Written by Ollie Lewis, Edited by Vyas Ponnuri
First thing this morning, it looked as though we would have a lovely sunny day for a nice spot of motor racing. However, this was not the case. By the time the first practice session rolled out of the pitlane, the sky seemed to have collapsed; the entire circuit was engulfed in a solid grey mass.
Despite the conditions, on-track action did not stop as every practice session went ahead as planned despite some being cut short due to red flags.
Sussex Trophy
The Sussex Trophy was the first race group to grace the track at 9:30 this morning, with particular highlights being Marino Franchitti’s handling of the 1955 Lister ‘Flat Iron’. Despite the rain, the session remained uneventful and served as the qualifying for the race that took place this evening.
The first race of the 2024 Goodwood Revival certainly did not disappoint. The race began at precisely 18:30 and saw action right from the start.
Ollie Bryant had a stellar start, carving his way through the grid on the first lap, rising from ninth to third before the final chicane.
Furtherback, the #22 Sadler-Chevrolet car suffered what looked to be a mechanical issue as they went straight on at the entry to St Mary’s, triggering the first and only safety car of the race.
Once the stunning Jaguar E-Type safety car reentered the pitlane, the cars roared down the pit-straight in a Lotus-Climax 1-2-3.
After the restart, Bryant continued his excellent form with an superb overtake around the outside of the #24 Lotus-Climax into the entry to St Mary’s, one of the trickiest parts of the track. The aptly named #1 car remained in first for the majority of the race.
Following the early chaos was a period of calm, which was broken around 30 minutes into the race when the #29 car came off at St Mary’s but was able to regather and continue.
The #72 Lister-Jaguar had quite an eventful few laps with around 20 minutes to go after they span at one of the fastest parts of the track and Fordwater, but avoided other cars and barriers and continued.
Merely a lap later, they spun in a similar part of the track, and stalled the car, nearly bringing out the safety car again. Thankfully, they restarted the car and were able to continue.
The No 1 car of Ollie Bryant and Andrew Smith dominated the race, winning by 45 seconds. However, all focus had turned to the battle for fifth place between Gordon Shedden and Scott Malvern.
In the last 10 minutes of the race, it seemed as though a rubber band was attached between the cars as they kept swapping positions.
With five minutes to go in dwindling light, it looked as though George was running away from the fire-breathing dragon of the No 54 Lister-Jaguar, whose continuous backfire lit up the track around it.
Ultimately, it was the No 17 Lotus-Climax that took the chequered flag first, after unbreachable defensive work by British Touring Car Champion Gordon Shedden.
The race was an exciting glimpse into what we can expect during the plethora of races on Day 2, which should not be missed.
Barry Sheene Memorial Trophy
Following the Sussex practice session, it was the turn of the classic bikes. Davey Todd stood out in particular, piloting his No 11 95-year-old BMW R63 Kompressor in quite an elaborate manner, sliding everywhere.
Unfortunately, the session was cut short after multiple bits of debris was shed from two bikes, including what looked like a metal bracket and an exhaust. This, combined with the biblical rainfall, meant the session was ultimately red-flagged and not restarted.
Goodwood Trophy
The rain kept pouring all morning, but this didn’t deter the gentlemen driving the machines in the Goodwood Trophy.
Pole position was taken by the #3 ERA A-Type from 1934, which seemed to spend most of the lap shaking its rear end as it was gracefully wrestled around the circuit.
Fordwater Trophy
Despite the rain, the session continued without issue and Tim Crighton took pole position in his Austin Healey 100/6, posting a time of 2:05.481. Remarkably, this was just over a second faster than the next fastest driver Marc Gordon in a 1958 Jaguar XK150.
Charles Morgan rounded off the top three with a 2.5 second slower time in his 1961 Morgan Plus 4, drawing one of the wettest sessions to a close.
St Mary’s Trophy Part 1
The first practice session in the St Mary’s Trophy saw the experienced drivers tackle the track first, despite the persistent rain.
Some of the drivers on the track included touring car legends such as Rob Huff, Jake Hill and Tom Ingram, with other big names including Alex Brundle and Andy Priaulx.
In the treacherous conditions, it was Alex Buncombe who came out on top in his Mini Cooper S.
Although the session was cut short, and some drivers didn’t have a chance to shine, it will certainly make for an interesting race, as some particularly competitive drivers will be looking to climb up the order tomorrow.
Whitsun Trophy
The first practice session of the Whitsun Trophy still took place in torrential rain, leading to some close calls such as a near miss between the #19 and the #22 cars.
The session was sadly red-flagged as the #5 Ford GT40 of Adrian Newey lost control and subsequently became beached in the gravel with under 4 minutes to go.
Everything seemed to happen at once as the No 99 Crossle C5-7S also lost control approaching the chicane.
James Davison ultimately took pole with a lap that was a full 2.3 seconds quicker than Nicholas Padmore in second. Oliver Bryant completed the top three in his Lola T70 Spyder.
Stirling Moss Memorial Trophy
Jimmie Johnson had quite the session as he unfortunately found the barrier, after losing Stirling Moss’ race-winning Aston Martin DB4 at Fordwater corner.
Thankfully, the session was able to continue as he managed to limp back to the pitlane.
The session finished without another major incident, with Padmore and Stahl taking pole in their Ferrari 250 GT Lusso ahead of Saturday’s evening race.
Earl of March Trophy
Despite rain continuing long into the afternoon, the practice sessions continued without a hitch.
Although there were several occasions where cars left the track as drivers lost control, it seemed they weren’t travelling fast enough to find the barriers.
The session concluded without issue after a dominating performance by Tom Waterfield in his Cooper-Norton MlVIII, with a time of 2:04.701. That time ended up being quicker than Harry Painter in second by nearly four and a half seconds and over 11 seconds quicker than Alex Wilson in third.
This just showed how changeable the conditions of both the weather and the track could be during a single short session.
There could be an interesting race on Sunday as there will surely be some drivers looking to move up the grid and who may be more comfortable in dry conditions.
Richmond & Gordon Trophies
By the time the mighty F1 cars blasted out of the pitlane, the track had begun to start slowly drying.
As a result, the session finished without an issue, with Willian Nuthall setting an excellent time of 1:54.379 to put his rear-engined Cooper-Climax T53 on pole, ahead of Andy Willis and John Spiers, in second and third respectively.
RAC TT
The RAC TT qualifying was rather short and sweet as it was red-flagged just five minutes after the session began.
In those five minutes, however, we saw the #100 car spin after the first corner. We also saw the Cheetah Chevrolet driven by Duncan Pittaway spin out before the chicane, and unfortunately colliding with the barrier quite severely.
Pittaway sustained no obvious injuries, and walked out perfectly fine but the car was not able to be driven away and rescue lorries were required, bringing the session to an end.
Unlike other events, this was purely a practice session with no qualifying stress hence why it was easily ended.
Glover Trophy
The track continued to dry up throughout the day, leading to a fairly uneventful run for the 1.5L F1 cars.
Ben Mitchell pipped Andy Willis to the post on the very last lap posting a time that was just two tenths faster, foreshadowing what could be quite a thrilling race between the top two drivers.
Third to Sixth were also separated by less than a second in less than ideal conditions, again showing how this race could be quite a show on Sunday.
Freddie March Memorial Trophy
British Touring Car driver Jake Hill took pole by nearly 3 seconds in the No 64 HWM-Jaguar after another largely uneventful session.
A wet track during this session meant times were still quite spread out and people may not have been particularly successful, so it is not impossible to suggest there could be an eventful and entertaining race on Sunday.
St Mary’s Trophy Part 2
The final practice session of the day was brought to an early end after the No 22 Alfa Romeo GTA of François Rivaz collided with the chicane barrier having also left the track earlier in the same lap.
The collision destroyed the foam barrier and the session ended with five minutes to spare, marking the end of all practice sessions.
Despite quite an eventful first day at Goodwood Revival, everyone still seemed to be in good spirits. The weather looks better tomorrow, and should hopefully make for some fantastic racing action on the track.
The entire event is being live-streamed on YouTube for free. In case you miss it, come back to DIVEBOMB over the weekend for the Day 2 updates and summary.
Comments