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16 Sept 2012

Goodwood Revival - Cars photo gallery

The array of racing cars on display at the Goodwood Revival was spectacular.  On and off track were sights to behold.  The paddocks throng with the sound of old racing engines being warmed up ahead of their turn on track.

The racing highlight of the weekend is the RAC TT Celebration, a 1 hour long race featuring two cars per driver.  Entrants included Derek Daly in an Aston Martin DB4GT, Martin Donnelly in a Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray, Tiff Needell in a Jaguar E-type, Jean Alesi in a Ferrari 250 GTO and Martin Brundle and Adrian Newey in a Jaguar E-type lightweight - which is owned by Newey.

The racing is hard.  The drivers take no heed of the value of their multi-million pound machines.  Once behind the wheel no prisoners are taken.  There were several spills and one car, a 1962 Maserati Tipo 151, hit the tyre barrier pretty hard, demolishing the right hand side of it's bodywork.

The RAC TT Celebration was won by Newey and Brundle and it was pretty clear, from our vantage point at the chicane just before the pits, why.  Newey had a poor start and spun on the first lap but raced  back into fourth place.  With the driver change to Brundle at a safety car period they assumed the number one position.

Martin Brundle then proceeded to lap at almost a second quicker than the rest of the field - his fastest lap was a 1 minute 26, or an average of 100mph.

Coming out of the chicane, bordered on either side by a polystyrene wall made to look like bricks, most cars threaded through pretty carefully then gave it full power and oversteered just onto the kerbs.  Martin Brundle, on the other hand, held his speed through the chicane and angled his car in such a way as he could put the power down a good ten yards earlier than anyone else.  The car stayed straight and the tyres barely slipped.  He timed it perfectly every time, just kissing the kerbs before powering up the pit straight.

Jean Alesi had the most spectacular style in his Ferrari 250 GTO - planting his foot early out of the chicane and oversteering out.