43
T
he classic motor sport season
is well under way now and
the Silverstone Classic and
GoodwoodRevivalwillsoonbe
withusoncemore.Bothevents
grow bigger and better every
year. I wasvery involved with
theClassic, then knownas the
Historic Festival, when I was
British Racing Drivers’ Club Secretary at
Silverstone,andI droveat theGoodwood
Revivalfromitsinceptionin 1998 untilI
retiredfromdrivingin 2010.
I have been lucky enough to drive a
vast selection of wonderful classics at
Goodwood. Mylast drive at the Revival
waswithMarkDevisinhisFerrari250GT
SWB. Back in 2010 it would have been
valuedataround$4m,today’svaluewould
bemorelike $13m;I should haveaskedmy
bankmanagerforaloanandwouldhave
madea cool$1ma yearprofit.Hindsight is
a great thing,butforesightisevenbetter.It
isa greatprivilegeto beaskedto drivesuch
wonderfulcars, which have varied from
Porsches,JaguarE-types,Ferraris,GT40s,
GalaxiesandCorvettestomoremundane
ridessuchasMiniCoopers,FordZephyrs
andAustinWestminsters.
Goodwood is one of the only circuits
thatstillhasitsoriginallayoutofsweeping
and undulating high-speed turns. Most
Internationalcircuitsthesedayshavebeen
emasculatedbytheFIAtoaccommodate
ground-hugging F1cars.Themainchange
at Goodwood has been the replacement
of the wooden chicane by polystyrene
blocks– andthankgoodnessforthat.I was
verythankfulforthechangewhenI was
drivingJohnYoung’sA95Westminsterin
theStMary’sTrophyracein 2008. Inthe
firstheatonSaturdayI wasinvolvedina
great five-carscrap fortheleadwhenan
over-enthusiasticjournalist/driver punted
me in the back entering the chicane.
Polystyrenewas flying everywhere andI
endedmyraceembeddedin thebankin
fr ontofthepits.Ourcarwasnottoobadly
damaged andJohn’sguysstraightened it
outovernightintimeforhimtodrivethe
secondheatonSunday.He dulywon,and
oncombinedresultswe wonoverall.
Themost funI everhadat Goodwood
wasdrivinga Corvetteandbeing involved
in a furious dice with Australian star
PeterBrockinasimilar car.I hadgotto
know Peter well from myprevioustrips
to Bathurst. He was known as ‘King of
the Mountain’ and had won there on
numerous occasions. We were swapping
places allthe way roundthe circuitand
ononelapwecameovertheblindbrow
atFordwatersideby sideto beconfronted
byAdrianNeweyinhislightweightE-type,
sideways, stationary in the middle of
theroad.Peterwentoneside,I wentthe
other –how wemissed himI will never
know. I washoldingmybreath.I amsure
Adrianwasdoing thesame,seeing thetwo
Corvettes bearing down on him at over
100mph.Weallcamethroughunscathed
andaverteda multi-millionpoundpile-up.
Adrianwentontohavehisownaccident
ontheLevant straight later.
Johnrecallsa fewhairy Goodwoodmoments,
includingbeingshuntedin anAustinandnearly
wipingoutAdrianNewey’slightweightE-type
John Fitzpatrick began his racing career in the
British Saloon Car Championship, winning it in
- He was European GT Champion in 1972
and 1974, and became a team owner in 1981.
John was grateful Goodwood’s
wooden chicane had been
replaced with polystyrene
John Fitzpatrick
thE iNsidErs
