Planes, trains and automobiles

2009.09.19

Rowan Atkinson in character as Mr Bean on his Mini. I feel rather sorry for his poor old teddy bear, trapped in the car's rear window!

The St. Mary's Trophy got underway with a mad scramble for first place.

Stirling Moss celebrated his 80th birthday with a parade of the most significant cars he drove during his racing career.

Stirling Moss again. Yes, he really did race all these cars.... and this was only about a quarter of the cars in his parade!

North American P51D Mustang

Another Mustang coming in to land

Another plane coming in to land - this time a Supermarine Spitfire Mark IX

Finally, the Avro Vulcan bomber made it to Goodwood!

Ok, so I lied about the trains but the rest is true! For our second day at the Goodwood Racing Revival Kevin and I focussed our attentions on the track and the sky. Whereas yesterday’s track action featured qualifying sessions today’s action saw proper wheel to wheel racing action, all of it in priceless classic cars. There were also several themed parades – including one for the Mini’s 50th birthday and another to celebrate Stirling Moss’s 80th birthday. The other major events were a number of air displays, mostly by World War II planes. However, at the end of the afternoon the big attraction was a display by an Avro Vulcan bomber, a 1960s Cold War plane. This was supposed to happen last year but it blew an engine (in spite of recently undergoing a £7 million rebuild!) and wasn’t able to fly.

Kevin and I both took lots of photos today using my camera so the images I've posted here are a mixture of both our shots. Basically, the car shots are mine and the planes are Kevin's (although the Vulcan is all mine!).