Kinara Trophy – Action packed event opener

The start to the Goodwood Revival race programme could not have been bettered with a frantic and at times frenetic Kinrara Trophy in which nine times 24 Hours of Le Mans winner, Tom Kristensen showed his undoubted class. The Dane, the most successful of all endurance drivers, has become a regular star at Goodwood and yesterday evening he took on some of the best historic racers in the country to share the winning car in this new 60-minute race. Remarkably, he had not seen Joe Macari’s Ferrari 250GT SWB before yesterday, having replaced former BTCC champion Jason Plato at the last minute.

Car owner Joe headed the large field of pre-1962 GT cars into the first corner but was soon overwhelmed by a gaggle of professional drivers. As the setting sun cast long shadows over the track, so Adrian Wilmot (Aston Martin DB4GT) and Rob Hall (Jaguar E-type) engaged in a furious battle for the lead. Rob went by on lap four but Adrian did not give up until an attempt to out fox his rival resulted in a cloud of smoke from his locked brakes and a spin right off the track. The closely pursuing James Cottingham, in another of the E-types, took advantage of this and moved into second.

The field may have been worth something in the region of a staggering £150 million, but these GTs are driven hard and a pair of incidents on lap 11 brought out the safety car. Significantly, this meant that Joe Macari did not fall further down the field and when Tom Kristensen took over the Ferrari, after the safety car pulled in, the race was truly on.

For a while it was still Rob versus James with Adrian pulling himself back into contention. Back in the field, though, Tom was ominously setting fastest laps. It was a while before the round of driver changes sorted matters out and now Simon Hadfield, who had taken over Wolfgang Friedrichs’ Aston Martin DB4GT, came into contention. James had also been able to hand over to another of the top historic racers, Andrew Smith and the race again changed complexion. Now it was Andrew versus Simon with a vengeance…but behind Tom was moving up fast. Into second place went TK with a great move round the outside of the Lavant Kink. Even a racer of Simon’s calibre could not hold the multi-Le Mans winner at bay and, with just four minutes left and the cars racing into darkness. Tom took the lead, overtaking again at Lavant. As Simon was to remark, coming second to Tom Kristensen can be no bad thing.

Madgwick Cup – Fireworks in the rain.

Diabolical conditions and spectacular racing were features of this morning’s Madgwick Cup, second race of the day at the Goodwood Revival. It poured with rain throughout this 20-minute contest for under three-litre sports racing cars, 1960-1966. The front-runners, though, were undaunted, slithering and sliding throughout the race. It may have been an early lap to chequered flag win for Joe Twyman but that bland statement belies an exciting race and the fireworks that culminated in a closing seconds fracas at the chicane.

Joe took an early lead in one of the Sussex-built Elva-Ford Mk7s and seemed to be pulling away to an easy victory. Behind him a battle of the Lotus 23Bs splashed side by side, overtaking manouvres ending up off the track as often as not. For some laps, McLaren development test driver Chris Goodwin, who had initially led the field, seemed to have the measure of his fellow Lotus drivers. Andrew Newall and Andrew Hibbert, in their black and yellow 23Bs were not, though to be denied. At about half distance the two Andrews both briefly left the track as they bore down on Chris. This was almost repeated a lap later but this time Andrew H went past in dramatic fashion shortly to be followed by his namesake.

The brave battle of the Andys now set off after leader Joe. At first Andrew H seemed to have the upper hand only for Andrew N to take second at Woodcote corner. As the clock ticked down, the latter took three seconds off the leader in just one lap. As they charged into the chicane for the final time, Stuart Tizzard’s lapped Lotus 23 was in their path. First Joe clipped the Lotus then Andrew but in all the chaos both kept their cars on the track, crossing the line with the Elva still just ahead. ‘I’ve never raced in anything like this before,’ reported second place Newall.

Goodwood Trophy Race – Lockie Storms to victory.

Callum Lockie claimed the first win for a Maserati in ten years in a thrilling Goodwood Trophy race which kicked off Saturday’s on-track action. Five-time winner Mark Gillies appeared set to take yet more silverware at the off, the start coinciding with a brief shower. The American-based Briton dominated the early going aboard Dick Skipworth’s ERA A-type R3A, holding an eleven-second lead over Lockie’s 6CM with ten minutes left to run. However, the journalist’s time at the front ended shortly thereafter as he was forced to pit, mechanics scrabbling to fix an oiled plug. Gillies rejoined a minute later, only to spin at St. Mary’s, but he still managed to cling on for ninth place overall.

Lockie scampered off into the distance at half-distance, only to lose rear-end grip late in the day. This allowed Alfa Romeo man Matt Grist and Tom Dark in the fabulous Bugatti Type 73C to close, but former GT champion Lockie worked his way through traffic with aplomb and held on to the chequered flag.

Lavant Cup – Harrison takes Lavant Cup

Malcom Harrison claimed honours in the 20-minute Lavant Cup race for drum-braked BMW and Bristol-engined sports cars after taking the lead with barely a minute to spare. The Cooper T25 man had been headed by Frazer Nash Le Mans Replica driver Martin Hunt for much of the twenty-minute race, only for a minor clash in the run to Woodcote on the penultimate lap to end his day. He came back from a lurid slide to claim second place. Pole-sitter Patrick Blakeney-Edwards recovered from a fluffed start to finish third in his Frazer Nash Mille Miglia.

Harrison said later. “Martin drove brilliantly in front. I was hanging onto his shirttails for most of the race but then the opportunity arose to get past. There was only a small kiss between the two cars.” Hunt agreed, saying: “He was a very generous driver behind me, and it was only a little nudge. It was incredibly slippery out there.”

Royal Automobile Club TT Race – Ward takes another victory in E-Type

The RAC TT Celebration, flagship race of the Goodwood Revival has been all about the 2014 and 2015 winners. At the flag, it was last year’s victors, Chris Ward and reigning British Touring Car Champion Gordon Shedden in their Jaguar E-type who recorded a back-to-back win. Chris had established a healthy lead during his initial stint but a safety car period brought the Dutch AC Cobra pairing of David Hart and Giedo van der Garde into contention and then, until a last minute incident, into the lead.

Chris took the lead at the start in spectacular fashion using the kerbs and even some of the grass to demoralise the rest of the field. As the lead stretched to over 10 seconds, it seemed as if he might be making Gordon’s task an easy one. With only a third of the race run he dived into the pits and the Scot jumped into the E-type. The picture, though, was about to change.

Jo Bamford (Ferrari 250 GTO/64) and Bill Shepherd (AC Cobra) made contact and went off in spectacular fashion, went off and out came the safety car. When the race went green again Giedo, who had taken over from David closed in Gordon and, as those who had not pitted prior to the safety car period pulled in to make their driver changes, so their battle became one for the lead.

For a while Gordon seemed to have the answer for everything Giedo tried but with 17 minutes left, he went deep into Woodcote, locked up and went wide. The Dutchman took advantage and swept into the lead. Gordon recovered and closed in on the Cobra before being temporarily held up by a back marker. The gap first to second was now almost 1.5 seconds. Again Gordon was on a charge, closed right up to the back of Giedo’s car. Then with hardly any minutes left to run the Jaguar gave the Cobra the slightest of nudges, Giedo span off and victory went to the E-type.

The ‘off’ was almost into the barriers but Giedo still managed to recover, finishing fourth behind the close battle that had been going on for third and, now second, between another couple of AC Cobras, driven by, respectively, Michael Squire/Frank Stippler and Oliver Bryant/Andrew Smith.

St Marys Trophy Part 1 – Jordan Surfs to St Marys Win.

Former British Touring Car Champions Andrew Jordan and Gordon Shedden vied for honours in the opening installment of the St. Mary’s Trophy, with the former holding on for a brilliant win. The race for identical-spec 1275cc Austin A30/A35s saw 29 racing legends line-up on a sodden track, with Jordan blasting into the lead from the outside of the front row. Despite being concerned about his car’s staying power, given that the engine had been replaced three times in two days, Jordan drove a defensive race. He had to as pole-sitter Shedden was never more than 0.2sec behind him for the entire duration of the 20-minute thrash. Touring car superstar Steve Soper was never far away, but was unable to challenge, while former Le Mans winner Mark Blundell placed fourth.

Jordan admitted subsequently that his car was on the verge of blowing its head gasket, but claimed that the race was ‘…an absolute hoot’. Expect more side-by-side drama up and down the order in tomorrow’s St. Mary’s Trophy finale.

St Marys Trophy – Part 2 

Paul Dorlin took a toweringly impressive win in the second instalment of the St. Mary’s Trophy two-parter, this year staged exclusively for Austin A30s and A35s. Nevertheless, it was the father and son team of Mike and Andrew Jordan who won outright on aggregate. The race wasn’t without incident, though, with two cars exiting the course before lurching into barrel-roles, fortunately without causing injury.

As the flag dropped, pole-sitter Ben Colburn led the train of cars away from Charles Knill-Jones, the latter being better known for racing vintage Bugattis. Dorlin tucked into their slipstream in third, Knill-Jones briefly assuming the lead on lap six, only to fall back shortly thereafter. The order changed repeatedly in the second half of the 20-minute thriller, and, once in the lead, Dorlin was able to break the tow to his pursuers and hold on to the top spot to the end.

Jordan Sr, who finished third on the road behind Dorlin and Knill-Jones, did enough to keep the top two in check, with the family taking home the overall win by barely a second. Andrew said later: “I would rather be racing. It’s too nerve-wracking watching from the pit lane. It’s great to win the St. Mary’s Trophy, though. We’re both over the moon.” Dorlin, meanwhile, added: “That felt like a very long race, but it was only 18 minutes. What a race, though. I couldn’t be happier.”

Glover Trophy – They think its all over, but it isn’t!

‘They think it’s all over, it is now!’ But for Nick Fennell and Martin Stretton, it wasn’t!  The 20-minute Glover Trophy for early 1960s 1.5-litre Grand Prix cars was almost over. Martin had just snatched back the lead, after a race long battle, before they swept through the chicane seemingly towards the chequered flag. However, it was not there, the race still had a scant second to run before the 20 minutes were up. Nick grabbed the lead back, while Martin had a massive moment, his Lotus-BRM 24 bouncing spectacularly over the grass. And thus it really was all over, Nick taking his Lotus-Climax 25 to what was a sixth successive victory for a Classic Team Lotus prepared car in this race with Martin recovering to finish second.

Throughout, the race had been a contest between space frame Lotus 24 and the slightly newer but far more technically advanced monocoque Lotus 25. The team managers of 1962 who had purchased Lotus 24s only to find them obsolete overnight when the factory unveiled the type 25 would perhaps have been in wonder as first Miles Griffiths (also in a BRM-engined type 24), with a great start from the outside of the front row, and then Martin, led the race. There was no way, though, the suitably blue helmeted Nick was going to leave it to the monocoques and, with Miles falling back, the race developed into a frantic battle between the two green cars.

Miles eventually finished third ahead of 1970 Le Mans winner Richard Attwood who came in fourth, appropriately driving a BRM as he had done in 1964 and 1968. James King, who early in the race had harried the leading trio, came in fifth in his ex-Dan Gurney Brabham-Climax BT7.

Richmond Trophy – Bronson wins minus a nose! 

Julian Bronson claimed honours in a dramatic Richmond Trophy race for 2.5-litre Grand Prix cars. The veteran charger proved blisteringly quick in his beautiful Scarab, but it was Tony Wood who appeared set for victory in his unique Tec-Mec Maserati until a late spill cost him dearly. The pole-sitter recovered from a slow start which saw him drop to fifth place on the run to the first corner, only to climb up to third by the end of the opening lap. Bronson held on to the lead until quarter-distance in the 20-minute race, before Wood moved pass third-place man Rob Hall and the leader.

Later contact between Bronson and Wood, saw the Scarab lose its nosecone. Nevertheless, Bronson pressed on as Wood had a massive off at St. Mary’s on the penultimate lap which also delayed Hall. This allowed Goodwood newcomer Andrew Willis to take second in Steve Tillack’s Ferrari 246 Dino ahead of team-mate Hall. Wood limped his car to the pits and retired.

“It was very greasy around the back of the circuit. I couldn’t stop in time and was sorry to hit Tony,” Bronson said after the race. “The nosecone came up and hit me on my head. I have been trying to win this race for a while, though, so it feels to good to finally do it. Fourth time lucky!”

Freddie March Trophy – Unstoppable Woolmer wins Freddie March Memorial Trophy

Richard Woolmer bested vastly more experienced rivals to win the Freddie March Memorial Trophy race which brought the curtain down on Saturday’s on-track action. The HWM-Cadillac driver was on the bump-stops for much of the race, steering the V8-engined sports car on the throttle as he fended off the attentions of Aston Martin DB3 driver, Rob Hall.

The race wasn’t without incident, the safety car heading trackside shortly before half-distance after Conrad Ullrich beached his Maserati 300S in the gravel trap at Lavant Corner. Racing resumed within five minutes, only for the action to be cut short moments later after Frederic Wakeman’s Jaguar C-type had an unfortunate off in ever more treacherous conditions.

Woolmer looked shell-shocked immediately after the race. “It was like an ice rink out there,” he said. “It feels quite incredible to win. The car was amazing, and… To be honest, I’m lost for words!”

Whitsun Trophy

Former World Touring Car Champion Rob Huff took advantage of the wet conditions of the Whitsun Trophy to win in his Lotus-Oldsmobile 19 replica, a car which, in the dry, might have been less competitive than the mighty Lola T70s. It was, though, one of Eric Broadley’s designs, a former Team Surtees factory car, that led for most of the race. For its driver Mike Whitaker, the contest was a tale of two ‘offs’. The first was simply unfortunate, the second cost him victory.

Mike had set the pole winning time in practice but his team had never run the T70 in the wet and he spun on the out lap before the race for unlimited sports racers had started. Once the flag had fallen, Rob edged the T70 spyders of Mike and Tony Sinclair off the line while former Ensign Grand Prix driver Tiff Needell heroically blasted his Lotus 30 around the outside going from seventh to second and then back to seventh even before the second bend. As the pack settled down, Mike moved into the lead with Rob in pursuit.

With 16 of the 25 minutes still left to run, a mere five seconds covered the first five cars with Ford GT40 pilot, Chris Ward appearing menacingly quicker than his rivals and moving through the field. With 11 minutes remaining, Rob tried a brave move at the chicane in Chris Toleman’s copy of a Team Mecom Lotus. The leading pair was almost side-by-side through the chicane with Chris now on their tail. The Lola came out still in first and the Ford now dropped back. For a short while it appeared as if Mike had pulled out something of a gap.

The rain was now abating, which perversely seemed a cue for a number of competitors to spin or run off the road. Unfortunately, one of these was Mike who took to the grass at Lavant, allowing Rob past and into a two second lead in the older specification Lotus. With traffic impeding the leader, the gap came down to a second. However, Mike had run out of time and Rob was about to almost slide into the chicane before heading for the chequered flag and victory.

Sussex Trophy -Ward on top in Sussex Trophy race. 

Chris Ward was never headed in the Sussex Trophy race which brought the curtain down on the 2016 Revival Meeting’s on-track action. The Lister-Jaguar driver stormed into an early lead, with Sadler man Julian Majzub briefly looking like a threat, only for the veteran campaigner to leave his braking a little bit too late at Lavant on the first lap which resulted in a lurid spin. Ward was chased hard for the rest of the race by fellow Lister ace, John Pearson, with barely 0.6sec separating them at half-distance. Lotus 15 driver Oliver Bryant was a further ten seconds down the road in third.

Sadly, the race ended under a safety car after David Hart and Darren McQuirter clashed at St. Mary’s in the closing stages. Ward received the garlands, with 12-time Revival winner Pearson placing second with a surprised James Cottingham in third. The Tojeiro driver had worked with his way up the order from ninth on the grid and took the final podium spot mere seconds before the safety car was deployed.

An elated Ward said: “I didn’t expect to be given such a hard time. I had to work really hard for the win.”