Goodwood Revival 2004- who's going?

[Peter Mallett]

How come there's two threads now ?

[TimD]

Work in progress, Pete! Making a fresh one dedicated to the safety issues raised. Bear with me mate.

[Peter Mallett]

BTW. Did Win Percy get out on track? There were plans for a special car for him.

[relativtortoise]

Win Percy

He was circulating in a modified Jag on the warm up day we went to..

RT

[Suzy]

I gather he only did a couple of laps on the Friday - I certainly didn't see him out on Saturday or Sunday because I was watching for him.

Anyway, my "what I did at the weekend" self-indulgent posts will appear later on today This way you can see how little I really know about historic racing cars but, in spite of my lack of knowledge, how much fun I had watching you all chugging around

[zefarelly]

chugging ? I know of a few chuggers, and we didnt go Saturday, but Sunday was fairly screaming rather than chugging, or is it my hearing failing

[Suzy]

Well I wanted to say peddaling... peddling... peddeling, nope, can't spell it so it'll have to stay as "chugging"

[Suzy]

Saturday at Goodwood - my (not all car-related) recollections

Tim D and I headed down from Oxford towards Goodwood in glorious weather. We were somewhat inconvenienced by the most dreaded things on the road together: a Nissan Micra with a female (and ancient!) learner driver and an equally-ancient woman instructor! The dear little Micra pootled along (why do they always pootle?) at a top speed of 40mph if we were lucky.

Parking in the car park, we unloaded the car - of books for one of the bookshops who were selling at the circuit. "Wee Jackie" (that's my tartan shopping trolley - tartan, noisy and very useful, hence it's name) was unpacked of food and repacked with books which we then hauled to the entrance.

We met up with Bluebottle and family after walking right past them and started to head off down the straight. Whilst waiting for them, Tim and I were passed by Tony Jardine looking very lost but very dapper in his uniform! I may not always agree with him but he looked very nice.

So then it was time to watch some cars go round. I spent some time admiring the beautiful outfits the women were wearing to Goodwood - the lengths so many of them go to is really amazing and they look stunning. I always feel envious of them. I tried to get the look with a pale pink dress with flowers on, a scarf, diamante 1950s sunglasses and pink kitten heeled shoes but it just doesn't work on me.

So, we settled down to watch the Barry Sheene Memorial Trophy in action. Well, most of us did anyway! Of course, my camera just had to go and refuse to take pictures. So this meant a mad dash back around the circuit searching for somebody who just might have camera batteries for sale. The very helpful staff at Goodwood directed me to the pharmacy in the Expo area. I went in there totally desperate: "Have you got ANY camera batteries?". "Only the 3V CR2 batteries I'm afraid"! Phew! "Give me two at once"! What a relief (and what a price).

After this diversion I headed back to where the rest of the bunch were... by now it was incredibly hot and my feet were hurting. Gravel and fancy shoes are not a good combination. I don't think there were any cars at that point - there was definitely an air display with lots of Spitfires, Mustangs and a Hurricane (or was it a Venom?). I'm sorry to show my ignorance here but planes are not my strong point even though Bluebottle and family did their best to explain them to me. If I recall correctly, the difference has something to do with clipped wings and round noses. There was also a man on the start/finish line doing aeroplane impressions! He was very odd and very funny.

Tiring of this part of the track, it was decided to go Priest-Catcher hunting at Lavant. And I found Mr Green too Lavant is a great place to take photographs as you can see so much of the track. What a great place to view Part 1 of the St. Mary's Trophy from. Stephen tipped me off before the race that the Ford Anglia 100E would be very entertaining if practice was anything to go by - and he was right. I think it used a different racing line on each lap. Oh and somebody dropped oil there (can't remember who now) but a lot of the grid soon found it. So that's yet another picture for my "Tony Jardine spins on a racetrack" collection (most of which I tend to shove under his nose later on - he told me once that he was flattered that I take the time and effort to photograph him in action, even if he is usually pointing the wrong way). I noticed that Win Percy didn't get out in that race which was a shame.

We left Stephen in peace to cover Lavant with cement dust, so off we went again... hobbling now down to somewhere between Fordwater and the second apex of Madgwick Corner. It was much cooler there than at the rest of the circuit because of the trees. I couldn't walk any further so we stayed there for the rest of the day and watched the remaining races. It was the best place too - especially when the Lancaster did its flypast right over the top of us. I don't know much about planes but I was so impressed with it.

Sunday to follow later on...

[johnw]

The engine in Win Percy's Jag blew a piston before he did a lap. Utter shame after all the development work that had gone into converting the car to hand controls.

[Peter Mallett]

Originally posted by Suzy
but it just doesn't work on me.

Disagree.

And er, I don't think I can comment further as I wasn't there.

Tim. I'm back UK side next week. You can bring me up to speed.

[Peter Mallett]

Originally posted by johnw
The engine in Win Percy's Jag blew a piston before he did a lap. Utter shame after all the development work that had gone into converting the car to hand controls.

Indeed a great shame. Let's hope he gets out again soon.