Nine brilliant Valentine’s Day gifts for the petrolhead in your life | GRR
Nothing says I love you like an overpriced meal or some heart shaped confectionary – or does it?
We’d much rather go for a romantic drive, say around the Goodwood Motor Circuit, or spend the day with our one true love, our car. So, if you’re looking for the ultimate V-day gift for your petrolhead partner, take the hint and look no further than our Valentine’s Day gift guide.
Fellowship voucher
This is one of the cheaper methods of buying the way to your partner’s heart, but it guarantees to meet all of their motoring needs. For just £39, your Valentine will receive a host of Goodwood Road & Racing benefits, including exclusive online content and 25 years of the Goodwood archive, access to pre-sale event tickets and discounts on Goodwood Driving Experiences (15 per cent) and shop merchandise (10 per cent). Perhaps most exciting, a Goodwood Fellowship gives an individual access to March’s 78th Members’ Meeting, which promises some of the most exciting historic racing action in the calendar year.
Of course, there’s also the option for them to upgrade to the full GRRC Membership when a space becomes available.
James Bond Aston Martin DB5
No gift guide is complete without an incredibly complicated model car, which is guaranteed to shut your other half up for at least a day or two. And in this year’s Valentine’s list, we have two. First, this wonderful Lego James Bond Aston Martin DB5, which comprises 1,295 pieces, and stands at 3-inches high, 13-inches long and 4-inches wide when completed.
Featuring a host of 007 gadgetery, including an ejector seat, front wing machine guns, wheel-mounted tyre scythes and revolving numberplates, it’s available for £126.73 from Amazon. Because if they can’t own a real one, they may as well have a model.
Tickets to the Festival of Speed, Members’ Meeting or Revival
If you’re looking to splash a little more cash on your SO this V-day, take a look at ticket options for Goodwood’s headline events – Festival of Speed presented by Mastercard, Revival and, if they’re already a GRRC Member or Fellow, the exclusive Members’ Meeting. Each event caters to a different kind of motoring devotee – expect the latest hypercars to be driven alongside the Pendine Sands legend Babs on the iconic Festival hillclimb, while the Revival hosts everything from the 1920s’ Bentley Brookland’s Trophy to the Barry Sheene Memorial Trophy, which contests beautiful motorcycles that raced between 1960 and 1966. The Members’ Meeting, meanwhile, somewhat combines the two, with the breadth of cars ranging from a 1903 Mercedes 60hp to a 2003 Peugeot 206 Rally.
Prices start at £42 for Thursday access to the Festival of Speed, rising to £60 for a Revival Friday ticket, and £89 for access on either Saturday or Sunday of Members’ Meeting. Of course, there are infinite ticket packages available.
Snap-on toolbox
What’s red and full? No, not your partner’s heart when you give this to them but rather the present itself – a Snap-on toolbox full of their favourite toys – tools!
Snap-On are known for being the best in the business when it comes to tool storage, but that means they have a price tag to match. If you’re not willing to compromise on quality, then a Snap-On box is the way to go. The American manufacturers offers several different ranges, from industrial scale to classic and heritage editions. Considering you’re browsing Goodwood Road & Racing for a gift, we’d suggest something from the Heritage range, although expect to pay upwards of £1,000 for a drawer section, rising to £2,000 for an attractive roll cab. You’ve got to reeeeally love someone to splash out that much!
Hospitality in the Startline Club at the Festival of Speed or at The Barracks at the Revival
Among those aforementioned ticket packages are luxurious hospitality options at all three events. For a special treat, why not gift your beloved a trip to the Festival of Speed’s Startline Club, where they will be able to catch all the action from the best seat in the house – the grandstand right next to the startline. They can watch the drivers and riders warm up their engines and size up the competition, all whilst breathing Castrol R (from a safe distance of course). Included in this package is entry into the event, a roving grandstand pass, all-day-long refreshments (excluding alcohol), and forward parking. Tickets start from £210 on Thursday, rising to £294 for the three weekend days.
If they’re fond of vintage cars and celebrations, treat your Valentine to a trip to the Revival’s Barracks – it’s far more glamourous than it sounds, trust us. Based alongside the Lavant Straight, the wartime tent features an abundance of unallocated seating both inside and in its private garden, from where you can watch the cars and motorcycles hurtle down towards the Woodcote Corner. Included in the package is brunch, a light afternoon tea, unlimited refreshments and even lockers to store your vintage luggage. From £255 per person, it’s the ultimate way to enjoy the UK’s premier vintage motorsport event.
F1 gear paperweight
For the (wo)man who has been there, done that and got the t-shirt, what more could they want motoring wise? Well, how about a F1 gear cog paperweight, with which to hold down their sheaves of driver certificates, MOTs and V5 documents (we can only hope someone wouldn’t be this disorganised…).
There are plenty of car-inspired paperweights out there, but this £33.95 Etsy number takes our fancy. It claims to be from a Caterham CT01 Formula 1 car, as driven by Heikki Kovalainen and Vitaly Petrov, with rubber feet added to keep it in place on your desk.
Attractive, unpretentious and hopefully heavy (although being from an F1 car it’s unlikely to be too weighty), it’s the ideal gift for the F1 fan in your life.
Experiences at Goodwood Motor Circuit
Can your other half not get enough of Goodwood? Do they already have tickets to all events, as well as being a regular trackside? Why not turn the tables and get them out on track themselves, with one of the many driving experiences offered here at the Goodwood Motor Circuit, in the heart of West Sussex.
Starting from £49 for a performance hot lap, with a qualified driver at the wheel, to the £359 Performance Track, in which they will take to the tarmac in a BMW M car and trace the tyre marks of their racing heroes, there’s something for all tastes.
For the classic driver out there, Goodwood also hosts the £220 Classic Land Rover Experience and £595 The Revival Racing experience, where drivers will have the chance to get behind the wheel of bonafide classics and master the respective driving disciplines.
Porsche 911 flat-six engine model
The second model on our list is the 1966 Porsche 911 2.0-litre flat-six, a fully-functional quarter-scale model of an all-time classic. Featuring more than 280 components, the detailed model is suitable for children aged 10 upwards and can reportedly be completed in just two and a half hours, which sounds optimistic if you ask us.
When complete (if ever), the transparent casing allows the moving parts to be seen in action, while the battery-operated model also emits realistic engine noises. For £79.99, it guarantees hours of silent frustration and fun!
Karcher pressure washer
Another for the more practically inclined among us, a car-specific jet wash will always go down well. Luckily, Halfords is currently offering the Karcher K2 Full Control Car Pressure Washer for just £99, with all the functions and accessories required to safely clean the most precious of cars.
Making 74 Bar of pressure, the washer includes a car specific brush and shampoo, plus a foam jet nozzle and another, which boasts different settings for the different elements of the car – from stubborn dirt to delicate paintwork. Because, if you don’t spend hours fawning over your precious automobile with a bucket and sponge, can you really call yourself a car aficionado?
Photography by Jayson Fong and Stephanie O’Callaghan.