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Two 1951 landmarks are among the additions to this year’s Goodwood Revival line-up, when the event returns on 17-19 September.
It is 70 years since the National Hot Rod Association was established by Wally Parks in the US, and to mark this the Revival hopes to welcome one of the biggest-ever hot-rod gatherings ever seen in Europe, featuring one car from every year of the NHRA. Given that in the ’50s, top performance marks were 140mph in 9 secs and today you’re talking in excess of 330mph in under 3.7 secs, this will be a diverse spectacle.
Sixteen cars from the Rolling Bones Hot Rod Shop in New York, a famous centre of automotive craftsmanship, have been confirmed, plus vibrant displays from British hot rod groups including the Low Fliers, the Detonators (of which American Formula One race winner Dan Gurney was a member), the Vultures and the Originals.
These will be joined by the UK’s largest gathering of 1932 Fords. Find this celebration at the relocated Gasoline Alley, complete with music, dancing and a mock drag strip.
2021 also marks the 70th anniversary of the Festival of Britain, held on South Bank in London. Coming six years after the end of WW2 and 100 years since the Great Exhibition of 1851, it was a national showcase of British manufacturing, design, science, technology and the arts.
This will be remembered at the Goodwood Revival 2021 at Gate Two, attractions and entertainment including a recreation of the Hans Tisdall Cockerel mural, Punch and Judy and a helter skelter.
In addition, the Goodwood Trophy has been rechristened the Festival of Britain Trophy. A race of this name was first run at Goodwood’s Whitsun meet in 1951, inspired by London’s festival, and this year will see some of the finest Grand Prix and voiturette cars of the 1930s and ‘40s going wheel-to-wheel.
And there is more. An on-track Victory Parade on Sunday 19 September will be held to celebrate local service people and key workers in recognition of their tireless efforts during the pandemic, echoing that of 1946 at the end of WW2 which featuring a mechanised column and a marching column.
Following this blueprint, around 250 key workers and service people, including paramedics, nurses, vaccination centre volunteers, the armed forces, and fire and rescue services, will form the Victory Parade’s marching column.
Behind this will be a mechanised column, featuring more than 150 service vehicles, which will be exhibited on the Lavant infield during the three-day festival.
Images: James Mann/Jayson Fong/Goodwood
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Goodwood Revival 2021 timetable revealed
