Goodwood Members Meeting 2023

Thanks for the reminder, keep meaning to book my tickets for this so will try and sort one of the days.

Hope that this weather is going to clear up for the weekend - I'll be in the pits with the Jupiter if you are planning to be at the meeting 



My new race overalls have arrived so I shouldn't be that difficult to find 

Will see you on Sat all being well.

Ray - That was Classic Le Mans - I have the luxury of modern VW camper for this weekend complete with electric hook up that Richard is loaning me (who owns the race car) - he has friends that reside a few miles away that put him up - I was just going to put the air bed in the rear of the Range Rover and sleep in that rather than faff with the tent for the weekend but the use of the camper will be most welcome 

Looking forward to it Chris. They had a YouTube stream so most of the action is to hand!

That is really quite poor for a major venue. Looking forward to more pictures and currently working my way through all the YouTube videos of this years event.

I was on chauffeur/guide duty so didn't take as many photos as I would normally would have, but did grab a few random shots. For catching up on all the on-track action, I recommend the Goodwood channel on Youtube, the S.F Edge trophy in particular was superb both days.

After a 3 hour trip to the carparks from Bedford, 2 hrs down and the last hour spent queueing along the lanes of the estate , we finally arrived to a thankfully dry GoodWood


First stop while it was quiet was a wander around the wares on sale from Bonhams, including this barn find 1955 Aston Martin DB2/4 3.0-Litre Drophead Coupé Project


Sold for a £103,500

and this 1931 Bentley 8-Litre Le Mans-Style Tourer


which sold for a healthy £563,500 including premium.

There was a fair mix of lots, including some interesting race cars, several of which remained unsold, yet others went for strong money. Full auction results can be seen here.

After visiting Bonhams, and while on the hunt for some much needed coffee, we decided to stay 'outfield' and ventured towards the control tower cafe. While doing so I stumbled across this in 'The Governors' parking area, first time I'd seen one in the flesh and it's a nicely proportioned thing.


Trying to be cunning, we skipped past the usual outdoor catering in favour of somewhere more secluded in the hope it might be quicker, as the cafe was shut to non-VIP types, we instead headed for the teepees in the background of the above photo, which was rather civilised inside including a fire and TVs showing the racing


but just as busy... e.g. a 15 min wait for coffee


coffee eventually in hand, we decided to then head 'infield' and over to the assembly area where they were prepping the Bentley demonstration, have a photo of Tom Kristensen's backside


I also spotted this new electric mustang in the corner... nope, me neither


also waiting to go out amongst the porsche demonstration cars was heat 1 of the Gordon Spice Trophy (formerly Gerry Marshall Trophy), true to name it did get a little spicy, but you can watch the above channel for what that entailed.


Bentley demo over, we decided to wander into the paddocks to say hello to a certain member of this parish, passing as you do another collection of cars from the GMA (Gordon Murray Automotive) stable, those in the background under the marquee were some of the first cars he designed/developed


There were also plenty of 911 Porsche variants on display ahead of the 911 celebration


Fair to say I think I was then suitably distracted at this point as took no pics whatsoever, including of the two Brabham BT52 F1 cars. Still there is plenty online of what was about if you want to go hunting.

What I doubt some photo collections may include however, is a photo of the aero engined Mors, this was taking part in the formerly mentioned S.F Trophy race, and was stunning in its simplicity


Speaking of simplicity, you no doubt will be aware of what the 27 litre 'Beast of Turin' looks like, but have you ever wondered what the cockpit must be like? No, well regardless, wonder no more, just two small gauges to keep an eye on the important stuff


The afternoon meant to chance to pick a good spot and enjoy some of the racing, namely the Gurney cup and BT52 demonstrations, before a familiar vehicle took the the track for it's practice race. Was going well too from where we were


Others in the heat included a number of Healeys


Before hitting the road for a long drive home it was time to grab some sustenance from one of the many eateries around the circuit


and as the sun was shining I even treated myself to desert


Great day out, be nice to stay a little longer next time and make a proper trip of it, but for a first time visit I had a great day. I will be back next year and will endeavour to take more photos!

And here's my much simpler take on the above events:

Members Meeting - A chilled out historic circuit racing event - A must if you are into historic motorsport 

Festival of Speed - True petrolhead material interspersed with a large volume of nutters - way over commercial with too much leaning to the newer automotive offerings for my liking  

Goodwood Revival - The worlds best historic & period race event which I personally treat as an annual pilgrimage 

so with both descriptions - first of all, thank you! (and thanks for letting me watch vicariously) - am I correct in assuming that the Members meeting is not open to the public? are the other two?