Record results at the 2006 Goodwood Revival

Attendance at this year’s Goodwood Revival, held over the weekend of 1, 2, 3 September, set a new Revival record with over 110,000 race goers visiting the lovingly restored West Sussex circuit. The Revival crowds witnessed some exceptional historic motor racing, with many famous names and vehicles dicing wheel-to-wheel in some occasionally wet and challenging conditions.

Despite the changeable weather, the spectacle of great motor racing - combined with world-class air displays, tributes, shopping, live entertainment, the huge pre-1966 Revival Car Show and the majority of visitors dressing up in period custom - proved to be a real crowd-pleaser.

Highlights included up to eight Spitfires in the air over Goodwood skies, the most since 1945, as well as a moving tribute to Spitfire pilot and aircraft ace Ray Hanna, who passed away in late 2005. Hanna’s Spitfire, RH434, taxied down the starting grid straight on Sunday morning, behind the band of the Blues and Royals, before Lord March made a touching tribute and the crowd observed one minutes silence as a mark of respect.

The long and distinguished motor racing career of Phil Hill, three-times Le Mans winner, and the only every US-born Grand Prix World Champion, was also celebrated throughout the Revival weekend, with an impressive parade of cars and drivers that had formed a significant part of his competition career.

A rather more pedestrian pace was displayed on the Goodwood Motor Circuit by around 30 microcars from the late 1950s/early 1960s, serving as a nostalgic reminder of these unusual vehicles, which proved to be popular during the fuel-starved Suez Crisis of 50 years ago.

All of the 15 races held during the Revival provided thrills, and the occasional spill, with the wet conditions causing the occasional off-tack excursion, but with no personal injuries, except to the driver’s pride. The St Mary’s Trophy race, consisting of a large grid of 1950s saloon cars, resulted in a real David vs. Goliath battle, with the diminutive Austin A35 of Rae Davis and TV F1 pundit Tony Jardine, snapping at the heals of the larger and more powerful Williams/Bell Jaguar Mk 1. The Royal Automobile Club TT celebration, the cream of the Revival, was just a intoxicating, with the Barazi/Vergers Jaguar E-Type Lightweight taking the chequered flag, leading home a £30million field of early 1960s sport cars.

Commenting on the 2006 Goodwood Revival, Lord March said “I have rarely seen so many people – the public, competitors, pilots – have so much fun, if the huge number of smiles I’ve seen are an accurate gauge. This ninth Revival meeting has been a great success, and I am already getting excited about next year’s Revival, planned for September 2007.”