Goodwood Revival

A MAGICAL STEP BACK IN TIME

The Goodwood Revival really is a magical step back in time, a unique chance to revel in the glamour and allure of motor racing in the romantic time capsule of the world’s most authentic motor circuit.
Leave the ‘Modern World’ Behind
The Revival is the world’s most popular historic motor race meeting and the only event of its kind to be staged entirely in the nostalgic time capsule of the 1940s, 50s and 60s.

It is the biggest and best historic motor racing party of the year.

The Revival offers visitors the opportunity to leave the ‘modern world’ behind and join motor sport luminaries including Sir Stirling Moss, Richard Attwood, John Surtees and Derek Bell in an unabashed celebration of flat-out, wheel-to-wheel racing around a classic racetrack, untouched by the modern world.
in http://www.goodwood.co.

Goodwood 1948

MOTOR CIRCUIT HISTORY
New Era for Legendary motor circuit
The Revival relives the glory days of Goodwood Motor Circuit, which ranked alongside Silverstone as Britain’s leading racing venue throughout its active years between 1948 and 1966.
During this time, it hosted contemporary racing of all kinds, including Formula One, the famous Goodwood Nine Hours race and the celebrated Tourist Trophy sports car race.

Today, for three days each September, this historic circuit stages a race meeting for the kind of cars and motorcycles that would have competed at Goodwood during 1948-1966.

The circuit echoes to the spine-tingling bark of golden-age Grand Prix cars from the 50s and 60s, thundering sports and GT cars, as well as historic saloon cars and little-seen Formula Juniors.

FAMOUS FACES

Many of these important historic racing cars are driven by famous faces from motor sport past and present. Sir Stirling Moss, John Surtees, Sir Jack Brabham, Phil Hill, Derek Bell, David Coulthard, Damon Hill, Gerhard Berger, Johnny Herbert, Wayne Gardner, Giacomo Agostini and the late, great Barry Sheene have all taken part at the Revival.
in http://www.goodwood.co.

Goodwood Revival: a brief history
Chris Knapman gives a brief history of how motor racing returned to Goodwood.
By Chris Knapman9:00AM BST 14 Sep 2012 in The Telegraph

 The revival of racing at the Goodwood motor circuit was always part of the plan.
In 1993, Lord March had been bowled over by the success of the inaugural Festival of Speed hillclimb which, despite being a new event on an already-busy motorsport calendar, had attracted 30,000 visitors. But staging a race meeting for historic cars on the old Goodwood motor circuit was another matter.
The Revival would be a weekend of motorsport that would recreate the circuit’s glory years, between 1948, when it hosted Britain’s first post-war motor race at a permanent venue, and 1966, when Freddie March deemed that the cars had simply become too fast for his track. If the formula was simplicity itself, executing it would be anything but.
Safety was of course a concern. Since the last competitive race had lapped the 2.38-mile circuit, the goalposts had moved, not just for cars but for tracks as well. In Goodwood’s heyday, the circuit was lined with safety banks and not much else, but by the Nineties, Armco barriers, gravel traps and huge run-off areas were the norm. There would still be huge mud banks, but they were to prevent the acoustics from the circuit reaching local residents – all part of appeasing the planners in the local council.
Lord March and his team would also need to justify to the Motor Sports Association and FIA inspectors why the circuit needed to appear exactly as it did in the Fifties – there would be no ultra-modern pit facility and certainly no changes to the corners themselves, which even to this day remain as much of a challenge as they ever were.
Of course, the circuit still needed new buildings, but every brick and every lick of paint would conform to the Revival formula. And that’s why, when you set foot on site, even today, you feel as though you’re taking a step back in time.
The stage was set and the crowds obliged. For the first Goodwood Revival, in September 1998 (50 years to the day since the first race was held there), 68,000 visitors donned period outfits. Fourteen years later, more than 100,000 will descend on the Goodwood circuit over the next three days. And, as the men dig out a cravat and trilby and the women dust off their party frocks, each adds to the unmistakable Revival atmosphere.
Photographs courtesy of The Telegraph.