How good is Goodwood? Very good indeed.
‘The magic never palls,’ motoring publisher Philip Porter of Porter Press International told Country Life ahead of the 2023 edition of the Goodwood Revival, which marked the 25th anniversary of this truly incomparable event.
Goodwood's racing circuit first opened in 1948, lighting up a then-austere post-war Britain. In the late 1960s safety concerns prompted the then-Duke to curtail Goodwood's racing events for 27 years. But in 1993, under a new Duke, the Festival of Speed was launched — and five years later the early-Autumn splendour of the Goodwood Revival. It features only cars from between 1948 and 1966 — the years in which the circuit first delighted crowds.
‘It is the best weekend of the year,' added Mr Porter. 'Pure theatre meets serious motor-racing, with “proper” racing cars being driven hard, making a great spectacle.’ Canon Lionel Webber, chaplain to the Queen, had an even better description: ‘God is not in Heaven today. He’s here at Goodwood,' he said when blessing the track in 1998. 'Or, if He’s not, He’s crackers!’
Reporting by Octavia Pollock. All photographs courtesy of Adam Warner via Rolex, one of the Goodwood Revival's key sponsors.
There are all sorts of things which come together to create the charm, not least the open paddock which lets fans mix freely with drivers ('a complete zoo, but don't ever change it', Pink Floyd's Nick Mason once warned the organisers).
But high on the list is the period dress worn by drivers and spectators alike.
‘It's like being on a film set,’ the comedian and actor (as well as keen driver) Rowan Atkinson has said. The estate even runs its own wardrobe department, with all staff in costume: ‘We’re doing it for the fun of it,’ says the Duke, ‘but it makes a big difference.’
So here we present our favourites from among the many wonderful costumers worn on a sun-kissed weekend at this magnificent West Sussex venue.
The Goodwood Revival was drenched in sunshine
