What the Streif in Kitzbühel is for skiers, Wimbledon for tennis cracks and Indianapolis for current racing drivers, the Goodwood Revival and, in its wake, the Members Meeting is for the historic motorsport scene. The only difference is that Goodwood defies all weathers, while the Streif is held in fog and Wimbledon and Indianapolis are not held in the rain.
What happened on the weekend of March 17 and 18, 2018 in the south of England was not planned. While it was still pleasantly warm and beautiful for the time of year on Friday, it turned bitterly cold on Saturday and Sunday with wind and snowfall. Despite all the forecasts, it turned out to be even worse than expected.
But nothing could stop the tight schedule of twelve races from Saturday afternoon to Sunday evening. Only the Hailwood Trophy, the motorcycle race, had to be canceled, just like Saturday's practice. The asphalt was too cold for the tires to even come close to building up grip. In the first bend, 99% of the starters would probably have taken off into the botany. The colorful yellow daffodils at the edge of the track fought for survival and sank lower to the ground by the hour. The spectators, who had not arrived in large numbers due to the weather, were absolute hard-core fans.
After all, in the cold and wet conditions, the spectators couldn't be warmed by any drift or turbo fire for hours on end. Nevertheless, they stood there with umbrellas, hats, scarves and gloves and in no way gave the impression that they were losing their enjoyment of the program on offer.
Moss Trophy as the highlight
The races were strong, some of them even stronger. The Moss Trophy was certainly an absolute highlight. The two Jaguar E-Types of the eventual winners Minshaw/Keen and second-placed Meins/Huff were put under powerful pressure by the two Ferrari 250 GT SWBs.
Emanuele Pirro in the Breadvan only started from the third row, but got closer to the two cats lap by lap with his jumping horse. He even managed to take them both down and took the lead. Unfortunately, Pirro's team-mate, Lukas Halusa, was not quite a match for the driving skills of his predecessor and ex-F1 driver, and the Ferrari was ultimately around 21 seconds down on the two victorious Brits.
"Soapboxes" in the Bolster Cup
The crazy men in their low-flying "soapboxes" in the Bolster Cup from the early last century put on another brilliant race. The victorious Bentley 3/8 Special from 1926 sprayed its hot steam into the a**** cold southern English air lap after lap.
You could almost feel the heat and the fans forgot their numb and aching hands and feet for a short time during the wild drifts. Every millimeter was fought for as if it were a matter of winning the world championship. We take our hats off to this troupe, which is able to keep this ancient technique going on the one hand and to move it in such a way on the other. Chapeau!
Duel in the Gurney Cup
The third great race was the duel in the Gurney Cup between the Ford GT40 of David Hart and the Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupé of Andrew Smith. A total of nine GT40s were on the grid!
Smith was specially honored at the end for his great drifting skills. He never really drove in a straight line, but was always somehow at a controlled angle in the lane.
Martin Stretton against David Coulthard in the Salvadori Cup
Martin Stretton, the historic F1 champion from 1995 in the Tyrrell 005, also showed his spirited driving style with the much heavier Lister Jaguar Knobbly in the Salvadori Cup, driving to an unchallenged start-finish victory and relegating the two Lotus Climax 15s of Roger Wills and Oliver Bryant to second place.
Ex-F1 driver David Coulthard drove the Mercedes 300 SL to a good ninth place with just seven laps of practice. "It's very difficult to drive such a car safely at the limit in these conditions without proper preparation," said the Scot after the race.
Hawthorn Trophy on ice
The most inhuman race was probably the Hawthorn Trophy, as the start took place at nine o'clock on Sunday morning. First the cars had to be cleared of snow and brought up to operating temperature, but then they were driven like mad through Mrs. Holles' wintry splendour with tires that never warmed up. Tony Wood in the Cooper Bristol was unbeatable after the Kurtis had already taken pole position at the pre-start. Edward Williams in the Maserati 250F finished 32 seconds behind in second place.
Victory in the Caracciola sports car race went to Italy
The Caracciola sports car race went to Italy with victory and third place for the Alfa Romeos 8C 2300 Monza, with Patrick Blakeney-Edwards and Moritz Werner at the wheel. Duncan Pittaway's Bugatti 35 squeezed in between the two Italians.
Three seconds at the Ronnie Hoare Trophy
The two races on Saturday evening certainly had the best road conditions. It was cold, dark but dry. The Ronnie Hoare Trophy was decided after 21 minutes between the Porsche 904 (James Cottingham) and the Morgan Plus 4 SLR (James Bellinger) by a tiny three seconds.
Clear decision in the Derek Bell Cup
The Derek Bell Cup for Formula 3 racing cars was a clear-cut affair with no major duels. John Milicevic won the race in the Brabham-Ford BT 21, ahead of Thierry Gallo in the beautiful Tecno and Simon Armer in the March.
Night race of the Gerry Marshall Trophy
The Gerry Marshall Trophy was the only one to be held in two heats. On Saturday evening in almost complete darkness, the race lasted 38 minutes with driver changes.
And on Sunday there was a 20-minute sprint. In the night race, the Michael/Blundell team in the Ford Escort RS2000 had the best visibility and won ahead of the Capri lll 3.0S of Whitaker/Jordan and the Rover 3500 SD1 of Bruce/Harvey.
Some of the cars were already running with modern lights. The difference was clearly visible. On Sunday, a Ford Escort RS2000 won again, but this time with Pantelis Christoforou at the wheel. Two familiar faces mingled with the amateur drivers. Mark Blundell, winner of the first race, used to drive for McLaren in F1, among others, and the great touring car driver and three-time world champion (2005, 2006 and 2007) Andy Priaulx. He drove a smart Ford Fiesta and simply commented: "Isn't it cute!"
Yellow flag at the final race
Finally, there was the final race of the weekend. It would have been a top race had the safety car not taken the lead. Unfortunately, a gigantic crash involving a Ford-Lotus Cortina brought the race to a yellow flag. The Cortinas began to contort on the bumps and took on a life of their own that was difficult to control. One of the cars ended up with a total loss in the wall. Andrew Jordan won the short race ahead of Andrew Wolfe and third place went to Steve Soper, another familiar face from earlier touring car racing. All three were driving a Ford-Lotus Cortina MK1.
Group 5 racing legends unfortunately at demo pace
Those were the races, plus the two demonstrations of the F5000 and the Group 5 racing cars. Unfortunately, the conditions for these high-horsepower vehicles were below par, so that only experienced drivers were able to drive the cars in a reasonably appropriate manner. The Porsche 935/78 with its nickname "Moby Dick" was particularly interesting.
Jochen Mass compared the ride in the "Moby Dick" to riding a wild bull: "It was very spectacular for the spectators, but in the cockpit it was quiet and therefore not quite as exciting to move." The most spectacular of all was the beautiful Ex Markus Höttinger BMW 320 driven by Dutch WRC driver Kevin Abbring. It was a feast for the eyes how he drove the car with the wonderfully singing F2 racing engine always at the limit of adhesion.
The F5000 was never very well known in Europe. It was the American competitor to the F1. The series was founded in 1968 and was run on a much smaller budget than the F1. Only occasionally did individual F5000 cars stray into F1 in Europe. In 1973, Peter Gethin in the F5000 Chevron surprisingly won the non-championship Race of Champions at Brands-Hatch against the European competition ahead of Denny Hulme (McLaren) and James Hunt (Hesketh).
Most of the participants drove the laps with a conspicuous black sticker and the golden letters HHF (Henry Hope-Frost) on their helmet or car. Henry Hope-Frost was Goodwood's highly esteemed track announcer for many years and unfortunately died in a traffic accident on Tuesday, March 8, just before the meeting. Insiders reported that his knowledge of motorsport was absolutely gigantic and unique. Unfortunately, not only did his voice die forever, he also took all his knowledge with him to his grave.
499 photos from the Members' Meeting at Goodwood 2018
Finally, you can now dive into the individual race fields and view the photos. Simply click on the relevant race field in the top left-hand corner.
