by Howard Wood » Tue Sep 16, 2014 9:18 pm
Had the very real pleasure of attending Goodwood this year on Friday and Saturday. I see Steve has just started a new thread on this year's event and once the jet lag goes I will post a couple of photos there.
However a few quick suggestions for anyone considering going in the future:
1. Just Do it, this is absolutely a must do for anyone interested in historic racing but also a huge event. I am sure there were people "across the road" who didn't even cross over to the circuit proper, indeed probably didn't even have tickets.
2. Dress up, I would guess that more than 2 thirds of the crowd would be in period dress of some kind and half of those have gone to quite some effort including accessories such as period prams (complete with child in period dress, the ultimate accessory). Ours came from op shops in the UK and cost less than 2 glasses of champagne in the infield.
3. Make no mistake, Freddie March, aka Lord March the Duke of Richmond and Gordon has his hands in your pocket all the time. The flip side is that the facilities, range of food and other stuff on offer is incredible, with in typical English style, bars everywhere.
4. You could spend all day Friday in the paddock area (and only qualifying on track anyway) but some of it is restricted. we were in period dress and had a roving grandstand ticket which looked enough like the paddock pass to get through the barrier in the melee, but that was just luck. There was no way on the web site to buy a paddock pass but next time I will do whatever it takes to get in, it was absolutely the highlight for me.
5. I would not bother with the roving grandstand, walk around the circuit, anti clockwise, there is lots of faffing about between races so you have time to scope out a good position when you arrive at a new place and there is a raised embankment all round. My favourite position would be Lavant but all the corners have a big screen and good viewing.
6. Accommodation is hard to find and expensive, this event must be a god send for the region. Best bet would be to stay in Chichester, we stayed in Littlehampton, a 15 minute train ride away but a world away in character with nothing to recommend it. There are shuttle buses (period buses of course) from the Chichester rail station for about 6 quid return, we did not wait more than 10 minutes either way and drop off right at the gate.
7. Although the program and ticket sales for the year is only available mid year the actual program must be set well in advance and can probably be worked out. For example the F Juniors run: Front Engine, Drum brake rear engine, Disc brake rear engine on a yearly rotation. As soon as tickets go on sale you need to jump in, Sunday ground admission in particular sells out quickly and many tickets (and expensive add ons) are reserved for Corporate Smoozing.
Had the very real pleasure of attending Goodwood this year on Friday and Saturday. I see Steve has just started a new thread on this year's event and once the jet lag goes I will post a couple of photos there.
However a few quick suggestions for anyone considering going in the future:
1. Just Do it, this is absolutely a must do for anyone interested in historic racing but also a huge event. I am sure there were people "across the road" who didn't even cross over to the circuit proper, indeed probably didn't even have tickets.
2. Dress up, I would guess that more than 2 thirds of the crowd would be in period dress of some kind and half of those have gone to quite some effort including accessories such as period prams (complete with child in period dress, the ultimate accessory). Ours came from op shops in the UK and cost less than 2 glasses of champagne in the infield.
3. Make no mistake, Freddie March, aka Lord March the Duke of Richmond and Gordon has his hands in your pocket all the time. The flip side is that the facilities, range of food and other stuff on offer is incredible, with in typical English style, bars everywhere.
4. You could spend all day Friday in the paddock area (and only qualifying on track anyway) but some of it is restricted. we were in period dress and had a roving grandstand ticket which looked enough like the paddock pass to get through the barrier in the melee, but that was just luck. There was no way on the web site to buy a paddock pass but next time I will do whatever it takes to get in, it was absolutely the highlight for me.
5. I would not bother with the roving grandstand, walk around the circuit, anti clockwise, there is lots of faffing about between races so you have time to scope out a good position when you arrive at a new place and there is a raised embankment all round. My favourite position would be Lavant but all the corners have a big screen and good viewing.
6. Accommodation is hard to find and expensive, this event must be a god send for the region. Best bet would be to stay in Chichester, we stayed in Littlehampton, a 15 minute train ride away but a world away in character with nothing to recommend it. There are shuttle buses (period buses of course) from the Chichester rail station for about 6 quid return, we did not wait more than 10 minutes either way and drop off right at the gate.
7. Although the program and ticket sales for the year is only available mid year the actual program must be set well in advance and can probably be worked out. For example the F Juniors run: Front Engine, Drum brake rear engine, Disc brake rear engine on a yearly rotation. As soon as tickets go on sale you need to jump in, Sunday ground admission in particular sells out quickly and many tickets (and expensive add ons) are reserved for Corporate Smoozing.