Sun sets on an evocative summer of racing: The Editor
Unlike Formula 1 which follows the sun around the world, domestic motor racing is coming to a close as the evenings begin to draw in. So it seems like a good time to reflect on which summer events I have enjoyed the most.
As ever, the Goodwoods feature heavily, from the Members’ Meeting in April to the glitz of the Festival of Speed at the height of the summer. But it will always be the Revival that is my personal highlight. There is something about the time of year, with the maturing sun casting long shadows in the late afternoon across the race track and paddock, illuminating teasing wings of such wonderfully evocative cars, that make it hard to beat.
This year’s racing was quite superb and the global pull of the event is such that it attracts an all-star cast which seems to get starrier by the year. Where else would you get 2009 Formula 1 world champion Jenson Button rubbing shoulders with the likes of Damon Hill and Sir Jackie Stewart, Tom Kristensen, Andre Lotterer, John McGuinness and Peter Hickman?
Amid the period costumes you were transported to an era closer to the Queen’s Coronation
This year also proved that even those who ply their trade in America are not immune to the glory of West Sussex in September. Lining up on the grid was the most successful NASCAR driver of all time, seven-time Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson, as well as IndyCar racer Simona de Silvestro. For me the star of the show was New Zealander Scott Dixon, the six-time IndyCar champion who you can hear more from in our big interview this month on page 55. In it author Rob Widdows discusses some of the key moments in his career. But he also captures the off-duty playful mood that Goodwood seems to bring out in people.The interview took place just before the Revival at the race track where Dixon was familiarising himself with the Jaguar E-type he would be driving with four-time IndyCar champion Dario Franchitti.
Dixon didn’t win his race but another friend of Motor Sport did: Ed Foster, once of this parish and still a contributor, romped home in the Lavant Cup, in his late father’s ex-works MGB which he has written about a number of times in our pages. As videos of his in-car celebrations confirm, the victory meant the world to him and we offer him our hearty congratulations!
This is what winning feels like when you’ve never won a motor race before. pic.twitter.com/jDeVnL57Fb
— Ed Foster (@AnotherEdFoster) September 18, 2022
Of course, this year’s Revival was marked by a solemn moment to remember the life of Queen Elizabeth II. The Duke of Richmond made a well-judged speech followed by a short film celebrating the life of the monarch and her attachment to Goodwood – more for the horses than the cars, it has to be said. The minute’s silence that followed was impeccably observed and for a moment amid the period costumes you were transported to another era closer to the Queen’s Coronation in 1953.
The Queen was also remembered at a very different event in September – the Italian Grand Prix. The legendary tifosi were becalmed for two spine-tingling minutes as the sport paid tribute to the Queen in a way that it is hard to imagine any sport doing for any other head of state. It was good, too, to see the teams, many of whom have deep roots in Britain, paying tribute to the Queen throughout the weekend.
A sense of history permeated the race that transcended the controversial finish which saw Max Verstappen win behind a safety car, and which Mark Hughes dissects expertly on page 30.
Monza was celebrating its 100th anniversary having staged its first race in September 1922, when Pietro Bordino in a Fiat 804 covered the 80 laps with a time of a little over 5hr 43min. He was followed by Felice Nazzaro also in a Fiat and Pierre de Vizcaya in a Bugatti Type 29. The top three were also the only three finishers, the rest of the field failing to make the distance. I would usually at this point remind readers that they can find a contemporary race report of what happened in our unique online archive, which features a fully searchable database of all the races we have reported on since our birth. But that Italian GP is a rarity in having taken place before even Motor Sport was founded – if only by two years.
Other events this year that deserve a mention? Well, the Classic at Silverstone with its ‘Best of British’ bill featuring 20 retro races spanning 10 decades of motor sport was hard to forget. Not least because of the display of Lewis Hamilton’s seven championship winning Formula 1 cars and an incredible parade of Group C machines to mark 40 years since Silverstone witnessed its first race for the cars back in 1982.
But perhaps my personal memory was of Capris, Skylines and Rover SD1s battling it out in the Tony Dron Memorial Trophy for Historic Touring Cars. The race was run this year under that banner in memory of the popular touring car racer and fine journalist who died last year. His son Will, also a motoring writer and an old colleague of mine, and Tony’s extended family were on hand at the trophy presentation.
Joe Dunn, editor
Follow Joe on Twitter @joedunn90