This upcoming weekend (September 19-21) Goodwood will celebrate the tenth anniversary of the popular and unique Goodwood Revival.
With the weather forecast looking very encouraging for the event, around 115,000 excited motor sport enthusiasts are expected to come to see their favorite star cars and drivers in action. After ten years, the Goodwood Revival is firmly established as the world’s greatest historic motor race meeting with a magical step back in time for all lovers of nostalgia.
This year is a very special one for motor sport at Goodwood, as not only is the Revival celebrating its tenth anniversary, but the famous West Sussex motor circuit is marking its 60th anniversary, since the very first post-War motor race meeting was held in the UK in September 1948. There are very many reasons to visit the 2008 Goodwood Revival – below are some highlights:
Evening Race: To mark arguably the most distinctive race in Goodwood’s history – and also to recreate one of the Revival’s most memorable tribute races – the Freddie March Memorial Trophy will become a 90-minute endurance race in 2008 for only the second time, extending into the dusk on Saturday evening. It will feature cars in the spirit of the original event, including Jaguar C-type, Aston Martin DB3S, Maserati A6GCS, Lancia D24, Ferrari 750 Monza, HWM and Lagonda.
The only previous time that the race has run to this format was in 2002, in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the inaugural Nine Hour International sports car race in 1952. Special permission was granted to extend the racing longer into the evening than normal, bringing back to Goodwood the magical sight of 1950s sports cars racing in the autumnal twilight with headlamps ablaze, just as they did in the 1950s. It remains one of the most unforgettable races at the Revival to date.
The original Nine Hour International sports car race at Goodwood attracted the top works teams of the day, such as Jaguar and Aston Martin, plus some exotic entries from Italy and Germany. The race began at 3pm and continued to midnight, creating the evocative spectacle of sports cars racing from sunshine to sunset to moonlight, just as at the world-famous Le Mans 24 Hour race.
Along with the Easter Monday Formula 1 race, the Nine Hour race was Goodwood’s flagship event of the season, establishing Goodwood as an International sports car venue and giving rise to the equally famous Goodwood Tourist Trophy when the nine-hour format changed to a shorter three-hour race. A complete program of exciting wheel-to-wheel racing is also planned for the whole of the Revival weekend, including celebrating races such as the St Mary’s Trophy for saloon cars, and the TT, with over £85million-worth of beautiful sports GT racing cars battling it out, including Ferrari 250 GTOs and AC Cobras.
Spirit of Aviation: Following last year’s successful debut of the Freddie March ‘Spirit of Aviation’, an aeronautical attraction that recalls the style and excitement of flying as it used to be, the second
’Freddie March Spirit of Aviation’ will be held for historic aircraft built up to 1966, the same cut-off year as all motor vehicles permitted on site during the Revival.
Since the Earl of March reintroduced motor racing at the celebrated Goodwood Motor Circuit in 1998, aircraft have formed a key part of the Goodwood Revival activities, with dramatic air displays forming a key attraction at the event, this year being no exception with the Vulcan bomber and Battle of Britain memorial displays scheduled to appear.
The aim of the Freddie March Spirit of Aviation is to bring together some of the world’s finest, most elegant, original and rarely-seen airplanes from the evocative pioneering days of aviation, to create an added spectacle at the Revival that all race-goers will be able to get up close to and enjoy. Inspiration for this important new static aviation concours event comes partly from the hugely-popular Cartier ‘Style et Luxe’ car design competition, held annually during the Goodwood Festival of Speed, as well as the successful Vintage Airplane Fly-In, which was staged for the third time this year at the Goodwood Aero Club in May.
A limited number of Goodwood Revival tickets are still available. To order advance tickets, contact:
Telephone: 01243 755055
Email: bookings@goodwood.co.uk
Online: www.goodwood.co.uk
[Source: Goodwood Revival]
