks including at Goodwood between 1958 and 1964. In addition to the RAC TT Celebration race on Sunday afternoon, at this year's Revival the famous 1959 edition of the Tourist Trophy was also celebrated. Run for sports cars, it was the final race of the World Championship and Aston Martin, Ferrari and Porsche were all still in contention. The partisan crowd were of course eager to see Aston Martin succeed after the British manufacturer had already won the 24 Hours of Le Mans and Nürburgring 1000 km earlier that year. It proved far from straightforward and the team even suffered a massive fire in the pits, damaging one of the cars. The surviving DBR1 came through to take the victory and the World Championship. This occasion was celebrated with a demonstration run that, in proper Goodwood tradition, even featured a simulated pit fire at the end.
Between 1960 and 1964, the Tourist Trophy was run for GTs, which is why the Celebration race is run for cars like Jaguar E-Type Lightweights and AC Shelby Cobras. To spice things up, this year's entry also featured some more exotic machinery like both of the mid-engined Tojeiros. The quicker of two was duly placed on the front row by Oliver Hart and Nicolas Minassian. They were pipped for pole only by Christopher Wilson and Andre Lotterer in the former's AC Shelby Cobra. Minassian grabbed the lead at the start, while Wilson fought valiantly to keep his Cobra in contention. He handed the car over to Lotterer as soon as the pit-window opened. Their cause was further helped by a safety car period during which the pits were closed. Minassian was one of the victims although a victory was already highly unlikely as the Tojeiro's fuel pump struggled to get the last quarter out of the fuel tank. Following all the pit-stops, Lotterer emerged in third with Romain Dumas and Oliver Bryant in similar cars ahead of him. The German showed his exceptional skill and chased both highly experienced drivers down to secure the coveted victory. Dumas later explained that he had to complete the final laps without a gearshift knob.

The Goodwood hero turns 90
Goodwood's single biggest hero is without a doubt Sir Stirling Moss. He made his victorious debut a the track when it first opened in 1948 but also suffered his career ending accident at Goodwood in 1962. Between those two fateful days, the supremely gifted racer was hugely successful, not only winning the above mentioned 1959 Tourist Trophy but also the 1958 TT in the same DBR1 and the next two in a Ferrari 250 GT SWB. After the 1960 victory, he famously commented that he had listened to the circuit commentators on the Ferrari's radio to keep tabs on the rivals behind. In more recent years, he was a patron of the Goodwood events and until a few years ago even raced regularly in the Revival. Born on September 17th, 1929, his birthday celebration usually coincided with the Revival meeting as well. Sadly, ill health has brought an end to his public appearances but as he turned 90 this year, Goodwood could not let the occasion pass. On Saturday the Duke of Richmond paid tribute to the living legend and then piloted Lady Susie Moss around the Goodwood Motor Circuit in one of the Aston Martin DBR1s raced so valiantly by Stirling during his fantastic career.

Final thoughts
The Goodwood Revival is so much more than a historic racing meeting; it is an experience for all the senses. Thanks to the flurry on and very much so off the track, the Revival provides a spectacle even for those who would normally never visit a racing track. Thanks to the superb weather and fabulous racing throughout, the 22nd Goodwood Revival did come very close to achieving perfection. To see why, please sit back and enjoy our 250-shot gallery.

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Report by Wouter Melissen and images by Wouter Melissen and Pieter Melissen for Ultimatecarpage.com