72nd Members Meeting - Report and Photos
Discussion
The 71st Goodwood Members’ Meeting took place in July 1966. That the circuit had to wait 48 years for the 72nd only made its arrival all the sweeter – and in many respects surprising.
When planning permission was granted to return racing to the Sussex autodrome in the mid-1990s, it permitted five days of racing per annum. With the Revival Meeting occupying three of those, how to employ the remaining two days has exorcised the powers-that-be for almost 20 years. A pure motorcycle event had been mooted some years back but, after much rumination, a return to the simple club racing fodder of Goodwood’s heyday was settled upon.
In period, members’ meetings were for the enjoyment of members of the BARC, the club which ran the track itself. Short races and handicaps proliferated, with informality prevailing and members encouraged to drive their cars to the track, paint numbers on the sides and take it (safely) to the limit before driving home once more. Judging by the number of priceless 1950s sports racers encountered heading north on the A3 on the Sunday after the event, that spirit was wholly embraced in 2014 – and then some.
The meeting had suffered something of a troubled gestation: launched as an event for the sole enjoyment of Goodwood Road Racing Company members, ticket sales were slow. Soon tickets were on general sale, but capped at around 12,000 per day. This ensured all areas were easily accessible, with almost invisible corporate involvement – in fact it reminded one of those first Festivals of Speed.
March can be climatically variable but the weather gods smiled over Goodwood as the place bathed in warm sunshine to provide a tremendous weekend of racing and general automotive indulgence. The public car parks heaved with delectable delights old and new, from modern supercars to treasured classics and there were virtually no queues to test delicate old cooling systems. The circuit itself even embraced the spring, with daffodils proliferating along the banks, offering a new floral visual to a familiar facility.
Elsewhere around the site, houses were allocated, with spectators encouraged to partake in various competitive activities to add a degree of needle to proceedings for all. The sight of grown men engaging in sack racing adjacent to one of motor racing’s holy grounds was among the more incongruous spectacles I’ve seen at a race track.
Much like big brother, the Revival, the Members’ Meeting was all about racing – and it delivered in spades. Saturday featured practice for all grids and three races, as well as demonstrations for long-tailed endurance sports racers, turbo-charged GP weapons and a sprint for Group B rally nutters. Sunday featured the same demonstrations and a full complement of races. It was a packed couple of days.
Gerry Marshall Trophy – Part One
The introduction of a race for Group One tourers of the 1970s and 80s brought an entirely new spectacle to Goodwood. Not only new shapes from a period of car which has never previously performed there, but also commercial sponsorship. The corporate revolution hadn’t hit motor racing when the track closed its doors in 1966 but here were bold, evocative, liveries: Brut; Hermetite; Esso; bizarrely the Italian tinned tomato kings Napolina...
Part one of the battle for Gerry Marshall Trophy honours went the way of Chris Ward in his Rover SD1 ahead of a braying pack of Capris, Dolomite Spints, GTVs and Nick Swift’s tricycling Mini 1275 GT. Intrigue was added by Emanuele Pirro’s spirited charge from the pitlane to the runner-up spot, barely a second behind Ward by the flag. Given another lap, the Italian might’ve stood a chance at the win.
As it was, he offered a virtuoso performance in the big Ford, gently gliding into Lavant with the rear tyres in a graceful arc just over the limit of adhesion.
Threlfall Cup
The Threlfall Cup for front-engined formula junior was only ever destined for one man: Will Mitcham was untouchable in his Mallock U2. He fended off the early attentions of Ray Mallock in his own U2 – penned by his late father, Arthur - to take a commanding win.
Behind him a fierce battle raged for third between Simon Goodliff and the splendidly orange helmeted twins Chris Goodwin and Barrie Williams. This three-way scrap ended in that order, but only after repeated changes of position through the length of the circuit. At one stage Goodwin went around the outside of Goodliff at Fordwater in a move that was brave enough to make one’s teeth itch. In spite of their relatively prosaic powerplants, the the FJ boys put on a tremendous show, as is now Goodwood custom.
Stirling Moss Trophy
Perhaps the weekend’s finest race was Saturday’s curtain closer. A two-driver dusk thrash for GT cars of the 1959-62 period, it was as cerebrally intriguing as it was visually spectacular.
The early running was all about Rob Hall in the Ferrari 250 GT SWB ‘Breadvan’. Running without its customary side-exit stub exhausts, the Breadvan made serene progress in Hall’s hands. Behind him Jackie Oliver was charging in Rohan Fernando’s gloriously yellow 250 GT SWB/C, with James Cottingham also flying in the DK Engineering E-Type.
With the sun setting fast, it looked as if the sting was taken out of the race as Oliver appeared at Madgwick with a punctured left rear. In fact, the race was only just getting going. Hall handed over the Breadvan to new owner Martin Halusa who was clearly struggling compared to his co-pilot. Meanwhile last year’s TT giant killer Simon Hadfield had replaced Wolfgang Friedrichs in the latter’s Aston Martin DB4 GT. Similarly, Joe Twyman had handed over the unique Lotus 11 Breadvan to his best mate, and acknowledged historic master, Oliver Bryant.
It was against this backdrop that the true battle for the win emerged. Halusa dropped back to a comfortable fifth place, while the Cottingham boys annexed fourth with Jeremy taking over from brother James. At the front, though, the gloves were off as Hadfield assumed an unlikely lead – just as he did in September during the TT Celebration. Bryant, though, was in determined form and he hounded Hadfield for lap after lap as darkness fell.
With the cars guided only by their own headlights, it was hugely evocative. The pitlane bristled with nervous energy as Bryant’s ‘homebrew’ Lotus took the fight to Hadfield’s aristocratic Aston. Carrying stunning speed through St Mary’s and into Lavant, Bryant twice assumed the lead through the second apex of Lavant, only for the big straight six in the Aston to haul it past in time for Woodcote braking zone. In the end it was a second fairytale finish for Hadfield and Friedrichs, though Bryant’s drive to take the flag just half a second in arrears must rank among Goodwood’s finest. It marked the end of a fine opening day for the 72nd Members’ Meeting.
Tony Gaze Trophy
Named in tribute to the great Antipodean airman who helped initiate the genesis of racing at Goodwood, the Tony Gaze Trophy featured a mixed grid of 1950s GTs. From Italian exotica to diminutive Brits, miscellany was the order of the day with everything from a Jowett Jupiter to Wil Arif’s vast Bentley R-Type Gooda Special in action.
At the front, though, Andy Shepherd took an early lead in his AC Ace – the car itself a winner at Goodwood in 1960. He looked relatively comfortable until the safety car appeared to allow Anthony Hansford’s inverted Rochdale to be recovered. With the pack neutralised, Max Girado launched himself around the outside of Shepherd at Madgwick to snatch the lead in his trademark sideways style.
With lean and slip angles increasing every lap, Girado made a mistake at St Mary’s on the last lap – just a mile from the flag – gyrating down the order and handing Shepherd the win. The Ferrari driver was suitably sheepish on his return. Behind this dice, a true members’ meeting line-up of road-going GTs provided much entertainment. Darren Turner, contemporary GT star with Aston Martin, piloted his own Turner with verve. Making just 70bhp, he was flat for virtually the entire lap and relishing the experience.
Sears Trophy
The usual Goodwood complement of unlikely saloonatics from the late 1950s and early 1960s provided a thrilling race, even if the winner never looked in question. Nick Swift drove his pale green Mini Cooper S with unerring commitment, redolent of John Rhodes in his pomp with either front of rear axles in a constant battle for adhesion. Lapping at over 90mph, it was a remarkable drive in isolation but behind the fight for third was a furious one.
Shaun Lynn’s Lotus Cortina, Peter Alexander’s Anglia and Jason Stanley’s Mini were in furious combat before Alexander slipped back, leaving Stanley to trail Lynn to the chequer. Nick Whale’s strong qualifying performance was undone when he had to start from the pitlane but his charge through the pack was suitably entertaining. Meanwhile, Andy Ruhan’s rumbling Studebaker provided the race’s most distinctive soundtrack.
Clark-Stewart Cup
Named in honour of the two men who jointly own Goodwood’s period outright lap record, the Clark-Stewart Cup featured a mixed field of F1, F2 and F3 competitors from the early 1960s. With Classic Team Lotus’s all-conquering Type 25s absent, it looked on paper like it could be anybody’s race. Sam Wilson had other ideas, though, and his composure aboard Alan Bailie’s Cooper T71/T73 was beyond his pursuers as he took one of the weekend’s most dominant wins.
There was action further back, as Paul Drayson and Andrew Beaumont’s singing Lotus Type 24s did battle. Drayson snatched the lead before spinning at Lavant. Beaumont did the same in sympathy before retiring, while Drayson resumed, still in second. Rob Hall also showed early pace before retirement, the prolific racer aboard a Type 21. That let Alex Morton in yet another Lotus take the bottom step of the podium – a position seemingly nobody wanted to grasp.
Grover-Williams Trophy
While Angouleme in France might feature an annual encounter for the cars from Molsheim, the notion of an all-Bugatti race in the UK is a new one. A mesmeric grid of fabulous blue (other coloured Bugattis were available) pre-war bolides provided yet another new spectacle for Goodwood enthusiasts.
Hordes of Type 35s took on interlopers including Stephen Gentry’s huge 57G ‘Tank’ of the kind which achieved victory at Le Mans in 1937. Driven with customary verve, pilots hung out of their cockpits, all arms and elbows as the old stagers bucked and slid over Goodwood’s famous crests and cambers. Tom Dark was an early favourite in the Type 59/50B III, one of the last Bugatti racers from an age when the German teutons had ascended to dominate grand prix racing. Sadly he was to retire, leaving Charles Knill-Jones to win unchallenged aboard Nick Mason’s Type 35, though Dark stole the race’s fastest lap.
Peter Collins Trophy
The Peter Collins Trophy for 1950s sports car racers started with a bang. Quite literally. Approaching Madgwick on the opening lap, Patrick Watts appeared with smoke billowing from under the engine of his Allard J2. As he endeavoured to leave the track safely, the spilled oil initiated a chain reaction which saw Patrick Blakeney-Edwards spin wildly in front of the pack. With everyone on the scene left to take avoidance action, it was surprising that only the Lotus IX of Ron Gammons suffered much damage as its hapless pilot struck the tyre wall in the melee.
The safety car was deployed while the incident was cleared, leaving a slightly shortened sprint to the flag. At the restart, Geraint Owen used ferocious transatlantic grunt from his Kurtis 500S annex an early lead. In spirited pursuit, though, was the prolific Rob Hall, aboard Martin Melling’s Aston Martin DB3 – the very car which took outright honours in the 1952 Goodwood Nine Hours.
While Owen was able to exercise the Kurtis’s mighty straight line potential lapping traffic, Hall was quicker on a clear track and made his move at St Mary’s on the penultimate tour. Contact, though gentle, ensued and Hall briefly snatched the lead before Owen was able to reassert himself.
Gerry Marshall Trophy Part Two
The second leg of the Gerry Marshall was another thriller; this time a 45 minute, two-driver joust. Saturday’s star, Emanuele Pirro, assumed an early lead before he was over-powered by Chris Ward in the Patrick Motor Sport Rover SD1. Neither, though, had a answer for Stuart Graham’s Chevrolet Camaro – an evocation of the car raced by Graham during his 1970s heyday. He thundered around the outside of Ward at the Lavant Kink, belching flame provocatively as he did so. Capri vs SD1 vs Camaro – it certainly offered a little context on the BTCC racers of today, as fine a series as it undeniably is these days.
Graham looked composed in the lead while behind a host of star turns waged tin-top wars. Highlight among the field was Kevin Doyle’s shrieking rotary-engined Mazda RX-7 – the car which took Spa 24 Hours spoils in 1980 and still resplendent in the Motel livery of Tom Walkinshaw and Pierre Dieudonne. Meanwhile, Nick Swift performed more Mini miracles, tricycling his 1275 GT evocation at ludicrous speed, putting spectators in mind of Patrick Longman’s antics in British Saloons in the period.
Graham’s challenge evaporated during the pit stops. A strategic blunder meant he missed the pit window, incurring a stop-go penalty that left co-pilot Nigel Garrett a disappointed third. With the stops over, the lead battle became intense as Andrew Smith took over from Chris Ward and John Young from Pirro. Both vastly historic racers, no quarter was either asked or given over the last third of the race. In the end, Smith was ahead by a second at the chequer, but he was made to work hard for his laurels. Group One touring cars at Goodwood: a resounding success.
Surtees Trophy
By some margin the fastest cars of the weekend lined up in combat for the Surtees Trophy – a nod to ‘Big’ John’s 1966 Can Am title success. Group 4 GT40s faced down seismic Group 7 monsters, headed by various voluptuous Lola T70s and pack of pugnacious McLaren M1s.
McLaren’s prized test driver Chris Goodwin was at his magnificent best aboard his own M1B – a former works car and once Chris Amon’s stead. He controlled the race from the front, fiercely quick yet neat and smooth in a way which rather put one in mind of current McLaren F1 ace Jenson Button. There was no showboating on his way to a commanding victory with only a wobble at a very slippery St Mary’s threatening his pre-eminence.
Potential T70-mounted rivals Oliver Gavin and Paul Knapfield wilted early on, leaving John Minshaw’s T70 as Goodwin’s nearest challenger. He, though, had his hands full fighting off Chris Drake’s M1B, James Cottingham’s rapid GT40 and the Genie-Huffaker of Italian Pier Enrico Tonetti – the latter full of enthusiasm for his first Goodwood outing in the Genie following a Simon Hadfield restoration. Tonetti was able to take a fine third after Cottingham and Drake collided at the now-treacherous St Mary’s.
With Andrew Smith and Roger Wills talking up the fight for Whitsun Trophy honours at September’s Revival Meeting, Goodwin will need all his speed to make it a seasonal clean sweep.
Brabham Trophy
The Brabham Trophy for 2.5L grand prix cars of the 1950s bridged the front and rear-engined divide. Roger Wills’ Cooper led for much of the race before expiring at the last to allow Gary Pearson through to win. Pearson was once again driving his BRM Type 25, the Bourne equipe’s first ever GP winner in Jo Bonnier’s hands. Pearson and the Type 25 once more looked like man and machine operating in perfect harmony – a true privilege to behold.
Salvadori Cup
The meeting’s final race was for late-1950s sports racers and gave rise to a suitably titanic tussle between Gary Pearson, Oliver Bryant and Andrew Smith. Smith’s hulking Chevrolet-motivated Lister headed Pearson’s similar Jaguar-powered Knobbly while behind the pair, Bryant had to use all his guile to keep up in his (comparatively) little Lotus 15.
After his Saturday evening heroics aboard the Lotus Eleven, Bryant might have been forgiven for believing he was owed a break but Pearson was as staunch in defence as he was in attack. Smith, meanwhile, kept his head down, seemingly impervious to the pressure as all three drifted their way through 25 minutes of combat. Eventually Bryant spun at Woodcote just moments after snatching the lead at Lavant. That left Pearson in second and Smith a deserving winner.
While the leading trio made the headlines, the pursuing pack featured this year’s Sebring 12 Hours winner Marino Franchitti in Nick Mason’s Maserati Birdcage, Darren Turner in the Leventis Ferrari 246S Dino and hordes of Lister, Jaguar and Maserati thoroughbreds.
Group B rally sprint
Improvised chicanes inserted strategically around the course created a sprint track and a representative field of Group B special stage stormers sampled a new Goodwood layout. Resplendent in period liveries, RS200s, Quattros, Delta S4s and 6R4s showcased savage acceleration and other-worldly soundtracks in three demos over the weekend.
Turbo F1 cars
From the same era, a small pack of turbo-charged F1 rockets of the 1980s made brisk (though perhaps not brisk enough) progress behind a Ferrari F40 pace car. Stoffel Vandoorne drove McLaren’s MP4/2, just a week before a debut win in GP2 at Bahrain. He looked relaxed in the pits before his drive, though seeing his feet ahead of the front axle will doubtless have focused the mind.
Also causing headlines was a brace of ex-Senna JPS Lotus racers. Joachim Folch drove Classic Team Lotus’s 97T from the 1985 season, the very chassis in which the great Brazilian took his first GP win. In convoy was Zak Brown’s 98T, chassis #3 – believed to be the most successful ex-Senna car in private hands with two wins during the 1986 campaign to its name.
Le Mans prototypes
The weekend’s most popular demonstration featured an array of sublime low-drag endurance racers from the ages. From Robs Lamplough’s Ford J-car, which inspired the GT Mark IV, through to a squadron of Group C warriors, the demonstrations were enough to induce goosebumps among the spectators and drew constant crowds of visitors to the paddocks over the weekend.
Yves Mahé’s shrill Matra MS660/670B brought an other-worldly sound to Goodwood, while the sight of Porsche, Jaguar, Toyota, Bardon and Gebhardt prototypes provided a snapshot of the glorious Group C era. It was certainly a spectacle few had ever dreamed they’d see at the former RAF Westhampnett.
In spite of a slightly faltering start the 72nd Goodwood Members’ Meeting proved itself a tremendous success in almost all respects – particularly the on-track action. The talk from Lord March was that this will become an annual event. With the embargo on post-1966 racing lifted, what treats might the organisers have in store for the 73rd?
When planning permission was granted to return racing to the Sussex autodrome in the mid-1990s, it permitted five days of racing per annum. With the Revival Meeting occupying three of those, how to employ the remaining two days has exorcised the powers-that-be for almost 20 years. A pure motorcycle event had been mooted some years back but, after much rumination, a return to the simple club racing fodder of Goodwood’s heyday was settled upon.
In period, members’ meetings were for the enjoyment of members of the BARC, the club which ran the track itself. Short races and handicaps proliferated, with informality prevailing and members encouraged to drive their cars to the track, paint numbers on the sides and take it (safely) to the limit before driving home once more. Judging by the number of priceless 1950s sports racers encountered heading north on the A3 on the Sunday after the event, that spirit was wholly embraced in 2014 – and then some.
The meeting had suffered something of a troubled gestation: launched as an event for the sole enjoyment of Goodwood Road Racing Company members, ticket sales were slow. Soon tickets were on general sale, but capped at around 12,000 per day. This ensured all areas were easily accessible, with almost invisible corporate involvement – in fact it reminded one of those first Festivals of Speed.
March can be climatically variable but the weather gods smiled over Goodwood as the place bathed in warm sunshine to provide a tremendous weekend of racing and general automotive indulgence. The public car parks heaved with delectable delights old and new, from modern supercars to treasured classics and there were virtually no queues to test delicate old cooling systems. The circuit itself even embraced the spring, with daffodils proliferating along the banks, offering a new floral visual to a familiar facility.
Elsewhere around the site, houses were allocated, with spectators encouraged to partake in various competitive activities to add a degree of needle to proceedings for all. The sight of grown men engaging in sack racing adjacent to one of motor racing’s holy grounds was among the more incongruous spectacles I’ve seen at a race track.
Much like big brother, the Revival, the Members’ Meeting was all about racing – and it delivered in spades. Saturday featured practice for all grids and three races, as well as demonstrations for long-tailed endurance sports racers, turbo-charged GP weapons and a sprint for Group B rally nutters. Sunday featured the same demonstrations and a full complement of races. It was a packed couple of days.
Gerry Marshall Trophy – Part One
The introduction of a race for Group One tourers of the 1970s and 80s brought an entirely new spectacle to Goodwood. Not only new shapes from a period of car which has never previously performed there, but also commercial sponsorship. The corporate revolution hadn’t hit motor racing when the track closed its doors in 1966 but here were bold, evocative, liveries: Brut; Hermetite; Esso; bizarrely the Italian tinned tomato kings Napolina...
Part one of the battle for Gerry Marshall Trophy honours went the way of Chris Ward in his Rover SD1 ahead of a braying pack of Capris, Dolomite Spints, GTVs and Nick Swift’s tricycling Mini 1275 GT. Intrigue was added by Emanuele Pirro’s spirited charge from the pitlane to the runner-up spot, barely a second behind Ward by the flag. Given another lap, the Italian might’ve stood a chance at the win.
As it was, he offered a virtuoso performance in the big Ford, gently gliding into Lavant with the rear tyres in a graceful arc just over the limit of adhesion.
Threlfall Cup
The Threlfall Cup for front-engined formula junior was only ever destined for one man: Will Mitcham was untouchable in his Mallock U2. He fended off the early attentions of Ray Mallock in his own U2 – penned by his late father, Arthur - to take a commanding win.
Behind him a fierce battle raged for third between Simon Goodliff and the splendidly orange helmeted twins Chris Goodwin and Barrie Williams. This three-way scrap ended in that order, but only after repeated changes of position through the length of the circuit. At one stage Goodwin went around the outside of Goodliff at Fordwater in a move that was brave enough to make one’s teeth itch. In spite of their relatively prosaic powerplants, the the FJ boys put on a tremendous show, as is now Goodwood custom.
Stirling Moss Trophy
Perhaps the weekend’s finest race was Saturday’s curtain closer. A two-driver dusk thrash for GT cars of the 1959-62 period, it was as cerebrally intriguing as it was visually spectacular.
The early running was all about Rob Hall in the Ferrari 250 GT SWB ‘Breadvan’. Running without its customary side-exit stub exhausts, the Breadvan made serene progress in Hall’s hands. Behind him Jackie Oliver was charging in Rohan Fernando’s gloriously yellow 250 GT SWB/C, with James Cottingham also flying in the DK Engineering E-Type.
With the sun setting fast, it looked as if the sting was taken out of the race as Oliver appeared at Madgwick with a punctured left rear. In fact, the race was only just getting going. Hall handed over the Breadvan to new owner Martin Halusa who was clearly struggling compared to his co-pilot. Meanwhile last year’s TT giant killer Simon Hadfield had replaced Wolfgang Friedrichs in the latter’s Aston Martin DB4 GT. Similarly, Joe Twyman had handed over the unique Lotus 11 Breadvan to his best mate, and acknowledged historic master, Oliver Bryant.
It was against this backdrop that the true battle for the win emerged. Halusa dropped back to a comfortable fifth place, while the Cottingham boys annexed fourth with Jeremy taking over from brother James. At the front, though, the gloves were off as Hadfield assumed an unlikely lead – just as he did in September during the TT Celebration. Bryant, though, was in determined form and he hounded Hadfield for lap after lap as darkness fell.
With the cars guided only by their own headlights, it was hugely evocative. The pitlane bristled with nervous energy as Bryant’s ‘homebrew’ Lotus took the fight to Hadfield’s aristocratic Aston. Carrying stunning speed through St Mary’s and into Lavant, Bryant twice assumed the lead through the second apex of Lavant, only for the big straight six in the Aston to haul it past in time for Woodcote braking zone. In the end it was a second fairytale finish for Hadfield and Friedrichs, though Bryant’s drive to take the flag just half a second in arrears must rank among Goodwood’s finest. It marked the end of a fine opening day for the 72nd Members’ Meeting.
Tony Gaze Trophy
Named in tribute to the great Antipodean airman who helped initiate the genesis of racing at Goodwood, the Tony Gaze Trophy featured a mixed grid of 1950s GTs. From Italian exotica to diminutive Brits, miscellany was the order of the day with everything from a Jowett Jupiter to Wil Arif’s vast Bentley R-Type Gooda Special in action.
At the front, though, Andy Shepherd took an early lead in his AC Ace – the car itself a winner at Goodwood in 1960. He looked relatively comfortable until the safety car appeared to allow Anthony Hansford’s inverted Rochdale to be recovered. With the pack neutralised, Max Girado launched himself around the outside of Shepherd at Madgwick to snatch the lead in his trademark sideways style.
With lean and slip angles increasing every lap, Girado made a mistake at St Mary’s on the last lap – just a mile from the flag – gyrating down the order and handing Shepherd the win. The Ferrari driver was suitably sheepish on his return. Behind this dice, a true members’ meeting line-up of road-going GTs provided much entertainment. Darren Turner, contemporary GT star with Aston Martin, piloted his own Turner with verve. Making just 70bhp, he was flat for virtually the entire lap and relishing the experience.
Sears Trophy
The usual Goodwood complement of unlikely saloonatics from the late 1950s and early 1960s provided a thrilling race, even if the winner never looked in question. Nick Swift drove his pale green Mini Cooper S with unerring commitment, redolent of John Rhodes in his pomp with either front of rear axles in a constant battle for adhesion. Lapping at over 90mph, it was a remarkable drive in isolation but behind the fight for third was a furious one.
Shaun Lynn’s Lotus Cortina, Peter Alexander’s Anglia and Jason Stanley’s Mini were in furious combat before Alexander slipped back, leaving Stanley to trail Lynn to the chequer. Nick Whale’s strong qualifying performance was undone when he had to start from the pitlane but his charge through the pack was suitably entertaining. Meanwhile, Andy Ruhan’s rumbling Studebaker provided the race’s most distinctive soundtrack.
Clark-Stewart Cup
Named in honour of the two men who jointly own Goodwood’s period outright lap record, the Clark-Stewart Cup featured a mixed field of F1, F2 and F3 competitors from the early 1960s. With Classic Team Lotus’s all-conquering Type 25s absent, it looked on paper like it could be anybody’s race. Sam Wilson had other ideas, though, and his composure aboard Alan Bailie’s Cooper T71/T73 was beyond his pursuers as he took one of the weekend’s most dominant wins.
There was action further back, as Paul Drayson and Andrew Beaumont’s singing Lotus Type 24s did battle. Drayson snatched the lead before spinning at Lavant. Beaumont did the same in sympathy before retiring, while Drayson resumed, still in second. Rob Hall also showed early pace before retirement, the prolific racer aboard a Type 21. That let Alex Morton in yet another Lotus take the bottom step of the podium – a position seemingly nobody wanted to grasp.
Grover-Williams Trophy
While Angouleme in France might feature an annual encounter for the cars from Molsheim, the notion of an all-Bugatti race in the UK is a new one. A mesmeric grid of fabulous blue (other coloured Bugattis were available) pre-war bolides provided yet another new spectacle for Goodwood enthusiasts.
Hordes of Type 35s took on interlopers including Stephen Gentry’s huge 57G ‘Tank’ of the kind which achieved victory at Le Mans in 1937. Driven with customary verve, pilots hung out of their cockpits, all arms and elbows as the old stagers bucked and slid over Goodwood’s famous crests and cambers. Tom Dark was an early favourite in the Type 59/50B III, one of the last Bugatti racers from an age when the German teutons had ascended to dominate grand prix racing. Sadly he was to retire, leaving Charles Knill-Jones to win unchallenged aboard Nick Mason’s Type 35, though Dark stole the race’s fastest lap.
Peter Collins Trophy
The Peter Collins Trophy for 1950s sports car racers started with a bang. Quite literally. Approaching Madgwick on the opening lap, Patrick Watts appeared with smoke billowing from under the engine of his Allard J2. As he endeavoured to leave the track safely, the spilled oil initiated a chain reaction which saw Patrick Blakeney-Edwards spin wildly in front of the pack. With everyone on the scene left to take avoidance action, it was surprising that only the Lotus IX of Ron Gammons suffered much damage as its hapless pilot struck the tyre wall in the melee.
The safety car was deployed while the incident was cleared, leaving a slightly shortened sprint to the flag. At the restart, Geraint Owen used ferocious transatlantic grunt from his Kurtis 500S annex an early lead. In spirited pursuit, though, was the prolific Rob Hall, aboard Martin Melling’s Aston Martin DB3 – the very car which took outright honours in the 1952 Goodwood Nine Hours.
While Owen was able to exercise the Kurtis’s mighty straight line potential lapping traffic, Hall was quicker on a clear track and made his move at St Mary’s on the penultimate tour. Contact, though gentle, ensued and Hall briefly snatched the lead before Owen was able to reassert himself.
Gerry Marshall Trophy Part Two
The second leg of the Gerry Marshall was another thriller; this time a 45 minute, two-driver joust. Saturday’s star, Emanuele Pirro, assumed an early lead before he was over-powered by Chris Ward in the Patrick Motor Sport Rover SD1. Neither, though, had a answer for Stuart Graham’s Chevrolet Camaro – an evocation of the car raced by Graham during his 1970s heyday. He thundered around the outside of Ward at the Lavant Kink, belching flame provocatively as he did so. Capri vs SD1 vs Camaro – it certainly offered a little context on the BTCC racers of today, as fine a series as it undeniably is these days.
Graham looked composed in the lead while behind a host of star turns waged tin-top wars. Highlight among the field was Kevin Doyle’s shrieking rotary-engined Mazda RX-7 – the car which took Spa 24 Hours spoils in 1980 and still resplendent in the Motel livery of Tom Walkinshaw and Pierre Dieudonne. Meanwhile, Nick Swift performed more Mini miracles, tricycling his 1275 GT evocation at ludicrous speed, putting spectators in mind of Patrick Longman’s antics in British Saloons in the period.
Graham’s challenge evaporated during the pit stops. A strategic blunder meant he missed the pit window, incurring a stop-go penalty that left co-pilot Nigel Garrett a disappointed third. With the stops over, the lead battle became intense as Andrew Smith took over from Chris Ward and John Young from Pirro. Both vastly historic racers, no quarter was either asked or given over the last third of the race. In the end, Smith was ahead by a second at the chequer, but he was made to work hard for his laurels. Group One touring cars at Goodwood: a resounding success.
Surtees Trophy
By some margin the fastest cars of the weekend lined up in combat for the Surtees Trophy – a nod to ‘Big’ John’s 1966 Can Am title success. Group 4 GT40s faced down seismic Group 7 monsters, headed by various voluptuous Lola T70s and pack of pugnacious McLaren M1s.
McLaren’s prized test driver Chris Goodwin was at his magnificent best aboard his own M1B – a former works car and once Chris Amon’s stead. He controlled the race from the front, fiercely quick yet neat and smooth in a way which rather put one in mind of current McLaren F1 ace Jenson Button. There was no showboating on his way to a commanding victory with only a wobble at a very slippery St Mary’s threatening his pre-eminence.
Potential T70-mounted rivals Oliver Gavin and Paul Knapfield wilted early on, leaving John Minshaw’s T70 as Goodwin’s nearest challenger. He, though, had his hands full fighting off Chris Drake’s M1B, James Cottingham’s rapid GT40 and the Genie-Huffaker of Italian Pier Enrico Tonetti – the latter full of enthusiasm for his first Goodwood outing in the Genie following a Simon Hadfield restoration. Tonetti was able to take a fine third after Cottingham and Drake collided at the now-treacherous St Mary’s.
With Andrew Smith and Roger Wills talking up the fight for Whitsun Trophy honours at September’s Revival Meeting, Goodwin will need all his speed to make it a seasonal clean sweep.
Brabham Trophy
The Brabham Trophy for 2.5L grand prix cars of the 1950s bridged the front and rear-engined divide. Roger Wills’ Cooper led for much of the race before expiring at the last to allow Gary Pearson through to win. Pearson was once again driving his BRM Type 25, the Bourne equipe’s first ever GP winner in Jo Bonnier’s hands. Pearson and the Type 25 once more looked like man and machine operating in perfect harmony – a true privilege to behold.
Salvadori Cup
The meeting’s final race was for late-1950s sports racers and gave rise to a suitably titanic tussle between Gary Pearson, Oliver Bryant and Andrew Smith. Smith’s hulking Chevrolet-motivated Lister headed Pearson’s similar Jaguar-powered Knobbly while behind the pair, Bryant had to use all his guile to keep up in his (comparatively) little Lotus 15.
After his Saturday evening heroics aboard the Lotus Eleven, Bryant might have been forgiven for believing he was owed a break but Pearson was as staunch in defence as he was in attack. Smith, meanwhile, kept his head down, seemingly impervious to the pressure as all three drifted their way through 25 minutes of combat. Eventually Bryant spun at Woodcote just moments after snatching the lead at Lavant. That left Pearson in second and Smith a deserving winner.
While the leading trio made the headlines, the pursuing pack featured this year’s Sebring 12 Hours winner Marino Franchitti in Nick Mason’s Maserati Birdcage, Darren Turner in the Leventis Ferrari 246S Dino and hordes of Lister, Jaguar and Maserati thoroughbreds.
Group B rally sprint
Improvised chicanes inserted strategically around the course created a sprint track and a representative field of Group B special stage stormers sampled a new Goodwood layout. Resplendent in period liveries, RS200s, Quattros, Delta S4s and 6R4s showcased savage acceleration and other-worldly soundtracks in three demos over the weekend.
Turbo F1 cars
From the same era, a small pack of turbo-charged F1 rockets of the 1980s made brisk (though perhaps not brisk enough) progress behind a Ferrari F40 pace car. Stoffel Vandoorne drove McLaren’s MP4/2, just a week before a debut win in GP2 at Bahrain. He looked relaxed in the pits before his drive, though seeing his feet ahead of the front axle will doubtless have focused the mind.
Also causing headlines was a brace of ex-Senna JPS Lotus racers. Joachim Folch drove Classic Team Lotus’s 97T from the 1985 season, the very chassis in which the great Brazilian took his first GP win. In convoy was Zak Brown’s 98T, chassis #3 – believed to be the most successful ex-Senna car in private hands with two wins during the 1986 campaign to its name.
Le Mans prototypes
The weekend’s most popular demonstration featured an array of sublime low-drag endurance racers from the ages. From Robs Lamplough’s Ford J-car, which inspired the GT Mark IV, through to a squadron of Group C warriors, the demonstrations were enough to induce goosebumps among the spectators and drew constant crowds of visitors to the paddocks over the weekend.
Yves Mahé’s shrill Matra MS660/670B brought an other-worldly sound to Goodwood, while the sight of Porsche, Jaguar, Toyota, Bardon and Gebhardt prototypes provided a snapshot of the glorious Group C era. It was certainly a spectacle few had ever dreamed they’d see at the former RAF Westhampnett.
In spite of a slightly faltering start the 72nd Goodwood Members’ Meeting proved itself a tremendous success in almost all respects – particularly the on-track action. The talk from Lord March was that this will become an annual event. With the embargo on post-1966 racing lifted, what treats might the organisers have in store for the 73rd?
Just as an aside, if you want to know a bit more about Zak Brown's 98T, I interviewed him last year with the article published on SELOC: http://www.seloc.org/articles/motorsport/zak-brown...
I have eventually uploaded some more photos from the 72nd Members Meeting............
https://www.flickr.com/photos/helensanders/sets/72...
https://www.flickr.com/photos/helensanders/sets/72...
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