Goodwood Revival Draw Competition June/July 2022

In conjunction with Camplify, we offered a free to enter draw with a prize of a weekend to the historic Goodwood Revival.  This prize consisted of a 3 Day pass for two persons on Friday 16^th – Sunday 18^th September worth over £800.  The draw has now taken place and we’re delighted to announce that the lucky winner is Mrs Sarah Terry from Somerset.

Upon being told of her win, Mrs Terry commented as follows:

“There we were sitting in our motorhome parked on top of the hill above Woolacombe with the sea-fret wrapped around us obscuring any panoramic views and chasing us inside with its dampness. The phone rang and I could see it was Comfort Insurance. We have a claim in progress which is being handled really smoothly but did I really want to discuss the damage to our beloved motorhome?

I pressed “accept” and I am so glad I did - a cheerful Debbie introduced herself and said I was the lucky winner of the Goodwood Revival tickets! What a lovely surprise – it raised our spirits no end.

The sun burnt off the mist shortly afterwards and we are already making plans and looking forward to our trip in September.

Thank you, Comfort Insurance.”

Hello Debbie, as promised here is how we got on at the Goodwood Revival weekend.

We drove to Chichester on the Thursday afternoon and followed the well signposted directions to the field our pitch was on. As we entered there was a tap which we used for filling with water then drove to our allocated pitch. There were ample toilet and shower facilities at both ends of the field which we calculate had capacity for 600! We thought our 7m Autotrail was a reasonable size until we saw that some of the rigs took up 4 pitches!

At 8 the following morning we were awakened by a 10 minute fly-past of 3 spitfires – what an amazing way to start the day. After breakfast we followed the general drift of people down the field, across the road and into a field already half full of cars. Just inside the gate was a tractor and trailer with seating which was one of a fleet running a ferry services to the entrance and back. I would mention that all the show officials were wearing blackarm-bands out of respect for the late Queen.

The field where there was a short queue (for our entrance tickets to be scanned) was full of retro & vintage cars which we could walk around or simply admire while queuing. Using our Programme voucher we collected our bag of goodies and found a seat for coffee while we perused the map.

We quickly realised that maybe 75% of spectators, and all participants, had made an effort to dress in a retro style. There were land-girls, Home Guard, American GIs, RAF, Winston Churchill, bathing beauties (Berkeley Babes), ladies with pinched waisted pencil skirts or 50s skirts with great petticoats, men with flat caps and braces, teddy boys or tweed waistcoats with plus-fours. There were more obscure outfits we are still wondering about such as a monk and French onion sellers.

The event site was divided by the road which had a pedestrian bridge and marshalled crossings. The side we entered was the “Over The Road” event with a funfair complete with steam driven carousel, eateries and bars, stalls selling and promoting products from Ferrari’s to footwear. Consumer warning – pricing was not for the faint hearted. There was also a free to enter open air cinema complete with popcorn.

Across the road was the Revival event proper, accessed via a pedestrian tunnel under the racetrack. There were dozens of racing cars to view (displayed or being prepared in the pit areas) but also aircraft from WW2. Every now and again we would come across a tableau of people enacting a scene such as WW2 airmen and WRACs waiting to be scrambled, a desert (complete with camels) where Tutankhamun’s tomb is about to be discovered.

The organisers had paid great attention to detail so 21^st century fittings were concealed or disguised even down to placing plants against catering outfits to conceal the wheels. The ample toilet facilities were shielded by dark screens so no unsightly potaloos here. At various places throughout the site there was live music with seating and areas to dance which were rarely empty. We were amused by the amount of empty champagne bottles where people were enjoying meals from wicker hampers or from the hospitality marquees.

And, of course, there was racing. Using the roving grandstand tickets we were able to choose where to view the historic racetrack from. We could watch cars accelerating along the Levant Straight or negotiate the chicane from the Chicane Grandstand. Alternatively, there were big screens strategically placed so the action could be watched from hospitality areas too. Audio was via an earpiece such a wonderful experience!provided in the event guide pack which had included a programme and a book giving information on the history of the event.

Although the racing finished in the early evening, the “Over The Road” event continued until 10pm but we were already making our way back to the motorhome by then. All three days started with the morning Spitfire flypast and were packed with things to see and do which we will be talking about for years. We had planned to leave on the Monday but came home on the Sunday pm to be off the road during the Queen’s funeral.

Thank you for the super prize which gave us such a wonderful experience!