Goodwood Revival

This day out at Goodwood revival was another event we had promised ourselves we would do, so today was the day. We set off early as it is quite a long drive, but Peanut had planned an alternative route as we anticipated heavy traffic and queues as we approached Chichester. It turned out that we only queued on the approach road to the racetrack but we will never know what we missed.

It wasn’t a very long walk from the car park to the show and by then it was already a lovely day, a great improvement on the fog we had driven down in. We walked into a variety of stalls selling all manner of things, vintage being the overall theme rather than cars, so lots of retro style clothing which appealed to Peanut enormously. Shortly after we arrived we were treated to a fly by of Classic World War Two fighters – Spitfire, Hurricane, ME 109 and Mustang. In truth this was a very stirring sight and probably the stand out highlight of the day for us.

I was hungry almost as soon as we arrived, so we stopped for a burger and a drink. The burger was delicious which indeed it should have been for £7. Shortly after we bumped into Beggsie and Jayne which was a nice surprise and the second time we have run into them at a show, the other being at Santa Pod, which was a very different day, pouring with rain until we left.

They told us that the main show was over the bridge and we duly set off to explore.

To anyone who is thinking of going I must stress that it is definitely a dressing up affair and you will not be overdressed. In fact you would feel very odd there dressed in the normal scruffs that people wear on days out.  It was quite a pastime in itself just looking at how people were turned out, some even with vintage prams for their children. We meandered around until we found ourselves near the paddock area where all the preparation was going on for the racing and grabbed a few photographs here. We soon stopped for a sandwich and a drink then walked some more right around the track and back to the main entrance. By this time we were both getting footsore and weary so we decided to head back to the car park taking in some of the things we had not already seen, and having an ice cream as well.

It was a lovely day, both weather-wise and enjoyment-wise and we were very glad we went, but it is a very expensive day out with high entrance fees, burgers at over £7 each, sandwiches at almost £6, and a lot of memorabilia stalls that were also a million miles away from resembling a pound shop! But it was a very nice treat for us and if classic cars are your thing then you have to go. Inevitably, we made comparisons with the Le Mans Classic which is every two years and which we went to in 2012 and 2014. The Revival is as much about the dressing up as it is about the cars and it really is a spectacle to see but Le Mans is more of a pilgrimage for people to take their classics to. The dressing up hasn’t caught on yet at Le Mans and it has a feel of a breakfast club meet with knobs on and it is all about the cars. My revival highlight was a Spitfire, my Le Mans highlight was the plethora of car clubs to see, I’m not sure if that says anything or not. Put simply then – you have to do both!