Goodwood GRRC 72nd Members Meeting 29-30 March 2014

[chriswgawne]

I am fortunate enough to have received an invitation from Goodwood  to compete in the Tony Gaze Trophy for 1950's production sports and GT cars at the above meeting.
There is a truly fabulous range of cars at Goodwood for the weekend incl 1980's Turbo F1 cars demonstrating and Group B rally cars sprinting (incl Delta S4s and 037s) with 15 events in total. Full confirmed entry lists and details of the event, dress code etc are on the Goodwood/GRRC website.
If you are attending please come and say hello in the paddock as your ticket will give you access all areas (apart from the pit lane and assembly area).
Chris

[Richard Fridd]

Should be a good meeting, weather permitting! Members and guests only, am I correct in thinking?

[DavidLaver]

Chris,

What day(s) are you practicing and racing?

David

[DavidLaver]

Richard,

That's nearly correct.  The GRRC got first dibs and some categories of tickets (eg kids) sold out.  They then sent out invitations to clubs like the RAC and VSCC.  I think its four tickets per household so if you know anyone in any of those clubs you should be able to sort something out.

While its "right crowd and no crowding" and getting away from the corporate and commercial atmosphere of the other events its still not what I'd call cheap.  I'll let Peter Baker tell us all what excellent value the European events are in comparison.  For myself its been such a long time since I went to a Revival I'm hoping to get to this one, at the moment most likely on the Saturday.

David

[DavidLaver]

My "Goodwood Experience" the last few years has been a phone call from whatever friend is there on a corporate boondoggle in part to gloat but also disorientated and asking "where should I go, what's the must see, why so many stick on tashes and grannies in mini skirts". 

This one is a bit more "back to basics", less part of the "season" and more for the dyed in the wool fans.  Its a great program "as you'd expect" but with some Gp1 saloons outside the Revival date cut-off, some fire spitting turbo era F1s, Grp B demos, some "long tail" LeMans cars from the "pre chicane" era.

I dread to think how long since I've been. 

Fireworks and a bonfire Saturday night.  No fancy dress.  No "sorry wrong pass" areas.

Perhaps it will be back again to the sort of event where a bit of rain is taken as a livener rather than a disaster - would improve Chris's chances for sure.

David

[Jay]

The tickets don’t seem to be selling as fast as the Revival, I have just logged on to their site and they still seem to have tickets available for all ages for both days and weekend pass. At £75 plus £40 for roving grandstand per day, it’s not the cheapest, but as long as it is better than Revival it should be fun. I haven’t been to the Revival for a long time but what I hear from people in the know it’s got a bit too much of the social calendar about it now days and the racing defiantly takes second place.

Although from £20 for 2 day, dual pass and parking for your Lancia or £33 for single standard day (via the LMC), Silverstone where you can sit wherever you like including grandstands, £4 per pint, full pit access and far more racing seems a better deal.     

[DavidLaver]

We're in the fortunate position of being spoilt for choice.

David

[chriswgawne]

Without wishing to offend anyone, IMHO comparing Goodwood with Silverstone in the context of Historic Motor Racing is like comparing apples with pears whether one is competing or spectating.
As a driver, Goodwood is very fast, challenging, narrow and has minimal run off areas whilst Silverstone is also fast (but in a totally different way in an old car as one is flat out most of the way round), very wide and has huge run off areas. Goodwood even though is is a very 2 dimensional circuit is a very busy drive and is very much a 1960's circuit whilst Silverstone is a modern circuit designed for very fast racing in modern cars.
I have competed in enough races at both circuits to have witnessed the apparent margins for driver error being somewhat abused at Silverstone whilst Goodwood keeps you on your toes all the way round.
And from a spectating point of view, surely having an intimate view of the Historic Racing on the challenging narrow track at Goodwood is infinitely preferable to being so much further away from the action on the much wider track at Silverstone.

 

[peterbaker]

Agree totally. Goodwood has an atmosphere most of the time that Silverstone would die for. And that's without the aeroplanes. Pity then Goodwood is run in such a god-like way and attracts so many obnoxious corporate visitors. The 72nd Meeting has attracted a great entry, but unless things change Retro-Speed at this moment in time will not be there. Sorry Chris, no pics from me. The image shows Simon Hadfield driving the race of his life during last year's Revival, he came from behind in atrocious conditions to win. Copyright.

[fay66]

 I gave up my GRRC membership about 3-4 years ago,  I used to Love attending the Revival meeting but it just got too expensive and priced out a lot of the people who were there at the start, and as Peter implied, some are more equal than others if you've got plenty of money, or company picking up the bill.
I did write to Lord March when I decided it was no longer value for (my) money, needless to say I never received a reply.
Brian
8227

[chriswgawne]

To give a slightly different perspective on the Silverstone Classic/Goodwood topic, the entry fee this year for 'my' race at the Silverstone Classic is €1,450 (Pre 63 GT for a 50 min race) whereas for the Goodwood Members event the fee is £400 (Tony Gaze Trophy for a 25 min race). Within both entry fees are 4 guest tickets and some evening entertainment on the Saturday.
That's a very easy decision for me.
Club racing fees in the UK range from £295 for a 20 min race up to say £500 for a 50 min race by the way.

I should also mention that Jacky and I and our 3 sons (2 of whom were in wheelchairs) attended the very first Festival of Speed. The organisers hugely underestimated the appeal of the first event and the roads around W Sussex became totally seized up to the extent that fields were suddenly opened up all round the Goodwood estate around 11.00am on the Saturday to get the traffic off the roads. The facilities for disabled at that first event were effectively non-existent and Jacky subsequently wrote a very mild letter to Lord March suggesting that he puts certain things in place for the following year. She received 2 personal replies from him - the first acknowledging the problem and apologising and the second some weeks later detailing the facilities to be put in place for the following year.
This work was done and the disabled facilities were generally improved each year and the only other occasion we had cause to comment was some years later after a very very wet Festival of Speed when we suggested verbally to the organisers that the (then raised by this time ) wheelchair platform opposite Goodwood House be covered and 'hard' access paths for wheelchairs be laid.
For the Revival Meetings virtually all of which some or all of us have attended, the disabled facilities have always been well thought out and effective.
To my mind the Goodwood motoring events are extremely well organised improving each year with a superb varying range of cars and other attractions and the Revival must now have become the premier historic motor racing event in the world.
The ticket prices have undoubtedly risen over the years but compare them to the cost of tickets for Premier League football, the Rolling Stones or West End Theatre & Ballet these days?