Saturday morning at the 80th Members’ Meeting

15th April 2023

Simon Ostler

Finally! The rain has eased and the sun has risen, although we can’t quite see it yet, for the opening day of the 80^th Goodwood Members’ Meeting presented by Audrain Motorsport. All’s quiet for now, but a walk through the calm and somewhat deserted paddocks divulges the excitement we can expect over the course of the weekend.

There’s still plenty of water on the ground, so the early running out on track ought to be a little tricky, so we can look forward to the opening Practice session of the day when the V8 prototypes in the Gurney Cup fire up for the first time.

Standing proud at the very centre of things is a gorgeous row of early-2000s GT1 cars, consisting of a pair of Lister Storms, three Chrysler Vipers, a Saleen S7-R, three Corvettes, three Ferrari 550s, and as many as seven Aston Martin DBR9s. The sight of these cars prepped and ready for what promises to be a remarkable demonstration of some legendary machinery, not to mention what will be a choir of V12 glory from those DBR9s.

Elsewhere, a wonderful array of utterly beguiling sportscars from the early 1950s that are due to compete in the Tony Gaze Trophy. They’ve put a smile on our faces already, and they're yet to splutter into life.

No morning mosey of the Members’ Meeting paddocks would be complete without a look around the pre-war machines of both the S.F. Edge Trophy and Trofeo Nuvolari. These fascinating contraptions are oddly haunting in this low light, sitting patiently, waiting to rattle some eardrums with their beautifully exposed mechanicals and rag-tag bodywork.