The Goodwood Revival 16th to 18th September 2005
The Chichester Cup race For Historic Formula Junior cars

The Goodwood Revival is more than an historic race meeting, it is a pageant of the British way of doing things, not only is it a major race meeting but as most people who read this will know it commemorates the past of the WW2 airfield at the site.  This year a crowd of FJ people attended the Cricket Match on a wet Thursday afternoon, this for tea and the drivers briefing, also perhaps most exciting of all the Spitfire beat up of the cricket field, this display in low cloud conditions was just spectacular.  This for me set the tone for the weekend, add to this the huge crowds on race days and the scene is set for some serious racing.

Qualifying on Friday morning called for an early start for the Juniors.
Our session for the Chichester Cup grid was serious stuff indeed. The pace was set by Edwin Jowsey in his Lotus 22. He was to claim pole position with a time of 1.26.756. This is an average speed for the lap of 99.57 mph.  Second fastest was Denis Welch in his Merlyn Mk5 who had never driven at the circuit before this session with a time of 1.28.326. Gavin Pickering in his Lotus 20 recorded 1.28.580 for third. Marcus Mussa in a Brabham BT2 recorded a creditable 1.28.645 for fourth. Jo Folch-Rusinol Lotus 27 also on 1.28 was fifth, Simon Diffey Lotus 20 and Mike Hibberd Lotus 27 were sixth and seventh respectively with 1.29s. Mark Woodhouse Lotus 20/22 Robin Longford Lola Mk5a and Emanuele Benedini Branca Ford 63 completed the top ten with 1.31s a time shared by all the cars down to fifteenth on the grid, a close race was in prospect.
Thirty one cars recorded times in the session which lasted 25 minutes, after a wet Thursday, the track was dry and conditions were good but a headwind affected some of the cars on the straights.

A perfect Saturday morning greeted the drivers, sunny and warm with a very light breeze ideal conditions. But there was a long delay due to two race stoppages in Race one, The Goodwood Trophy, which was eventually stopped with some laps still to run.

Race two for the Chichester Cup for Formula Junior cars was formed up on the grid and all was well as the cars left on the green flag lap.  It was soon evident to the pit crews that a lot of oil had been dropped between the start line and Madgewick corner right on the racing line. 
This caused a delayed start as the Ausper T4 of David Methley was worked on in the pit lane. At the same time copious amounts of cement dust were being brushed into the oil slick all along the pit straight and the approach to St Marys corner.
The Ausper was still pumping oil into the catch tank so took no further part in the race.  The race distance was reduced from 14 to 12 laps.

After another green flag lap the cars were away quickly as the Union Jack was dropped. Not quickly enough in the case of Marcus Mussa BT2, he jumped the start and stopped as he realised what he had done, this caused Simon Diffey's 20 to take sharp avoiding action during which he brushed tyres with Mike Hibberd 27 who sensed this all happening on his right. He just had to sit tight until the melee cleared.
At the end of the first lap Edwin had the Lotus 22 clear of second place runner Denis Welch in his Merlyn with Simon Diffey Lotus 20 close behind, next up was Gavin Pickering Lotus 20, followed by the Jo Folch 27.
On lap three Simon Diffey had his 20 past Denis into second place With Gavin Pickerings 20 challenging the Merlyn for third.  At half distance in the race Edwin in the 22 was in a secure lead from the 20 of Simon Diffey, with Denis Welch still under pressure in third from the 20 of Gavin Pickering. Mike Hibberd 27 was making up places after his poor start and was challenging the fifth place runner Jo Folch also in a 27.
On lap six Pickering was past Welch into third, a lap later Hibberd had his 27 up into fifth. On lap eight the engine in Simon Diffey's 20 succumbed to Simon's  furious driving, it had been exciting to watch while it lasted, so everyone moved up a place.
The last couple of laps ran out with Edwin's 22 some 12 secs ahead of second man Gavin Pickering. Denis Welch held his Merlyn a couple of seconds away in third, Mike Hibberd 27 was closing on the leaders, but still not quite in touch but his 27 was now up to fourth. Jo Folch 27 was now fifth, and Mark Woodhouse in his 20/22 made up the top six.
Down the field one notable struggle for position was that between the Alistair Morrison Cooper T67, Bob Birrell in his BT6 and the BT6 of Gerald Ludwig these three battled away through out the race and thoroughly enjoyed Goodwood.
Peter Jackson Cooper T56, ran reliably to finish last but reported enjoying the race though he felt he had struggled a bit in qualifying.
The Gemini Mk4 of Jan Goeckman suffered some frontal damage. Simon Diffey's Lotus 20 had some engine damage but otherwise a pretty trouble free race once it got under way.
Edwin Jowsey's best lap in the race in his Lotus 22 was a pretty memorable average speed of 99.42 mph, not bad from an 1100cc Ford Anglia engine, some driver some engine.

Another excellent Goodwood Revival weekend, a credit to all the Formula Junior drivers and owners, the cars all looked fabulous.

Winner The Chichester Cup Edwin Jowsey Lotus 22
Second place in The Chichester Cup Gavin Pickering Lotus 20.
Third Place in The Chichester Cup Denis Welch Merlyn Mark 5.

Stan Hibberd. 20th September 2005