.... the Goodwood Revival

I have mentioned the Goodwood Revival a few times in passing and thought it was about time I filled you in a bit more on what it is.   The Goodwood Revival is an amazing event that takes place every September at the Goodwood race circuit in Sussex. It is primarily a motorsport event for historical class cars and motorbikes but they must be dated from between 1945 to 1964 as these were the glory years for this circuit.  Not your cup of tea? even if we throw in F1 and BTCC race drivers, not to mention a few celeb drivers?  Rowan (Mr Bean) Atkinson, James (chef) Martin, Ewan McGregor have all taken part in the past.  Add to that period aircraft flying overhead between the races.

Eyes to to the skies

What sets this event apart is that pretty much everyone who attends dresses up in clothes from the 40's through to the 60's, I would stress that this is not a fancy dress event, there is an air of authenticity about everyone's outfit, the aim is to dress as you would if you had been around at the time.

Add to that a retro fair ground complete with Helter Skelter , wall of death and galloping horses, period music being sung on a small stage, accapella groups wandering round giving impromptu performances.

There is even a reproduction retro high street complete with a Tesco where you can go in and buy a sandwich for your lunch and a retro chocolate bar, they re-wrap them in old style wrappers.  Of course all the "delivery" vehicles that are parked up at the local garage are of the period and red telephone boxes are the norm along with police emergency boxes to call a constable should something be amiss.

It runs over three days and you can get a ticket for the whole weekend or just one day.  There is special parking for pre 1964 cars so the car park becomes a classic car display, I did fear that we would never actually get into the event as there were so many cars to admire along the way.

I feel that I have only scratched the surface of everything that happens over the weekend but hopefully it will have given you a flavour of what goes on.   What do you think? would it be your  idea of heaven or hell?