Goodwood Revival 2007

I had the great honour and pleasure to attend a truly unique and special event this weekend – the Goodwood Revival. Now, I have to be entirely honest and admit that I did not have a clue this event existed or what it was until Tuesday evening last week. One of my clients,Nick, very kindly invited me to come along as they had a spare ticket. After getting some basic information about it I decided that this was definitely worth attending. Well, there’s always something new to learn isn’t there?? Let me tell you a little about it though. The estate itself is located in Sussex, near the coast of Brighton and Bognor Regis and it takes about 1 1/2 hours to drive down there from London. The scenery is amazing, massive green hills, small towns with very typical country-pubs, a countless number of roundabouts and a very high possibility of getting lost while trying to find it.

Between 1948 and 1966 the Goodwood Motor Circuit was as famous as Silverstone and hosted all sorts of races, inclusing Formula 1. The Revival is reminding about this glorious period and truthfully ambiented in the 50′s and 60′s. So, it isnt’ only a historical race with the most amazing cars, it does as well reflect those years in every possible way. Click here to read more about it : Goodwood Revival So, having made my mind up almost immediately that this couldn’t be missed I realised that I had to find an approriate outfit. Jeans are not really on, and to fit in with the historical background an appropriate dress is on order. Thanks to my “dress adviser” Helen and a trip down to our local Vintage Shop I was extremely lucky to find just the thing. Don’t ask, I was pretty paranoid that it wouldn’t work out. Mostly, because I just didn’t have a clue and the 50′s and 60′s fit quite a variety of outfits.

Ooops, the fire brigade just turned up in front of my house, I just have to go and have a look what’s going on…. not sure, but there are 2 cars and people running across the garden to another house. Well…it seems under control and there definitely isn’t any fire…

Where was I ? Oh yes… the outfit was sorted and on Sunday morning I got up at the crack of dawn and reached East Croydon where Nick lives. A short while after we were on our way. About 20 minutes before you actually arrive at the location you start spotting the most amazing historical cars and just know that you are getting closer. The atmosphere is undescribably cool. Everyone really made an effort, and there were all sort of different dresses and styles walking about. The racing ground is not all, one can go and explore the pit ( if you have special access like we did), the paddock with all the different cars, there is a revival market with all sort of stands, a truly historical playground and of course the airfield with historical planes. What more can I say… pictures sometimes speak more than words, so here we go….

Et voila, that would be me at the paddock. I know, the camera doesn’t really fit the rest of the outfit ( AND mobile phones are not really tolerated…), but..bring on the pettycoat I say!

We wandered around quite a lot, explored the pit and observed the first race from the top floor of that. What a view!! The cars are simply incredible, loud, colourful and one can easily follow what’s happening. Even the race attendants follow the historical hint and dress appropriately. With a smile I noticed some journalists near the racetrack who did just the same. It was very hard to get the stupid grin of my face which had appeared a good hour earlier.

But let’s get back to a few random impressions for a minute…

We even had lunch in one of the hospitality suites.. a glass of Veuve, another of wine…I really can’t complain So, all in all I am still deeply impressed and can only recommend this truly unique experience to anyone. Now, the dress is hanging back in the wardrobe and I am back in the 20th century.

Not sure I’m liking this at all…. London is in full tube strike and it is really annoying being cramped in a bus for an hour and half rather than 30 mins and being surrounded by way too many sweaty people. I want my travel card money back, this is ridiculous! So, we’ll have another 2 days of this joy and perhaps next week the whole thing will repeat itself. No need to comment I guess. Apparently there was a proper row with fight in front of Liverpool Station this morning as some really angry commuters tried to get on a corwded bus. My source tells me the police showed up shortly after… do I need to say more? No, I thought so.

Good night everyone

Tine