An event which is certainly one of my highlights of the year sees thousands of motor sport and vintage enthusiasts gather near Chichester at the estate of Lord March for the Goodwood Revival. The event has a simple premise, revive the once fearsome 2.4 mile circuit and relive its heyday of 1948 to 1966. Everything is brought back to life from the old pit building and tower to bring a period high street to life. The airfield itself is transformed and the former RAF Westhampett comes back to life with Spitfires and Mustangs that would have once flown from the airfield during the war lined up an flown for displays.
Its the patrons that make the event, everybody (with the odd exception) makes a huge effort to dress appropriately. The dress code is not mandatory but very much encouraged, indeed it is de rigueur. Making the whole event feel like a magical step back in time.
On track the often priceless cars are driven with gusto often by modern legends such as Tom Kristensen and Oliver Gavin. One of many highlight is the RAC TT celebration race, AC Cobra, Corvettes and sideways Jaguar E-Types make the race a fan favorite and one of my must see races of the event.
Among the many amazing things to do and explore at the Revival is the Earls Court Motorshow, recreation of the Art Deco frontage and a space for manufacturers to display their contemporary models alongside the historic. One of my favorites is this Jaguar D-Type seen here on the Jaguar stand.
For me the 2016 had a very personal connection I had chosen it to bend the knee and propose to my beautiful girlfriend. Thankfully she said YES so I guess we will be Mister and Missus Mid Century!
I enlisted the help of the beautiful folk at Betty's The official Goodwood Beauty Salon who arranged for waiting press gang and when the moment came Ali mustered the troops and cleared a space for me to pop the question.
Pictures courtesy of Betty's The official Goodwood Beauty Salon
The Revival also boasts some of the best vintage shopping on these fair islands, not only is there a fine selection of retailers within the confines of the track at the Revival Market (many of which will be covered by Mid Century Mister in the coming weeks) there is also and area known as "Over the Road" put simply this is the other side of the access road to the circuit. Over the Road has row after row of shop, car restoration company, auction, boutique and food stall. it also has the vintage fairground, Bonhams, Butlins roller rink and the fearsome wall of death.
Be warned it is perfectly feasible to spend all day here and never actually see a car on the race track.. as we managed on the Saturday. Even if the weather was especially British, no amount of soggy yet extraordinarily tasty burger could dampen any of our spirits.
Tickets for the September 2017 event will be release in the next month or so as usual, my advice would be get them early.
Special thanks to to
Goodwood Road & Racing https://www.goodwood.com/flagship-events/goodwood-revival/
Betty's The official Goodwood Beauty Salon https://www.facebook.com/GoodwoodRevivalHairAndBeautySalon/
And to Helen.. for saying yes and making me the luckiest fella on the planet.
grt
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