Goodwood, 21st - 22nd of March
For the second time after its premiere last year the new edition of
the traditional Members Meeting took place on the third weekend
of March on the well-known Goodwood race circuit. Famous for
its Revival in September the original race track now features
another very important race meeting.
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The original members’ race meetings were held between 1948
and 1966 with a total count of 71 but with the ever increasing
popularity of the racing on the old track the Members Meeting
was revitalized after 48 years to former glory to set a counterpart
in spring to the established Revival. Certainly it would have made
no sense to simply duplicate the Revival so a new concepts was
introduced. Whereas the visitors mainly add to the atmosphere in
September they are active part of the Members Meeting
supporting their houses. Every race driver and every Member of
the Goodwood Road Race Club (GRRC) is assigned to one of the
four houses represented by their team captains Nicolas
Minassian (Aubigny), Jochen Mass (Damley), Anthony Reid
(Methuen) and long-time Goodwood supporter Emanuele Pirro
(Tolbolton). In no less than 12 races the drivers fight for the points
in the classification whereas the visitors can collect point for their
house in sports games (cricket, football or hockey), social games
(darts, billiard), quiz or skills (like caravan towing) so there is a lot
of entertaining going on during the day.
Highlight for the weekend is the big party on Saturday evening
when the area behind the great hall (the building of the Earl Court
Motorshow in September) becomes a big fun fair with
merry-go-around, live music and buskers. Unfortunately the
weekend was quit cold with a strong breeze but the open fire,
suitable clothes and one or the other pint warmed enough to
make it to the final fireworks.
But certainly the main reason to visit the MM is the racing. Like
at the Revival the Members Meeting featured several interesting
grids of open wheeled single seaters and the best of the period
sports cars. A few additions were done to the Revival with some
newer cars like the 1970s saloon cars in the Gerry Marshall
Trophy named after the British saloon car champion. Chevrolet
Camaro, Ford Capri, Rover and Mini were racing twice that
weekend, the first 15 minute race on Saturday to get the grid for
the final 45 minutes two drivers race on Sunday. Just like their
older cousins in the Sopwith Cup one could see a lot of action
including wild drifts, three or even two wheeled cornering and
some flame spitting around the track. Just like at the saloon
races in September this was also the perfect set-up for many
current and former race drivers including the house captains
themselves.
The single seater races included the Earl Howe Trophy for pre-war
grand prix and voiturettes included several Bugatti who had their
own race last year in addition to GP Alfa Romeo and Maserati but
also two of the big Le Mans racers, the supercharged Mercedes
and Bentley racers.
The Mike Hawthorn trophy featured the post-war racing of front
engined GP cars like the Maserati 250F, BRM, Cooper-Bristol
and Connaugh. At the end of the race the BRM Type 25 of Barry
Baxter could celebrate an easy start-finish victory.
In the Taylor Trophy named after Jim Clark´s team mate Trevor
Taylor the era of the rear engined Formula Junior was lined-up for
the first race on Saturday afternoon. It was also the closed race
with a duel between the Lynx-Ford MK3 of Andrew Wilkinson and
the Jolus-Ford of Ivo Goeckmann who lapped the entire field on
their way to the chequered flag. At the end it was Wilkinson
winning by just under 2 second.
One of the sports car greats and long-time supporter of the
Goodwood events is Derek Bell who was honoured with his own
race for historic Formula Three cars from the late 1960s with
1000cc Ford engines.
Typically the main races are those for sports and GT cars. The
very last race of the weekend was the race of the Salvadori Cup
for the sports cars of the late 1950s. Unfortunately the Le Mans
winning Aston Martin DBR1 of Salvadori was not seen on the
Goodwood race meetings since it was sold by its last owner who
regularly campaigned it in the hands of the best historic racers.
But even without the LM winning car the line-up was very
interesting including several Listers and Jaguar D-Type. The
Salvadori Cup also saw the biggest crash of the weekend when in
qualifying Jochen Mass in the Mercedes 300 SLS Porter crashed
in the back of the Lister-Jaguar of Tony Wood just at the pit
entrance due to a misunderstanding between the two drivers.
Heavily damaged and loosing cooling and oil it took a while to
clear the track for the final race of the Saturday evening, the GT
cars.
Intended to run into the dawn the Graham Hill Trophy started very
late and well after sunset. Only few spectators made it to the end
of the race that had to be shortened because of the darkness. It
was last year’s Tour Auto winner Shaun Lynn partnered by
Emanuele Pirro who finally won in front of a Daytona Cobra Rep
and an Iso Bizzarrini.
Goodwood is now known for single marque or car races. Whereas
the Revival already featured pure Cobra, GT40 and Jaguar E-Type
races it was the Porsche 911 that was featured in the John
Aldington Trophy with about two dozen early examples of the
German classic.
Just like last year the 73rd edition again featured some high
speed displays of cars normally not seen in Goodwood. Just as
last year again the Group C was line-up in their own paddock and
were driven on both days on the circuit. The display included a
rare Mercedes C11. One of the Aston Martin AMR-1, several
Jaguar and the final evolution of the Group C, the Peugeot 905
Evo.
After the display of Turbocharged F1 cars last year it were the
high air boxed cars of the Ferrari-McLaren-Lotus Cosworth era
that took the track in two groups.
But stars of the weekend were a dozen of McLaren F1 GTR both
in short and long tail version. With the road versions getting more
and more popular in the collector’s car market not few were
travelling purely to Goodwood to see the racing versions.
After a dry but cold weekend the organizers team could be very
happy with the results, another sold out event added to the
calendar with a clear raise in spectators’ numbers. Now open to
the public earlier and not restricted to Members only, thousands
of people took the opportunity even when the tickets were no
bargain at 130 GBP for the weekend with additional fees for the
grandstands.
But the MM is well worth the money and one has the possibility
to get to places never seen at the Revival. Whereas the area at
the chicane is basically reserved to sponsors and media the
fences and the small hill on the inside of the track were crowded
especially on Sunday afternoon.
In addition to that the race track covered in yellow flowers gives a
very own atmosphere that clearly link the taken pictures to the
spring meeting.
If you are curious about the Goodwood events please visit
www.goodwood.com
Report & images ... Peter Singhof
www.ClassicCarPhotography.de
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