It’s been over two weeks now since the Revival and to be honest, I’ve still not been able to process it.

The effect the meeting has on you – which for all intents and purposes is time travelling – is a profound one.

I’ve spent some time reading through some of Jonathan’s marvellous stories from the event in an attempt to better comprehend what I’ve experience …

… which in-turn would allow me to better convey the event to you, the reader. But in all honesty, how often do you see ‘Mr. Le Mans’ Tom Kristensen pushing a Lotus Cortina from parc fermé after battling with other legends from the same era?

It is exactly these sort of situations which you happen upon a hundred times an hour that makes you question the reality of what you’re witnessing.

Then there is just the pure beauty of it all …

… the absolute pure and sheer beauty of the machinery on display.

Even when someone is having mechanical issues, it just looks so good, strange as that may sound.

Because of the relative simplicity of all the cars’ in attendance, they can still be worked on and fixed without the aid of a laptop and a software support engineer on the phone.

Art? You said it friend …

The Revival is a brief look back at a time when things just seemed that little bit better …

… and that little bit more beautiful.

That’s not to say of course that everyone trundles along on track waving to the crowd, there are some very hard fought battles at the Revival and some costly excursions into the scenery.

I think that the gathering of several decades worth of style is what maybe adds so much character to the event.

You can never speak of the Revival and not mention the aircraft on display.

Although my mechanical and historical knowledge of World War II aircraft is quite slim, they still evoke memories from my childhood of reading stories about the battle of Britain and the sacrifices made by so many.

Although the advances made in aerodynamics have been hugely beneficial to the speed and performance of cars …

… there is a small part of me that feels what we’ve made up for in pure performance, we’ve lost in beauty. There is a certain amount of beauty in pure function but sometimes I feel that we’re still missing that little something.

The market area that has been previously mentioned was a haven for automotive enthusiasts. Everything from period correct clothing to fine works of automotive art to these restored fuel pumps could be brought home.

Even as you try to leave Goodwood, Goodwood does everything to pull you back in. The area outside the entrance would be an incredible show in its own right and it doesn’t even cost a penny to look at.

This GTD40 MKII Coupe was an absolute beaut. The GTD40s were built as close alternatives to the GT40 (there were only 107 GT40s ever built by Ford) and offer a glimmer of hope to those of us who may never be able to afford an original ’40.

On arrival Friday morning, the Revival show area was pretty much empty but when I went to leave, it was a slightly different story.

I’m sure like myself that each of you have your own ‘to-do’ lists that relate to your automotive obsession. I’m even more certain that events like Pike Peaks, Monaco F1 and Le Mans feature on most of those lists but I absolutely implore you to add one more to your list – the Goodwood Revival.

We’ll be preparing a desktops post to publish shortly but before that, Jonathan will be back with one more look at the 2011 Goodwood Revival.

–

Paddy McGrath

Goodwood Revival 2011

Goodwood on Speedhunters