Matthew Steeples selects highlights at this year’s Goodwood Revival
The Goodwood Revival is a spectacle. Visitors dress in costumes that range from Austin Powers-esque to others that are slightly more Hercule Poirot and with three days of activities, there is plenty beyond just motors and aviation on offer.
Spread over a vast site but centred on the 2.38 mile Goodwood Motor Circuit, the event showcases not only classic cars and racing but also features a vast retail village, a fairground and entertainment including music, fly-pasts and countless hours of motor racing.
Whilst drivers and entrants number such luminaries as Alain de Cadenet, Gregor Fisken and Sam Hancock, variety comes in the form of the participation of such personalities as Dragons’ Den star Theo Paphitis and Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason. A significant collection of cars owned by the presenter Chris Evans is also offered in today’s Bonhams sale and amongst the lots he has submitted are a 1971 Ferrari 365 GTS/4 ‘Daytona’ Spider with coachwork by Pininfarina (guide price £2.3 million to £2.6 million) and a replica of the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang car (guided at £250,000 to £350,000).
Also on offer at the auction is a recently refurbished 1992 Airstream 350LE Class A motorhome (guide £70,000 to £90,000). Last sold in the same auction in 2013, the vast vehicle is described as being “surprisingly easy to drive in the UK” and has a GVW of 7,500kg. Another ‘star car’ comes in the form of 1965 Bentley S3 Continental Flying Spur (guide £400,000 to £600,000) named the ‘Blue Lena’ by its former owner, the musician Keith Richards. Rather appropriately for a rock star, the car has darkened glass windows and of it The Rolling Stones member once remarked: “It was named in honour of Lena Horne. I sent her a picture of it. Having this car was already heading for trouble, breaking the rules of the establishment, driving a car I was definitely not born into. ‘Blue Lena’ had carried us on many an acid-fuelled journey”.
Visitors to the event should also be sure not to miss the tribute to the Earls Court Motor Show’s of the 1950s and 1960s. Aside from twenty-four models of Ferrari from 1950 to 2015, the showcase also includes a gold Vauxhall Viva and a 1975 BMW 316i saloon. Bizarrely, the description for it places an “approximate value today” on it of the staggering sum of £750,000. Of it, one visitor was overheard to remark: “I think they’ve put the comma in the wrong place”.
The Goodwood Revival meeting runs until Sunday 13th September. All tickets have sold out but hospitality packages – priced between £515 and £680 – are still available.
Subscribe to our free once daily email newsletter here: