Photography by Nat Twiss
You can’t miss the workers of the Revival, standing out with their white, grease covered overalls, in a sea of tweed and brightly coloured dresses, but they fit the feeling and atmosphere of the Revival perfectly. A small army of specialists descend on Goodwood for the Revival, tasked with everything from perfecting the setup, to refuelling, and hasty repairs. Dented panels are even beaten back in shape, or patched up as best as possible…
Some of these guys are without doubt, the best mechanics in the world. Some are moonlighting from their day-to-day jobs in GT and Formula series around the world, just because they love cars. One or two are even the drivers and owners.
Working through the blistering heat, and the pouring rain, night and day, sometimes you have to wonder if they’re truly mad. Walking through the paddock and hearing them fire the cars up is a fairly regular occurrence, but the kicker is that they’re often standing right next to the cars or inspecting the engine bay with no earplugs. If you weren’t fortunate enough to attend, and had to settle for the live stream it’s hard to understand why that might be something to remark about, but some of these cars are loud.
And then you see the maestros work in the pitlane. Races like the Sussex Trophy last for an hour and as well-maintained as these racers may be, they can often be temperamental. When one dips into the pits, the mechanics spring into action. The paddock-side prep work might be necessary, but it’s in the heat of the moment that you see them truly in their element. I’m frankly in awe of how innately they understand these cars, and often how quickly they can diagnose and repair a problem and get the machine back on the circuit.
We often complain about cars at shows not fulfilling their original purpose, but it’s only thanks to the mechanics that at events like the Goodwood Revival we can step back in time and see these machines doing what they were made to do. And for that, we salute you.
