Despite having gone to bed later than optimistically planned, I awoke before the alarm by way too much to consider going back to sleep, but I did make the effort, and failed, so by 4.36 I was abluting. Obviously the inherent excitement of going to the event prevailed over the need for sleep!
When I awoke it was looking clear, but as I prepared it got cloudier. The trip down at first surprised me by the level of traffic, until it dawned on my enfeebled brain, that in fact it was a working day that I had selected to go to Goodwood to avoid the heaviest onslaught of the general public, but completely forgot that I had always gone on Saturdays or Sundays in the past. Did I mention my brain was enfeebled?
I broke the journey to pick up my guest for the day, Peter Knab, another but far more celebrated photographer, at Hindhead. From there the journey was to be in his Range Rover, and so I was chauffeured for the final stint. We definitely were correct in choosing to arrive early, as the Super Car Paddock was far less crowded, than it would be just a mere two hours later. We tarried awhile there overloading our glands of Envy, before We toured the Style et Luxe lawn and Peter renewed his acquaintance with a car that he had photographed at the height of his career as a fashion photographer, and he reminisced over the other cars from an earlier era. He was then completely blown away by the elegance and mechanical achievement that was the installation right outside the house, they made a very etherial and unreal picture against the clouds, and this was in stark contrast to how they would look when we were to revisit the area under blue sky and sunlight.
We moved then to the Sponsors’ Enclosure where we spent quite a time preening our panning skills from the far corner, close to the track, before going walkabout and witnessing firsthand the inherent dangers of motor racing by being directly opposite the point at which one driver shed his car’s body dramatically as he hit the straw bales and ending safely right by the marshals, this meant that the delay in the programme forced by the Red flag was only slight as we all heaved sighs of relief that the driver was unharmed, though undoubtedly he was somewhat shaken. We moved down into the commercial area after that where once again Peter admired the elegance and engineering brilliance to be found on the Rolls Royce and BMW stands and the very crowd-pulling surfing spectacle being put on by Peugeot. It was here that Peter’s knee decided it had a part to play, and forced him to make for his car for a rest, where unbeknownst to him his car had set its alarm off and duly flattened his battery resulting in a troubled time searching for one of the fourth Emergency Service, which curtailed his full enjoyment of the day.
Meanwhile I was back at my panning post unaware for some time the drama unfolding with Peter, but Lady Luck was favouring me by my being offered two tickets for the Saturday! So another early rise beckons…
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