If I had to pick one place to stay all day, it would almost certainly be somewhere between Woodcote corner and the chicane. One year - when it rained most of the day and blew a gale - we did sit in the Woodcote grandstand pretty much all day and it wasn't bad at all. Watching the cars come round Woodcote is always exciting and the occasional late lunge into the chicane will draw gasps from the crowd...
One of the highlights of Friday's track action was the Whitsun Trophy practice session, which featured an entralling battle for pole-position. These unlimited Group 7 sports prototypes are the fastest cars at the Revival and I love everything about them. Mike Whitaker's Lola-Chevrolet T70 spyder has been the car to beat for the past few years and it looks superb painted in the iconic red and white John Surtees livery. However, the John Bladon McLaren-Chevrolet M1A driven by ex-F1 driver Karun Chandhok was right on the Lola's pace. I shared a jeep into the circuit with John about 12 years ago and he told me about his McLaren obsession - he had a M1B at the time which ran towards the back of the pack. He replaced it with the M1A a few years later and raced it with an Oldsmobile engine until fitting a Chevy motor and hiring Chandhok last year. Engine and transmission issues in 2018 plagued the car in practice and the race, but it did set the fastest race lap of the weekend. Yesterday, it performed superbly. Whitaker and Chandhok traded fastest times and then pitted with five minutes of the session to go. Both came out for one final fast lap, but neither could better their times. Expect an exciting race tomorrow if the McLaren continues to run so well.
The climax of Friday is the Kinrara Trophy - now the first racing action of the weekend. It has been referred to as the most expensive race in the world and the grid is certainly worth a few bob. Nine Ferrari GTOs and three Aston Martin DB4GTs eclipse the relatively inexpensive E-Type Jags and Austin Healy 3000 MkIs. Two Cobras and a Corvette C1 completed the field. The race runs from an hour into dusk and features a driver-change window between 20 and 40 minutes of the race.
If you didn't catch the live feed last night, here are a couple of minutes of highlights...
The first part of the race was an exciting battle between Gary Pearson in the #12 Ferrari and Darren Turner in the #6 Aston. Further back, two of the Austin Healys were really feisty and fought hard with the big boys. The quick #18 Jag was the first casualty of the race, smashing up the front left but continuing after a pit stop for repairs. The second casualty was more expensive and happened just in front of us at Woodcote. Another Jag and major damage, although the driver was fine. The second crash did eventually bring out a safety car that bunched up the pack, but didn't change the result - after a huge charge from the back, the #1 Ferrari of Joe Macari and Tom Kristensen just failed to catch the third place car. And that was that...
Well, almost. A last look round 'Over The Road' - shops, entertainment, food and bars - gave everyone else time to sit a traffic jam to get out of the car parks. When we were done with taking in the evening Revival atmosphere, we walked to the car and drove out without any delays. We're getting quite good at this.
If you haven't already visited the Goodwood Revival, it has to be done. It is a fabulous international motor racing event with top drivers, amazing action and incredible cars. And there's the step back in time which creates such a unique atmosphere. If you live in the South or South East, it is an easy trip - even by public transport. If you have to travel further, with some planning it is not difficult to do. Cheap hotels at Gatwick airport are an option, so is on-site camping - and so is Butlins at nearby Bognor Regis.
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