A Glorious Spring Day at Goodwood Members Meeting 82

More exclusive than the fabled Revival and therefore smaller in visitor numbers carries its advantages and our British reporter enjoyed them in full:

While the Members Meeting doesn’t quite match the Revival in terms of the cars on the track or in the car park, or the more comprehensive retail and catering offers – in large part because it’s a more exclusive, and therefore smaller event – it’s pretty close, and with the bonus of having only half as many people attending, with fewer access restrictions, making it easier to get around.

Last weekend myself and a friend went on the Saturday for the first day of MM82, and for the first time in almost three years, the weather was friendly enough for us to travel down to the circuit in my Mercedes 280CE (the original plan to go in my 911 got changed due to unforeseen – and expensive – engine work required) instead of his T*s*a, and as we parked in the MM version of the Revival’s classic car park, the sun welcomed us to what promised to be a superb day, and  with just one exception, it was.

It’s interesting to note that while the event celebrates motor racing of days long gone by, the organisers don’t live entirely in the past, and one of the major steps they have taken to ensure the future viability of historic motor sport at Goodwood is the introduction of green fuels, with competitors required to use “at least 70 per cent advanced sustainable components in their fuel mix”. I have to say that it didn’t seem to affect the performance on the track in any way and is a fine example of progress without abandoning tradition.

As always at Goodwood, there’s so much to delight the eye, so what follows will be my selective impressions of our day, which we started by heading over to the paddocks to get a closeup look at some of the wonderful historic racing machinery taking part, and it doesn’t get much better than gorgeous Ferrari 250 GT SWB Competizione’s as well as Aston Martin DB4 GTs, Mercedes 300SL’s and the usual E-Types among others, all competing in the Moss Trophy.

I also love the Touring and Saloon car categories, with lots of relatable cars to like, cars we used to see in numbers on our roads and that featured in our own driving histories. I think my favourite was the yellow 1973 BMW 3.0Si, an unlikely race car, but it competed for my affections with the Opel Commodore GS/E. It was also great to see Dolomite Sprints, Alfa Romeo Sprint GTA’s, Rover SD1’s and BMW 1800TiSA’s take to the track, with some serious tail-out sliding on some of Goodwood’s long bends.

One of the star attractions of the event is the S.F.Edge Trophy for cars that raced up to 1918, making every one of them well over 100 years old! These big, primitive machines – some with barely any bodywork and sitting on large wheels but skinny tyres are quite the spectacle as their drivers wrestle them around the circuit, among them the “Beast of Turn”, the frankly outrageous fire-breathing (sic) 1910 28-litre FIAT S76, which despite all its 300bhp finished outside the top ten over the two races.

The Salvadori Cup features sports cars that raced between 1955 and 1960, a narrow date range, you might think, but what cars they were! The Jaguar D-types, a couple of Maserati 300S’s and a yellow with black stripe Ferrari 290MM were the stars of this category for me.

For cars from the other categories, check out the gallery at the end of this piece.

Track action on Saturday was largely about qualifying, and we did get to see some close to the edge driving at various points around the former airfield, although frankly a better view is provided by the organisers’ YouTube channel, but what this cannot convey is the sounds, smells and sights of being in the presence of these wonderful old racing machines – it really is like stepping back into the past. The one flat spot of our day was the hour-long gap between two of the practice sessions while the marshalls took an age to clear the track of an incident during qualifying for the Earl Howe Trophy, followed by a very tedious demonstration of how racing is filmed for the big screen (connected to the forthcoming Brad Pitt movie, “F1”) – this used up another 20 minutes.

The auction, hosted as usual by Bonhams, included many high-end classics, but also a number of relatively reasonably priced cars, with a couple in particular that would have been very tempting for me if I didn’t have the 911. For example, is there a ViaRETRO reader who doesn’t like the Alfa Romeo Montreal? There were two on sale – one a project for a far braver individual than me, the other a very useable older restoration that needed recommissioning. The hammer fell at £16,100 and £36,800 respectively, including commissions, while at the other end of the scale, an exquisite 1967 Ferrari 330GTC in a gorgeous shade of deep blue would have been my lottery-winning choice. It’s hard to find fault with this beautifully proportioned Pininfarina design; it looked fabulous and could have been mine for a mere £402,500 including commissions. Or not.

Across the road, the Members’ Meeting version of the Revival Car Park is the 30 Years+ Car Show, and thanks at least in part to the favourable weather – the best for the five MM’s I have been to – there were plenty of delectable classics brought along by visitors. Personal favourites included the immaculate gold 1980 VW Scirocco Mk1 – still the best-looking version of VW’s “sports Beetle” – the unique 1973 Peugeot 504 Break Riviera re-creation that I saw a few months back at Hampton Court, a beautiful dark blue Maserati 3500GT and the similarly styled Lancia Flaminia GT – both by Touring, of course.

Since yellow is just about my favourite colour on a classic car, I thought I’d group together a few of the yellow cars to brighten your day. Giallo Fly is absolutely my favourite colour on a Ferrari and this 308GTB looked terrific in the sun, as did the ’73 Porsche Carrera 2.7RS and the splendid 1921 Hispano Suiza, now starting to look a little tired around the edges and I expect will soon be spending time in a restorer’s workshop. And not forgetting the 1952 Jaguar XK120 SE offered – but not sold – in the auction and a delicate little 1968 De Tomaso Vallelunga, a far cry from the marque’s more brutal models that followed.

I enjoy finding pairs of cars that are related in some way or other, such the green 1955 Aston Martin DB2 alongside it’s younger sibling, a lovely blue 1970 DB6 Volante, but the glamour pairing of the day for me was a delectable duo of Alfa Romeo’s in the stunning shapes of an utterly gorgeous 1952 1900C in two-tone metallic silver, and what I believe (and please correct me if I’m wrong) was a Monza 8C Touring Spider, driven over from Belgium. Two Peugeot 304 convertibles made a pretty pair, as did a couple of Mini’s contrastingly alongside a Gordon Keeble, and competing in the cute stakes, a couple of 1950’s Austin A30’s.  Finally in this category, an imposing pair of Rolls Royce’s looked very grand indeed. You might spot one or two other pairs in the end gallery.

After nine hours in the sun, we decided it was time to head back home, which gave me the chance to get back before dark. It had been a thoroughly splendid day – my friend and I agreed that of the five Members’ Meetings we had been to so far, this was easily the best, thanks in large part to the Spring sunshine. Our next trip to the south coast will be for the Revival in September – looking forward to that already!