Goodwood launched its season with a galaxy of stars and a mass of superb machinery today (14 March).
The media day for the privileged few has now become an event in itself and was believed to have more machinery on display than ran up the hill at the inaugural Festival of Speed in 1993.
The shame, of course, is that the enthusiasts who helped to make that event and the Revival such a success, some of whom do complain that the original atmosphere has been smothered by the theatre and the crowds, could not be at this event to see that that spirit of Goodwood is alive and well.
Even at the press day there was more entertainment than in previous years with many elements of the Revival meeting incorporated: a bus-load of period-dressed schoolkids, a 1950s-style band, Goodwood House's Egyptian Room decked out like a war room.
The main themes of both the 2012 Festival of Speed and Revival were represented by wonderful displays of Lotus F1 cars (the Lotus-Lamborghini 102 below), Cobras, Barry Siddery-Smith's MGB and even Paul Vestey's Ferrari 1962 GTO.
Sponsors were out in force with modern machinery, but as always it was overshadowed by the classics.
