Goodwood - Race Day

Another dreadful night's sleep! 

My race is last up on Saturday, not until 1735. But the family are all here today, so it's going to be busy keeping up with the kids! Unfortunately I feel poorly, man-flu coming on! Steaming headache, but I really don't want to take anything for it, just keep drinking as much water as possible!

Eventually racetime hoves into view ... as mentioned earlier, Goodwood is like no other track meeting, and maintains some of the old traditions, in particular, despite the track being narrower than most of the tracks I normally race on, they run with a 3-2-3 grid formation, rather than the normal 2-2-2 that you'd be used to if you watch Grand Prix. They also start the races with a wave of the Union Flag, none of those new-fangled lights - but you cannot move until the flag goes down, if you move on the up-stroke that's a jumped start! 

So with the 3-2-3 grid formation I was on the outside of Row 4. With 5 secs to go the Dolphin on the outside of Row 3 has his hand up to indicate some problem that will prevent him from getting off the line, very good quick flagging from the marshals to make the whole grid aware. When the flag goes down, Crispian Besley, directly ahead of me on the outside of Row 2 doesn't get off the line either ... so with a good hook-up and smoking tyres I am faced with a slalom off the line - bit hairy, but we survive - however cars on the righthand side of the track have a clearer run to the first corner, Madgwick, so I've dropped a couple of places. Time to settle down a bit, try to improve my driving from yesterday's performance. Seem to be same pace as Andrew Hayden (Envoy) and Noel Woodford (Gemini) and we run in a trio for a short while. Crispian closes up behind me, now I know it's a battle for 'position', but he's always quicker than me, and there seems little point in delaying him, so I wave him by on the run to Fordwater, and when he takes longer to do complete the pass than I'd anticipated I lifted off slightly to make sure he'd got it done before either of us turned in. 

To be honest I'd assumed Crispian would get by the Envoy and Gemini relatively quickly, which would leave me to have another look at them, but he doesn't so we run close together as a 4 car train for a couple of laps or so, with me deliberately keeping a watching brief from the back. The track gets greasier, several slightly wild (but nothing alarming) moments by those around me, Crispian certainly explores the track limits ... dropping back behind us again at least once. I get by both the Gemini (up the inside at the corner with no name, before St Mary's) and the Envoy (on the brakes into Lavant), they both seem to have a slight horsepower advantage (those beastly Ford engines I'd wager!) but I can carry more corner speed in places. Slowly I draw away a touch but lose a small amount of time lapping back markers, allowing them to close back up again, I'm running 8th. Coming into the chicane on the penultimate lap I get a bit loose, and the resultant poor drive out allows the Gemini to use his horsepower to outdrag me to Madgwick - blast! I give chase and am back on his tail when we get to Lavant ... uh-oh, back markers ... more to the point, two back markers having their own private battle ... The Gemini gets up the inside of the pair, but that doesn't look on for me, I have to wait, go round the outside but I'm slow onto the straight ... the Envoy draws by. Double blast. Chequered flag. 10th. 

Mildly disappointing to drop two places on the last lap, but I'm delighted, never envisaged being as high as 10th in the first place, I'm second BMC-engined car! I've had a great race - I rarely get wheel-to-wheel dicing to be honest, so several overtakes - all clean and gentlemanly, is great fun. Brilliant. Thank you everyone.

Big waves to all the marshals and the crowd on the cooling down lap, and especially to all the family watching from the rails by the chicane. I pull into Parc Ferme and switch off, Iain appears, congratulates me briefly, but tells me I have some explaining to do about dropping those places at the end! Despite that I'm much happier with the way I've driven today, much smoother, lap times are no better, however that's down to track conditions being a little greasy and the fact that we've been in a battle for positions. 

Although I am the last finisher not to be lapped by the winner, the leader was still 30secs away from doing so. My average speed for the entire 12 laps is 86+mph - told you it was quick around here! The winner is Chris Drake, unsurprisingly, so at least a dark blue Elva wins. Andrew Wilkinson in the Lynx kept him honest though, and in fact led until half distance. Standing on the bottom step of the podium is John Delane - well done John. Behind him are Charles Cook and Robert Barrie.

I'm gutted to find out later that the video file is corrupted and won't play, i'd really have liked to have watched that race back!

Goodwood - Qualifying Day

Had a terrible night's sleep again after our dinner, which I have to put down to nerves, I kept doing laps of Goodwood and other tracks whilst dozing, and would wake myself up! Not ideal ...

My qualifying session wasn't until 1355, the track was wet at the start of the day, but there was a reasonable chance that the rain would hold off, and that the track would be dry for our session ... indeed mid-morning the sun even came out for a while! Lots going on, lots of people to chat to, quite a few friends and acquaintances popping by to say hello - quite busy in fact - Goodwood is always like this. Although it was very early, about 1130 I wandered into the Driver's club and got changed, several others had already done so too, when I went in the sun was out, when I re-emerged it was raining - maybe we weren't going to get that dry session I so wanted... The rain did stop, and we had about 90 minutes to kick-off, so if only we could have a few minutes of sunshine ... 

I was keen to get to the assembly area early, but was surprised to see a few cars heading that way with nearly a whole hour still to go, but I followed suit. Time ticked by, I drank about a gallon of water, and off-loaded a similar amount. Watching the tv screens whilst waiting, the track has some damp patches but looks dry, although drivers are reporting it to be a bit greasy. Right - time to go... 

An 'interesting' session ... I was still getting into it, the track was indeed dry, although there were patches that looked damp it really wasn't affecting the grip, but then on turn-in for Woodcote on lap 3 or 4 the car just swapped ends on me ... I hardly ever spin, there was no warning, I wasn't even 'trying' yet, so it was a bit off-putting to be honest. I ended up on the grass inside the circuit, then crossed the track again still spinning and finally came to rest on the outside at the exit - didn't fancy staying there, in case someone else did the same, so I fired it up and rejoined, somewhat chastened. I was very cautious for a couple of laps, initially wondered whether something was up with the car but all seemed to be in order - my assumption is that I may have hit a little oil, as it was greasy in places - apparently I got on tv, so maybe I'll see it one day. 

As I got back up to speed I had a couple of 'moments' with traffic, both with 3 cars of different speeds, one slower than me, and one a touch quicker, no real issue, but enough to fully focus my attention - in one case I was closing on a slower car through Madgwick and pulled to the left to overtake on the run out to Fordwater, I knew there was another car close behind me, and I assumed that he'd follow through on the same side of the slower car ... but 'No'; having completed my overtake I started moving right for Fordwater to find him just on my right hip, having gone the other side of the slower car - gave me a bit of a surprise, and the very fast Fordwater is not the place you want surprises! Towards the end of the session I was on my best lap, and slowly closing down the Envoy that had come past me the lap before; I gained a chunk of time on him between St Mary's and Lavant to find myself right on his tail in Lavant corner ... and he misses a gear on the exit, 'aghh!', I saw it in time, but with another slower car inside I had no opinion but to avoid him by heading out over the nasty kerbs there, two wheels onto the damp grass, cue tank-slapper, and another visit to the live streaming tv (and the laundry!). We survived. 

Net result though, not a single good clean lap in the 11 laps I ran, and I was very disappointed with my efforts to be honest, really beating myself up - Iain had had the watch on me and my best was a 1:37.3 - before the meeting I'd done some research and had been hoping to get down to low 34s or even high 33s, and at the same time I'd expected to be slightly over half-way down the grid. It was a little while before I got to see the timesheet, but I was astonished (and delighted) to find that I had qualified in 10th of the 30 cars. I still think I drove the session poorly, but clearly the greasy surface conditions were having an affect on everyone as well. That lap time equates to an 88mph lap, by some way the fastest at any circuit I've raced on in this car.

Chris Drake in the later Elva 300 is on pole, with a 1:28.4 - he'd allegedly run 1:26.2 in testing! He was 4 sec quicker than anyone else! I think that car in this company is a bit of a mismatch to be honest, not to take anything away from Chris's driving, as I know he's quick. My sparring partner from the Lurani Trophy, John Delane, is 3rd. Only one non-Ford-powered car is ahead of me, the Cooper T56 of Crispian Besley. Previous night's dinner companion, Robert Barrie, who is very quick, and a race instructor here at Goodwood, is behind me ... obviously something's up with him ... turned out he had a misfire. Kim Shearn in the borrowed Ausper is also behind me.

I found my Mum and took her into the Driver's Club for tea - very good it was too, sandwiches, scone and jam, slice of cake - we ate it outside, just behind the parked up warbird aircraft - really not a bad place, Goodwood!

Goodwood - Thursday

For the big meetings in Europe I often leave late Wednesday evening and drive through the night, but it felt a bit odd pulling away from home at 10pm on Wednesday night to drive just an hour or so down to Goodwood... Arriving at that time I didn't know where I was going to pitch, but my brother lives just five miles away, so I had warned him that I could be parked on his drive when he looked out the next morning. As it happened Goodwood competitors campsite and truck parking area was open and manned, and I just drove straight in and went to sleep - well, I tried to, excitement and nerves were building slightly, I didn't get a decent night's sleep until after my race had gone.

Thursday morning, bit overcast, and Iain wasn't due to arrive with the car until 1030 or so, I went for a run, 10km - running up the downs (600ft climb) round the old Iron Age earthworks at the top of the 'Trundle' and then back down again - very pleased with myself!

I took my racegear into the circuit on the bicycles, signed in as a driver, got a locker in the Driver's Club, picked up dog tags, ration books (for Driver's Club food), and caught up with a few friends, including Aussie Kim Shearn, we did a sighting lap of the circuit on bicycles. Back to the Motorhome, and time to move it up the road to the public campsite where we were booked. Whilst getting it set up there my phone rang, it was Iain ... He sometimes blusters a bit on the phone ... "Err, yeah, I err, don't know how to, err, tell you this, err, but ..." - Spit it out man, what's happened? You crashed the van or something ...? "I might have a drive myself, not sure yet, but i might have, just wanted to check it's okay with you...?" Of course it's ok with me, you silly fool! Iain's been desperate to race at Goodwood, he's there every year supporting someone or other, he's been close to driving on a couple of occasions but it's not worked out for him - now he's going to drive a genuine works ex- Jim Clark, ex-Innes Ireland Lotus 18 F1 car at the meeting where Jim Clark is the tributes driver! I'm delighted for him! Couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for John Chisholm though, who's car it is, he'd put his back out loading ...

Back into the circuit for scrutineering, and various minor prep issues. Then off to the cricket match, a light-hearted cricket match played on the pitch at the front of Goodwood House itself, the match finishes at 6pm, when traditionally a solo Spitfire will appear and display quite low, sometimes seemingly below the height of the tall trees, simply fantastic to see. That was then followed by driver's briefing - Goodwood is a very fast circuit, and unaltered from it's heyday in the 60s, this meeting is the biggest thing in historic racing worldwide - people want to win, but at the same time some cars are there for there exotic rarity and maybe aren't quite up to the pace of those going to win, sometimes those cars are in the hands of slightly less experienced racers ... it's a potentially volatile mix, so the mandatory driver's briefing is basically a lecture about driving standards, and how we all have to keep the competitive urges and red mist, under control for the safety of all concerned, and the longevity of the event. The mood is lightened after that with a champagne party at the House, thanks to Credit Suisse.

Each year, whether competing or not, I have a table booked at the excellent Royal Oak pub in Lavant village, for the second sitting on Revival Thursday, and traditionally some of us cycle ... Last year was a huge night, this year cannot be so, I'm on track tomorrow... Leaving Goodwood house, we collect Kim and Marie Shearn who will dine with us, and we head first to The Kennels, where we have a pre-dinner pint of Goodwood's own ale, and hook up with local friend Mark (who led us 'astray' this night a year ago!), then it's on to the pub, the cycle ride is not without amusement, as Aussie Kim gets a bit wobbly on the hilly lane, in the dark...! He makes it though. We hook up also with Robert Barrie and his wife Rebecca, and also with Iain of course. We have another excellent dinner, possibly just the one glass of wine too many. With chum Mark keen to lead my brother David and I astray again, it is something of a relief to leave the pub just before midnight and find it raining ... Making the decision to head for the campsite, rather than another local hostelry, somewhat easier than it might otherwise have been! Phew!

Tomorrow - qualifying ...

Apologies...!

Sincere apologies for lack of posts during the fabulous Goodwood Revival ... A serious lack of bandwidth coupled with so many things to see/do meant that I just didn't get around to it. Check back in next couple of days for a full report!

Goodwood Revival

I suspect that most people reading this will have a good idea what the Goodwood Revival is all about, but for those of you that don't - it's no ordinary historic race meeting ... http://www.goodwood.co.uk/revival/event-itinerary/event-itinerary.aspx

Goodwood closed for contemporary racing in 1966, so when it was re-opened for the Revival 15 years ago it was unchanged from the 60's. It's very fast, there's no modern chicanes to slow us all down (the original, iconic, chicane does still exist of course - although they've replaced the period brickwall with something friendlier in case you do get it wrong...), there are a couple of strategic gravel traps, but essentially it's the same track my Dad raced on in period. Therein lies one of the key attractions for me ... I'm a Sussex boy - brought up within earshot of Goodwood, Dad raced (club racing only) here in the 50's and 60's - I'll try to scan a couple of photos later ... and was present at most of the big meetings including both the first and last. We came to Goodwood a lot when I was a kid, it was used for racecar testing, and this could be heard from our house, so Dad would bring us up occasionally to see what was going on; on Saturdays there were regularly sprint meetings, and we would often be found with a picnic under the trees in the paddock. Later I did my flying training there. I've attended every single Revival meeting bar one when I was out of the country, and in 2004 Dad was there for the last time - he died a couple of weeks later. My Elva is Sussex-built too.  Goodwood is special to my family for a lot of reasons, and to be invited to race there is a big deal for me.

The Goodwood Revival is no ordinary historic race meeting for other reasons too ... it's a massive 'show', the circuit looks largely as it did in period, there are no post-66 vehicles (including support vehicles) allowed, there are sideshows, period jazz/rockabilly bands, mock-ups of garages and pit scenes from earlier times, a period Motor Show; the aircraft displays, both on ground and flying are fabulous; plenty of the cars racing are worth into-7 figures ... and to get into the swing of it practically everyone makes an effort to dress in some form of period costume - some of them quite glamourous! My Mum, who spent a lot of time there in period laughs at some of the outfits, pointing out that Teddy Boys, for example, probably wouldn't have worn their garb to a motor race, and other such improbable combinations, and certainly she never went in high heels! Personally I have an old tweed jacket, antique checked shirt and tie combination that my wife will only let out of the house for Goodwood!

The race for Formula Junior cars is called the Chichester Cup, and it rolls through a 3 year cycle; this year it's the turn of the first generation of rear-engined cars with drum brakes, so from 1960/1. My Elva 200 falls into this group of course. Goodwood 'selects' the cars it wants to invite - it's the car that gets the invite, not the driver! Furthermore Goodwood likes to have a varied grid, so whilst it would be possible to have half a grid of competitive Lotus 18s, in fact there are just 4 and they are the most numerous of any type; they include John Delane, my usual sparring partner in the Lurani series, as well as my friend Robert Barrie, who I've been racing against in various cars since I started racing in 2004. Both are quick! Aussie mate Kim Shearn is driving too, but his Lotus 18 didn't get an invite, so he's got a drive in an Ausper. I'm the only Elva 200, but one of the rarer later Elva 300s is invited, in the hands of owner Chris Drake ... he could be very quick. There are a good number of cars and drivers that I don't know, or that I haven't seen very often, a lot of them are quick ... most of the cars on the grid seem to be Ford-powered, and not many BMC ... on a fast circuit like Goodwood the 12-15hp advantage enjoyed by the Fords could count for quite a lot ... to be honest, I'll be delighted just to be there and taking part, finishing the race is top of the agenda, as ever, and if we're well up in mid-field at the chequered flag I shall be over the moon!

Our qualifying is early afternoon on Friday (when it might be wet according to the current forecast ..) and our race is last race on Saturday. Giving us the chance to make the most of the hospitality on offer at the Ball on Saturday night - this year's theme is Wild West - more of that in a later post! When I raced here in 2011 my race was first thing on Sunday morning, so enjoying the Ball to the fullest extent was off the cards!

More later ...