The GRRC Open Day featured some of the most stunning cars

More than 50 GRRC Members ‘concours’ cars, commercial vehicles and motorcycles – old and new – were displayed in a crescent formation on the turning circle directly outside Goodwood House, with hundreds more interesting vehicles gathered in the car park next to the House.

In addition to the hand-picked selection of Members’ vehicles on display, free entertainment kept the 3,000+ attendees amused all afternoon, including a live acoustic band and vintage fun fair, with the bars and food outlets in attendance enhancing the visitors’ summer picnics. 

The wide-ranging selection of 50+ vehicles chosen for this year’s GRRC Open Day concours ranged from a rare and tiny 1929 Rosengart LR2 ‘Austin Seven’ and an imposing 1937 Alvis 4.2-Litre Vanden Plas, right through the motoring decades, up to a 2016 Jaguar F-Type coupe and Elemental RP1 track day car

Plugging the time gaps were a Ford GPW Jeep and one-off Beutler-bodied Healey from the 1940s, with 1950 cars including an Abarth Fiat 750 GT ‘Double Bubble’, Lotus Eleven, Buick Series 40 Special, Mercedes 220 SE, Jaguar XK 120 and Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint, with the ex-Paul McCartney Aston Martin DB5, a Maserati Sebring, Bristol 406, Triumph Italia 2000, Morris Mini Traveller, Ford Mustang, Austin A110 Westminster and TVR Vixen helping to represent the 1960s.

Classics from the 1970s including a purposeful Dodge Coronet R/T, a charming Triumph TR6, BMW 3.0 CSL, Alfa Romeo Montreal and Ferrari 365 GT4 ‘Berlinetta Boxer’, with more recent ‘modern classic’ highlights including an Opel Monza GSE, a Ford Sierra Cosworth, Bentley Eight, Audi RS2, Smart Crossblade, TVR Sagaris, Subaru Impreza WRX, Porsche 911 Targa and an unusual Brooke 260RR.

Among the more eclectic vehicles on display, a 1952 Reliant 6CWT three-wheeler van, 1961 Lambretta TV127 scooter, one-off 1998 ‘Badcat’ Jaguar XK8, a 1976 Yamaha XT500, plus a huge 1964 Dennis F107 fire engine, created much attention at the Open Day, including Lord March pausing to look at these rarely-seen machines. 

A dignified black 1953 Bentley R-Type was positioned on the Goodwood House turning circle lawn for Open Day visitors to guess how many red balloons were contained within the car (99 in total), with a charitable donation being given to Winston’s Wish for each guess.

After some lively voting on the GRRC’s tablets by many of the GRRC Members and visitors for the ‘Members Favourite Vehicle’, the 2017 Aston Martin Vantage GT8, entered by Paul Gerring, won the popular vote, with this competition-derived coupe set to be displayed with in the Rotunda at the Royal Automobile Club, Pall Mall, within the next 12 months.

Photography by Tom Shaxson