This weekend I felt very privileged to attend The Goodwood Revival meeting in West Sussex. A veritable hotbed of exquisite historic cars, aeroplanes, fashion, music and memorabilia of a bygone era, not the mention the superb motor racing for which the event has an unrivalled reputation.
I believe it was Fangio, the Argentinean Formula One racing driver of formidable achievement who said, “You need great passion, because everything you do with great pleasure, you do well”.
From a spotless original 1965 Ford Transit, The Shelby Cup, a tribute to Dan Gurney to a grid value of c £300,000,000 worth of historic race Ferrari’s - the magic and sparkle one could almost hold. Now for those of you who are not particularly interested in things ‘petrol-head’, this is not the purpose of the post.
It was the passion and unbridled enjoyment that was palpable. Not only for the cars, the planes, the history, the racing, the clothes (that’s another post entirely) the atmosphere at this event was inspiring and extremely pleasurable. I met people from all walks of life, had conversations with more strangers in a day than I’ve done for ages and met one or two celebrities to boot. The passion of individuals for their cars, racing, the era, the clothes or just to enjoy a day at Goodwood House, was incredible.
I don’t think there was one vehicle, plane or person there that wasn’t immaculately turned out, well maybe one or two, but you get my point.
It may be the legacy of the success of the Olympics, the sheer passion and attention to detail for this event by Lord March and his team, or the sunny day that made the difference. However, living in challenging times, with volatile markets and economies, if finding our passion for what we care about makes such a big difference; to us, our friends and families, our companies, motor-racing events, then surely that’s the way to go.
As Disraeli said “ Man (or woman) is only truly great when he acts from his passions”.
What’s yours?
