American LeMans
PETIT LE MANS: ALMS Drivers Feature at Goodwood Revival
A number of ALMS drivers and personalities spent their free weekend before Petit Le Mans driving vintage race cars at the Goodwood Revival in England. They just can't get enough.
Wouter Melissen  | http://www.ultimatecarpage.com  |  Posted October 04, 2008   Braselton, GA
Dyson Racing driver Marino Franchitti drove an 8-figure Ferrari 250 GTO at Goodwood in September. (Photo: Wouter Melissen / UltimateCarPage.com)


What do you do if you’re an American Le Mans driver or team owner with a love for historic car racing and month to kill between ALMS races? You head to the Goodwood Revival in England and race wheel-to-wheel with some of the finest, fastest, and most expensive vintage racing cars on the planet. Three of those characters, Patron Highcroft owner Duncan Dayton, Audi driver Emanuele Pirro, and Dyson Racing pilot Marino Franchitti all came away from Goodwood with giant smiles and stories to tell.

The Goodwood Motor Circuit was opened sixty years ago and uses the perimeter road of an old air force base on the Goodwood estate. For the next sixteen years the high speed track hosted many national and international races. In 1966 all racing stopped, but the track was used for many years to come for test sessions and track days. During 1998 the track was fully restored by the Goodwood estate owner Lord March to its 1960s condition and on the Motor Circuit’s 50th anniversary racing resumed. Historic racing that is. To fit into the décor participants and spectators were asked to dress up in period attire.

Lord March created a time-warp event that quickly attracted the finest cars and drivers, of both past and present fame, to the Motor Circuit. A regular at Goodwood is multiple Le Mans winner Emanuele Pirro: “From my point of view, Goodwood is THE most important historic event in the world and of all times. If you are not there, you don’t realize what they’ve achieved. You will see the best cars, the most renowned collectors, a very special circuit that has been kept in the conditions of the 1950s and 60s. The greatest drivers are there. Plus, everybody is dressed like in the old days. All those factors contribute to build up a unique atmosphere.”

One of the most impressive figures of the 2008 Revival was the valuation of the grid of the Tourist Trophy celebration race; $150 million. The one-hour, two-driver enduro for early 1960s GT-racers is the highlight of the weekend. Needless to say a win in the TT is much coveted. To achieve just that many of the owners offer one or even both seats to (former) professional racing drivers. There were even strong rumors that Red Bull Racing chief designer Adrian Newey had submitted his Jaguar E-Type Lightweight to wind tunnel testing to get the most out of the priceless racing car. Both Marino and Emanuele lined up for the TT and were joined some of the greatest legends. “For me, one of the biggest thrills is… you know, I’m standing in the driver meeting before we go out and I’m sort of sandwiched between Martin Brundle and Derek Bell. And in front of me is Henri Pescarolo, Emerson Fittipaldi, Brian Redmond, Richard Atwood. I could go on all day,” Franchitti explained.
Audi driver Emanuele Pirro drover an Austin Healey and a Jaguar at Goodwood. (Photo: Wouter Melissen / UltimateCarPage.com)

It was very much a dream come true for Franchitti as he was handed the keys to Pink Floyd drummer’s Ferrari 250 GTO. One of the most successful and valuable racing cars in the world, the glorious Ferrari was one of Marino’s favorite cars from childhood; “There's two models that have survived my youth. I’ve got a model of the 250 GTO, in fact, the very one I raced was the registration 250 GTO.” Although very different to the modern ALMS cars he usually races, Marino quickly got the hang of driving the legendary Italian sportscar. For a vehicle rumored to be worth something close to $20,000,000, it was an honor for the Scot to buckle in and pilot the priceless GTO. “The seven-year-old version of me thinks I’m really cool for driving it. It was just everything that I dreamed it would be. As I started to get used to the car it really handled fantastically. And you can see it from the pictures, I really started to get a hold of it and use it as it was meant to.” A spirited drive saw the Franchitti / Mason pairing finish a commendable seventh.

Pirro’s TT race wasn’t quite as happy as he was forced to retire with engine problems just 20 minutes into the race. Fortunately it was not the only race of the weekend for the seasoned Italian. “In fact, I drove three race cars at the Goodwood Revival in 2008. It was a Jaguar E-Type, an Austin Healey and an Alfa Romeo Giulietta TI. I have a good relationship with the organisers, i.e. with Lord March. They know all the owners of cars who would like to share the cars with professional racing drivers. That’s why they have chosen three cars for me! It was hard work, as we had to do three practices, three qualifying sessions and three races, so I actually did more sessions than in a modern-type motorsport event. Plus, it was really difficult to get used to the cars. It was not just a stroll in the afternoon, but proper historic racing on a legendary track.” Emanuele’s efforts paid off as he won the Freddie March Memorial Trophy, together with co-driver Stuart Graham. The 90-minute ran into the dusk, so Pirro could make use of his long distance racing experience.
Patron Highcroft Acura team owner Duncan Dayton seemingly drove every car at the Revival! (Photo: Wouter Melissen / UltimateCarPage.com)

While Marino and Emanuele only strap into historic racing cars for special occasions, it is business as usual for Duncan Dayton. The Patron Highcroft team owner has an impressive collection of historic Formula 1 racing cars that he races with considerable success. Earlier this year he took two outright victories in the Monaco Historic Grand Prix on the treacherous streets of the principality. As with most us, Duncan got the ‘racing bug’ at an early age: “The first spark for me came from the opening sequence of the movie “Grand Prix”. My father took me to the premiere of it in 1967 at what was called the Cinerama. There were seven of these complexes across the country that had multiple projectors and multiple screens and basically the first surround sound/surround vision experience. And within the first 30 seconds of that opening split screen Frankenheimer sequence I knew I wanted to go do that someday. So that was really my first love of racecars; the 1.5 litre V8 Climaxes, Ferraris and BRMs.”

He did just that and brought out his Climax engined Brabham BT11 for the Revival. “In the Glover Trophy, which is for the 1.5 L V-8 cars, I qualified third and had a great battle with James King and Simon Hatfield. At one point I actually got into the lead and felt the motor starting to tighten up so I switched the motor off and coasted in with one lap to go. It is about a $150,000 motor and there was only 28 of them in the world and don't want to have to rebuild that one from scratch.” While he did not win this race, he is no stranger to winning at Goodwood with the Brabham. Two years ago he put a spectacular drive to beat racing legend Bobby Rahal in a similar machine. Dayton also brought out his ex-Graham Hill Lotus 16 F1 car, but mechanical problems during qualifying and a spin in the race prevented Duncan from challenging for victory.

Marino, Emanuele and Duncan were far from the only ones having fun at Goodwood. They were joined by a staggering 124,000 spectators over the weekend. A large majority of them dressed up period style and were fully part of the spectacle. For motorsport enthusiasts there are only very few events that are as awe-inspiring, evocative and exciting as the Revival.

Learn more about the Goodwood Revival event Here.
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Wouter Melissen

UltimateCarPage.com

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