The BGC Earls Court Motor Show at the Goodwood Revival was introduced in 2008 and is a recreation of the big London motor shows of the ’50s, complete with Art Deco frontage. This year’s theme was ‘Race Cars For The Road': 25 race-derived vehicles were on display, with models from the last 50 years on show – a break from the usual ‘no modern vehicles’ rule al the Revival.

Inside, major auto manufacturers’ stands surrounded a central concourse. Jaguar, BMW, Ford, Jaguar and Rolls Royce among others had stands with period cars flanked by their newest models: the idea being that the modern cars were supposed to be ‘futuristic concepts’ next to the pre-’66 models – but the showroom selling really could have been left out…

However, the central ‘Race Cars For The Road’ was a pretty stunning and diverse collection. Just in this section is the Noble M600, a Lotus Elise GT1, BMW M1 and Porsche GT1. Not bad!

Past the Ferrari at the entrance was this 1965 Alfa Romeo TZ2 Competizione, built by Carlo Chiti’s Autodelta prep team for Alfa – demonstrating the time when they were trading blows with Maranello on and off the track. Impressive rear boots!

Maserati’s stand took the honour of being the most authentic, with a Mistral coupé next to an original Quattroporte.

The first generation Quattroporte was manufactured between 1963 and 1969, and came with a 4.1L V8 – ideal for cruising the autostradas.

There weren’t many BMWs at the festival, with ’66 being a bit early for BMW’s entrance into the mainstream, but here’s the road-going 1980 M1 – not quite as extreme as its Group 5 sisters, but still a fine looking machine, originally designed for BMW by the Lamborghini company.

Mid- and late-90s GT cars were represented with a road-going Ferrari F40 beside a race-ready Porsche GT1.

The orange colours of the McLaren test team have been used by the company for prototypes right back to the F1 and CanAm days of Bruce McLaren, the company’s founder.

Backing up the McLaren F1 was a Dodge Viper GTS-R. Having loved these cars in GT1 I’ve been really disappointed that the more recent facelift ZB version hasn’t really stepped up to the plate as a top-end GT racer. It’s just too big for GT3, the category it normally races in. Come on Dodge, make a GT1 out of it…

The Nissan stand had the great combination of a Datsun 240Z with an old Skyline racer.

Not the prettiest car to carry the GT-R badge, but it was still an effective weapon on track. This is the 1971 Nissan Skyline 2000 GT-R Hard Top KPGC10 ‘Hakosuka’, with 1989cc 24-valve DOHC straight six.

GT-Rs scored 50 victories between 1970-72. I’m a big fan of the poster that was displayed behind the car.

But the car that really caught my attention? This first-gen Dodge Charger Daytona aero car from ’69, produced to win in NASCAR. The shovel nose (designed by NASA!) and crazily tall rear wing were added to give some aero shape to the usual blunt weapon that was the Charger, and it certainly worked: it won first time out at Talladega.

These things looked amazing running round the ovals against contemporaries like the Plymouth Superbirds and Ford Torinos. That I would have loved to have seen!

Goodwood Revivial

Jonathan Moore