Goodwood, 6-8 September, 2000
Since it’s inception in 1998 the Goodwood Revival meeting has become a must-do
event for all those who love cars, and Emanuele Pirro is no exception. For those who
don’t already know, the Revival is a time-warp event organised by the Earl of March at
the circuit which his grandfather originally created in the grounds of his estate in the
late 1940’s. Racing stopped in 1966 when the circuit was deemed to no longer be
safe for the increasingly rapid cars of the day. However Charles, the current Earl,
realised his dream of bringing racing back to Goodwood in 1998. All the races at the
once-a–year event are for pre- ’66 machines and everything is kept in period with no
modern vehicles allowed within the confines of the circuit, and those attending are
encouraged to wear period clothing. It all adds up to a tremendous spectacle.
This year, Emanuele found himself competing in two races with two very different
cars. His regular sportscar employers, Audi, chose to look to their past by entering a
pair of DKW’s in the St Mary’s Trophy race for 1950’s saloon cars. Emanuele was to
share a 1958 Sonderklasse with it’s German owner, Martin Hesse. Meanwhile fellow
Audi R8 racer Johnny Herbert teamed-up with Desmond Smail in a 1957 version.
Pirro had the advantage of driving a well-sorted race car with which Hesse has been
competing for several years, but Herbert had to grapple with a car that Audi UK have
only recently imported from South Africa and was making it’s race debut.
Other than a quick drive round the paddock, Emanuele’s first chance to drive the car in
earnest was in official qualifying when he set the 15th fastest time. That was no mean
effort either, as there were much more powerful cars ahead of him (and a few
behind!). He was pleasantly surprised by the little 1000cc car too.
”It’s actually quite nice to drive” said Emanuele, ”the handling is nice, not so much
oversteer, not so much understeer.”
The race on Sunday morning saw Emanuele take the start, and he was quickly in the
thick of the action, gaining a couple of places early on. He soon found himself running
in close company with Stirling Moss’s mighty Jaguar MkV11 before handing over to
Hesse. Unfortunately Hesse was forced to make a second, unscheduled stop when
the windscreen became completely smeared with oil. The resultant loss of time saw
them drop back to finish 16th, exactly as they started!
Later the same day, Emanuele had to adjust to driving a very different, rather more
powerful car, for he was to share a Jaguar E-Type Lighweight with Gregor Fisken in
the RAC TT Celebration race. Always a focal point of the Revival meeting, this
one-hour, two-driver race for 1960’s GT cars regularly attracts a star-studded entry of
both drivers and cars. When Emanuele qualified the Jaguar third fastest behind
Patrick Tambay in the AC Cobra he was sharing with Henri Pescarolo, and the Frank
Sytner/Rob Wilson E-Type we knew we were in for a cracking race. The three of them
were covered by less than a second!
When the flag dropped, Tambay lit up the tyres and scorched away from the line with
the two Jaguars in hot pursuit, Sytner ahead of Emanuele. They scrapped mightily,
Sytner as usual indulging in some ungentlemanly conduct but Emanuele briefly
sneaked into second place on lap 6 before Sytner barged his way ahead again, going
on to take the lead from Tambay with a move that left the Frenchman distinctly
unimpressed. Emanuele also managed to pass him for second place. However, all
was not well with Sytner’s car, and after succumbing to first Emanuele then Tambay
he stopped out on the circuit on lap 21.
Things were a little cleaner after that and Emanuele and Tambay were left to thrill the
large crowds with a terrific nose-to-tail fight. As the circuit commentator said, it was
one of those races you wanted to go on for ever. Both drivers were driving hard and
staying in the cars as long as possible before handing over to their slower co-drivers.
Eventually, Tambay was the first to dive for the pits (on lap 24), where it nearly all went
wrong for the Cobra team. As Pescarolo jumped in, the driver’s door window came
adrift and had to be removed, thus delaying his return to the track. He rejoined in third
place, behind Emanuele and Win Percy’s E-Type.
Emanuele stayed out until lap 28, when he came in to hand over to Fisken. Their
changeover too was a little slow, but Fisken joined the race with an advantage of just
over six seconds. However, Pescarolo was rapidly making up time, taking the lead on
lap 33 (of 40) to win the hour-long race a scant two seconds ahead of the Jaguar.
Nevertheless, Emanuele was not too disappointed afterwards. ”It was really good and
I had a lot of fun,” he said. ”I had a good fight with Patrick but it was very fair. We
respect each other a lot. I would like to say thank-you to all the fans - I very much
hope I will be able to come back again next year.”
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