Very British, indeed!
Ferrari at the
Revival Meeting
Goodwood, September 18-20, 1998
- Famous
track revived
- Revival
Meeting in unique atmosphere
- Some
very special Ferrari in attendance
- The
RAC TT Celebration
- Goodwood
Motor Circuit Meeting to take place in
1999 again
Goodwood near Chichester in West
Sussex, England, is a famous name among car
enthusiasts, last but not least due to the famous
Goodwood Festival of Speed hillclimb event which
has already been covered on this site. The owner
of this beautifully situated piece of land, the
Earl of March, has now revived another
traditional motor racing event: Back in 1948, his
grandfather, the 9th Duke of Richmond, had
established a racecourse on a former RAF airfield
which had been used in WW II. The Goodwood Motor
Circuit had then soon become the site of the
famous RAC Tourist Trophy, but racing activities
had come to an end in 1966, the track being used
for testing only since. In January of 1997, the
Earl of March launched an ambitious restoration
project - not just one car, but an entire circuit
had to be restored.
  
The
resurrection of the Goodwood Motor Racing Circuit
was completed recently, and the first event to be
held at this phoenix-like track was a Revival
Meeting, sponsored by many great names as Aston
Martin, Jaguar, Ford, Honda, "Old Speckled
Hen", MG, Omega, Chrysler, Shell, Ford,
Louis Vuitton, Veuve Clicquot and the RAC.
This particular historic racing
event which was meant to virtually revive the
glory days of 1950's and 1960's motor racing at
Goodwood was promoted as the "most stylish
and most exclusive" one of its kind. Cars to
be entered in the event had - of course - to have
been built not later than 1966, and every person
wishing to enter the paddock had to be dresses in
1960's fashion (for gentlemen, at least jacket,
shirt and tie were obligatory if period fashion
was not on hand). There were no cars at all
allowed to enter the paddock which were built
after 1966 - even the track's doctor drove around
in a period Mercedes-Benz.
The
grandstands and the paddock look exactly like in
the 1960's, even including the poster publicity!
The weather was splendid, warm and sunny allover
the weekend. All this helped in creating an
exceptional atmosphere of 1960's style making the
Goodwood Revival Meeting a really unique event.
When www.maranello.cc contributor Gregor
Schulz asked racer David Piper for his opinion
about the meeting he replied: "Heaven
will probably be a disappointment after
this."
Various Ferrari had been entered in
many of the races to take place during the
Meeting. In the "Woodcote Cup", which
was hosted for F1, F2 and Formula Libre cars
raced betwen 1948 and 1953, Carlos Monteverde had
entered two horses from his stable: Tony Merrick
drove Monteverde's pale blue 166 Formula Libre
s/n 011F, while the Brazilian Ferrari-enthusiast
himself piloted his 375 Formula 1, s/n 2.
 
Out
of Tom Wheatcroft's Donington Collection, the 375
"Thin Wall Special" (s/n reported as
010) had been brought to West Sussex. This green
car is a former works 375 Formula 1 sold in 1953
to A. G. Vanderwell who had it converted to a
special.
In
the "Freddie March Memorial Trophy" - a
reminiscence to the Goodwood Nine-Hour Races of
the early 1950's - one could see Sally
Mason-Styrron in her small, really very
well-known 166 MM Barchetta Touring s/n 0040M.
Two 750 Monzas had been entered for this race as
well: s/n 0440MD (engine 0516M) from the National
Dutch Motor Museum, driven by Robert Ames, and
s/n 0504M of Tom Walduck and Kerry McSwan.
  
"The
Richmond Trophy" for F1 cars built between
1954 and 1960 included entries of Carlos
Monteverde's 625 Argentina F1 s/n 0540, Nick
Harley's spectacular 555 Super Squalo s/n FL/9001
(driven by Willie Green) and two Dino 246 F1s,
s/n 0004R1 of restorer Tony Merrick and s/n
0006R2 of Robin Lodge. Both cars are total
rebuilds by Graypaul Motors of Loughborough.
  
The
"Lavant Cup" brought spectacular racing
of sportscars built between 1957 and 1960.
Nicolaus Springer drove his rare 860 Monza Spider
Scaglietti s/n 0604M while restorer David
Cottingham piloted his well-known yellow and
black 500 TRC Spider Scaglietti s/n 0682MDTR.
 
Ben
Cussons drove the 250 TR59 Spider Fantuzzi s/n
0726TR of the late John Godfrey; this car has a
somehow dubious history.
Willie
Green could be seen on the wheel of Sir Anthony
Bamford's 250 Testa Rossa Spider Scaglietti s/n
0752TR.
Terry
Jones had brought his wonderful 1959 Dino 246S
Spider Fantuzzi s/n 0778 from California; the
1960 Dino 246S Spider Fantuzzi s/n 0784 from
Harry Leventis' collection is mechanically
identical to Jones' car, but looks completely
different.
 
It was brought to Goodwood by Tim
Samways to be driven by Peter Hardman, who
eventually took the win on Sunday, being chased
by a Maserati "Birdcage" and Brian
Redman in an Aston Martin DB2R2.
For the majority of the many, many
thousand spectators, the revival of the RAC
Tourist Trophy for GT cars was the highlight of
the weekend. Having been the probably most famous
event to have been hosted at Goodwood in the
1960's, the one-hour revival race starred many,
many great names in motor racing. Stirling Moss
and Mark Hales shared the wheel of Clive
Beecham's ex-Rob Walker 250 GT SWB Berlinetta
Competizione s/n 2735GT.
This
is the very car which took Moss to 1st OA in the
1961 RAC TT at Goodwood. Rob Walker's almost
identical SWB Berlinetta s/n 2119GT from the 1960
season, now owned by Paul Vestey, was present at
Goodwood as well, although only for static
display. Stirling Moss had won the 1960 Tourist
Trophy at Goodwood in this car.
German
collector Ernst Schuster had brought his 250 GT
SWB Berlinetta Competizione s/n 1917GT to
Goodwood. The silvergrey car had not been seen
for quite a long time; s/n 1917GT had been sold
new in Germany.
 
Another
silvergrey example from the 250-family was
Nicolaus Springer's 250 GTO '62 s/n 4153GT. The
German collector living in Switzerland had a bad
start and ended up on 14th position after some
laps; situtation changed when the former Ferrari
Formula 1 pilot Stefan Johansson took the wheel:
He eventually came in on 3rd!
Harry
Leventis and Tim Samways entered the pale green
250 GTO '62 s/n 3505GT, driven in the TT Revival
by the always fast journalist Tony Dron and
F2-pilot Ian Flux.
Brandon
Wang and Sally Mason-Styrron participated in
Brandon's 250 GTO '62 s/n 4219GT, basically
following the Olympic Spirit of just being part
of it.
P.
Paul Pappalardo had handed over the wheel of his
GTO s/n 5111GT to Danny Sullivan, while Sir
Anthony Bamford's '64-rebodied 250 GTO s/n 4399GT
was driven by Damon Hill and Willie Green.
Damon's father Graham drove this very car to 1st
in the 1963 RAC TT at Goodwood, while the F1-star
of the Jordan Team treated the car very carefully
and eventually finished on 9th.
 
David
Piper and Dick Attwood had planned to share the
wheel of Piper's 250 LM s/n 8165, but the race
was over for them just after a few laps when
Piper slipped on oil and ended up in the gravel
in Madgwick Corner. After someone had lost oil,
the gravelfield at this corner following the
straight virtually turned into a small "car
park" since Burkhard von Schenk had already
"parked" his Porsche 904 GTS there
prior to the unintended "arrival" of
David Piper's 250 LM.
 
Derek
Bell and Peter Hardman were very fast in Harry
Leventis' Tim Samways-entered 330 LMB, but a
broken rear axle eventually forced them to give
up. In the cockpits of other cars one could see
Phil Hill, Bob Bondurant, Jochen Neerpasch,
Martin Brundle, Sir Jack Brabham, Michael Salmon,
Gary Pearson and Frank Sytner - the turnout of
motor racing celebrities was simply tremendous.
Nigel Corner and Barrie Williams eventually took
the win of the TT Revival in their Jaguar E-Type
lightweight, followed by Gregor Fisken and Frank
Sytner in a similar car.
As already mentioned above, the
atmosphere at Goodwood was unique. However, the
event is not. The next Goodwood Motor Circuit
Meeting has been scheduled provisionally for
September 17-19, 1999.
Andreas Birner
|
