Racing lines: the stars shone at Goodwood this year Car News

Tom Cruise arrived on Sunday, after watching the women’s final at Wimbledon the day before and before attending a certain football match at Wembley. If only he had come as Cole Trickle from his glorious Nascar movie Days of Thunder…

But movie stars… pah. They are nothing compared to Mario Andretti, who overflowed with charisma and charm as he always does.

Found with old friends and rivals Sir Jackie Stewart and Emerson Fittipaldi, Andretti was like a pig in the proverbial, especially when he raced in a 1952 Ferrari 500 which won the F1 title by his childhood idol, Alberto Ascari . Andretti is 81 now, Stewart 82, Fittipaldi barely 74… Having recently lost Sir Stirling Moss and Murray Walker, it is imperative that we treasure every moment that we can capture with such towering heroes in motorsport. Reutemann’s death barely scratched the surface.

The bell rings on the hill

Appropriate speed on the coast is something that Goodwood has been careful to encourage following serious accidents that have included the tragic deaths of a driver and marshal in 2000. But in recent years, the shooting of the Sunday afternoon for the fastest time of the weekend has gained an all-too-familiar advantage.

Jack Tetley’s shunt in a stock Chevrolet Camaro car (or was it actually Cruise as Trickle?) Was a reminder of how things can fall apart when drivers get carried away. Still, it ensured just how quaint straw bales contained the Chevrolet as it ping-ponged the narrow track, with Tetley dropping two wheels on the grass on the race to the finish.

Once the major mess was resolved, McLaren Works GT driver Rob Bell pulled off the fastest race, taking just 45.01 seconds in a cranky black 720S GT3X.