GOODWOOD REVIVAL MEETING 2006

Thursday lunchtime in the Formula Junior paddock once again saw the traditional Schnapps and Herring party, thanks to Mair and Duncan and the refrigeration of Sue and Robin Longdon’s motor home the tradition set by the Swedish 500 drivers lives on, helped in part by the latest Lurani round being at Mantorp Park!  The schnapps was most welcome to help combat the keen wind gusting across the airfield, or at least that was my excuse for trying each one.  Many of the drivers and guests availed themselves of the hot soup and cold buffet supplied in the drivers club before wending there way to the cricket match.

The annual twenty over cricket match between The Duke of Richmond and Gordon‘s XI versus The Earl of March and Kinrara‘s XI in front of Goodwood House was blessed with much better weather than last year.  The sun showed itself for much of the afternoon and much hilarity was to be had explaining to our foreign visitors what on earth was supposed to be happening on the pitch.  Lord “Charlie” Settrington,aged 11 years (Lord March’s son) excelled by being the first bowler to score a hatrick in this event since its inception at the first Revival. With plentiful refills of pimms and ale together with afternoon tea at the interval the consensus appeared to be, what a fine way to start the weekend!

A surprise for the competitors was the vigorous srutineering that selected cars were to endure, in FJ Tony Steele, Tony Goodwin and Joe Colasacco had their engine capacity tested, this involved removing the rocker gear, all were found to be legal but, as with customs at Dover, it was up to the competitor to rebuild.  The track had been resurfaced since the last Revival meeting so familiar bumps and colour changes had vanished. Qualifying brought its usual tales of woe and despair, Paul Smeeth’s Elva had an electrical problem, Chris Featherstone changed his condensor, Bill Grimshaw played gear-boxes all day Friday, but all were overcome in time for the cars to assemble prior to the green flag lap. Paul Smeeth’s Elva 100 dropped its coolant on the ground in assembly and everyone rushed around filling the system with water from their drink bottles, only for the Elva to terminally expire after a quarter of a lap. 

Eighteen marques were represented amongst the thirty strong grid giving the spectators a rare feast of early formula junior cars.  The track was damp and the sky was overcast for the entire race. Robin Longdon (Lola-Ford Mk2) made a fast start from pole but was overtaken at Madgwick by the Terrier of Derek Walker and found himself down in third as Stuart Roach (Alexis-Ford Mk2) took his opportunity to squeeze through.  Longdon retook Roach at the kink with the Terrier steadily increasing the lead.  Fourth placed man, Mark Woodhouse (Elva-BMC 100) was having a rather lonely race.  Meanwhile the three leaders were nose to tail and thrilling the crowd with their close quarter racing.  Roach took Longdon into the chicane but was retaken at Madgwick which set the scene for the race.  Further down the field the two Mallocks of Erik Justesen and David Stevenson were fighting wheel to wheel for position.  The lead cars were now well away from the rest of the field.  Roach was ahead of Longdon and in warding off the Lola had a big slide that was well controlled but eventually had to give way as the Lola slipped up the inside at Madgwick.  Longdon now set his sights on Walker but the Terrier managed to keep in front until lap six when again Longdon pushes home his advantage at Madgwick to retake the lead but with the worry of back markers ahead. The race was then red-flagged for what must count as one of the most bizarre reasons ever given – an aircraft had announced an emergency and needed to land – rather than risk landing on the circuit the decision was made to halt the race!  During the slow-down Robin Longdon had to take to the grass to avoid Mogens Christensen’s Alfa-Dana BMC.  Heinz Stege’s Elva 100 did not like the waiting and fouled a plug which was discovered after he had been pushed into the pit-lane.  The restart was according to the positions the cars had passed the finishing line on the lap prior to the red-flag.  Longdon made another good start and this time made it stick from Roach and Walker.  Stuart Roach slid past Robin Longdon at the kink before St. Mary’s only for Longdon to accelerate past going into Woodcote.  Roach pushes hard through Woodcote and the chicane down the pit-straight hoping to use his better exit speed to take Longdon who covers his line and retains his position with the back marker Volpini of Michael-Ashley Brown to be negotiated.  Side by side the Lola and Alexis battle towards Lavant where Longdon still holds on to his advantage.  Another big slide by Roach was held well as he continued to chase hard after the Lola but couldn’t catch Robin Longdon before the flag where the margin was just 0.233 seconds with Derek Walker in third eight seconds adrift just holding off Mark Woodhouse in fourth.  Despite the close racing throughout the field there was no contact damage to any junior thus emphasizing the racing skills of the drivers.

Formula Junior was lucky to be racing on Saturday so all could relax and enjoy the ball. This year’s theme was the Raj and a number of guests took the opportunity to wear the flattering sari though the weather was somewhat different to that of the Indian sub-continent. The more cautious played for safety with the uniform black tie.  I also hear that Duncan and Mair were amongst the last to leave the dance floor.

Notes:
The plane involved in the red-flag incident was a Stearman, a US Naval bi-plane used as an initial trainer for US pilots, the plane was low on fuel and the weather was not good.  Planes are not allowed to land when cars are on the circuit.  Therefore this was a safety issue and the decision was made “rather safe than sorry”.

Duncan Rabagliatti has found another car to rescue the Trimax of Alvin “Spike” Rhiando which made its debut at the Goodwood Easter meeting of 1950 only to retire early with gear problems.

The Revival Meeting Wedding party: Gina & Darren were married in Bournemouth wearing 1950's gear in the morning.  They and 10 guests drove to Goodwood Revival where the organisers provided them with a cake and 2 bottles of champagne.  The reception was held on top of the Capitol Gold Radio Bus courtesy of the radio company who also interviewed them on their show.  The bride wore a knee length wedding dress, red shawl and shoes and a red bouquet circa 1950.  Her husband was resplendent in a chalk-stripe suit and trilby. They were thrilled to receive a card from the Earl of March.

Jill Carter – September 2006