Best of 82nd Goodwood Members’ Meeting

An emotional lap of honour for Bruno Senna in his uncle’s 1985 Lotus-Renault 97T, an astonishing drive by Frank Stippler in a Ferrari Dino 206S, plenty of touring car action and a GT3 shoot-out. The 82^nd Goodwood Members’ Meeting was another ‘good ‘un’.

Two stories marked the 82^nd Goodwood Members’ Meeting. One was the lucky escape of driver Mark Walker. Walker lost the back of his chain-driven 1905 Darracq 200 HP as he powered out of the chicane and went over the outside kerb. The Darracq shot across the track and clipped the tyre barriers, throwing the driver out. Walker miraculously escaped injury, but the incident was once again a reminder that motorsport is dangerous.

Senna’s first win

Bruno Senna’s demonstration in his uncle Ayrton’s Lotus 97T was a particularly emotional moment. Classic Team Lotus had brought the car to Goodwood to celebrate the 40 years since Ayrton Senna’s first win in Formula 1, the legendary drive in a rain-soaked Portuguese Grand Prix in Estoril, 1985. Seeing any ‘black and gold’ Lotus is always a moment to cherish, more so when it is one of the famous examples from F1’s turbo days.

Light is right

On to what was the drive of the weekend. Sharing a Ferrari Dino 206S with David Franklin, German ‘ace for hire’ Frank Stippler put in a scintillating performance. On a circuit where power still counts for much, Stippler rewrote the script with the lightweight – just 600 kilos – Dino pushing out over 300 hp from its 2-litre V6. Finding himself dead last after a red flag had halted the Gurney Cup, Stippler got to work with just 20 minutes remaining on the clock. Even a dice resulting in contact with André Lotterer’s Ford GT40 could not stop him.

Stippler charged his way to the front. After the race, he told Goodwood Road Race Club: ‘Towards the end of the race, the GT40s started to drop back. Because of the weight, their tyres were fading away, their brakes were fading away, but my car was getting quicker and quicker.’

GT3s

One of the main themes of the 82^nd Goodwood Members’ Meeting was the timed shoot-out of GT3 cars. The cars were kept on wet-weather tyres for the one timed lap. In the final, Andrew Jordan pulled of the fastest lap in the Callaway-developed Corvette Z06 R GT3.

Next up for Goodwood is the Festival of Speed, from 10 – 13 July.