On Sunday March 30th, we set off for Goodwood very early in the morning (Particularly early as the clocks changed that night) to arrive as the gates opened at 7-30am. As the 71st Members' Day was held in the 1960's, people had been waiting for the 72nd one for an awful long time, but the wait was truly worth it. Lord March, as you know, runs two very successful motorsport event, The Festival Of Speed and The Revival, and this day promised to be a mixture of the two, without the stifling huge crowd that they attract. Dressed as per the dress code in jacket and tie, which I must say is a little bit more formal than my usual photography wear at motorsport events of jeans and a T-Shirt, we tried to mingle with 'The Right Crowd'.

The first thing that struck me on entering the venue was the space around the cars, the ease of accessibility to the cars (No barriers or ropes here), and the glorious lack of crowding. We began by having a wander round the paddock, taking in the sight of so many important and breathtaking cars, and at times my brain became overloaded by the exotic sights that were put in front of me. Usually one of such models such as D-Types, C-Types, GT40s and racing Bugattis would be a real highlight of any event, but here there were 4 or more of each! If they looked this good in the Paddock, just imagine how good they looked and sounded when they were racing on the track.

A glorious red GT40 lurking in the paddock, in fact one of quite a few.

A big cat lurking undercover, waiting to be woken up and exercised.

The Turbo F1 cars were there too, and this Benetton brought back memories for me, of a trip to the Austrian Grand Prix, to see them in action in the 80's with Gerhard Bergher at the wheel.

Racing Bugattis are a particular favourite of mine, so with 25 in attendance, I had plenty to look at and admire the stunning design and engineering, that makes these so sought after.

These two were tucked away in a corner, looking a little forlorn.

Of course, it wouldn't be a racing paddock, if some early morning fettling wasn't being done before the race.

6R4 perched up nice and high on its jacks, for some maintenance. What a pocket rocket these cars are, almost as wide as they are long, and surely tremendous fun for the very brave drivers.

Now, where did we put the rest of the car??

McLaren P1 turned heads wherever it went as you can see from this photo, and was used as the Course Car. Not sure that the black paintwork worked as well as some of the more lurid colours we see them painted in, but a magnificent bit of kit all the same. British engineering at its best.

After we had looked around the Paddock we ambled down to Madgwick Corner to capture the racing action. As this is the first corner on the circuit, it can get a bit fast and furious as they arrive in a pack.

Eye catching colour scheme on this fast Capri.

What was that about staying within the track limits?

You don't very often see a Volvo leading the pack, but here is the proof that it sometimes happens!

Celebrity chef James Martin, left the TV studios to head straight down to Goodwood to drive this fast Mini. 

Unlucky number for some, but this Ford driver didn't worry!

One of the strangest visors I have ever seen on a crash helmet!

Somebody forgot to tell this driver that it wasn't Rallycross this weekend!. As you can see, even when at the wheel of extremely valuable racing cars, the drivers still try very hard indeed.

After an earlier altercation, the driver had the door open for a fast escape.

Just to prove that it is not only the rally drivers that get a wheel airborne whilst competing.

With the big steering wheels you could actually see the drivers sawing away at the wheel as they coaxed the drifting cars round the corners. So much better to see than the invisible downforce of modern racers gluing them to the track.

Italians first and second, with an Alfa and a Lancia doing battle.

You can see how much space there was to view the action, and how close to the track you could get in the background here. If you were wondering about the bank of yellow daffodils all round the track, Lord March had 300,000 bulbs planted last year to give the track some colour. Now that is commitment.

The racing was very close at times, as these two rubbing shoulders illustrates.

One of Enzo's finest on three wheels.

The Big Cat taking its exercise.

Red Pocket Rocket putting its power down.

The one make Bugatti race must rate as one of the highlights of the meeting, and is something that I will remember for a very long time.

Think it is safe to say that the 57G 'Tank' Bugatti was not one of the prettiest designs to emerge from Molsheim, but I feel fortunate to have been able to see it in action.

Of course when you are trying really hard, things can often go wrong and you end up travelling in the wrong direction.

Swapping horsepower for Marshall power! As always at these events, huge thanks must go to the army of volunteers, whose sterling work allows these events to be held.

In racing, one person's misfortune is another competitors advantage, and the stricken car is soon overtaken.

Only Goodwood could have a DB5 as the safety car, everything was done with style!

The demonstration runs needed a pair of Pace Cars, and a pair of F40s fitted the bill nicely.

All looks a bit slab sided and weighty, when compared to the current F1s, but let us not forget that these beasts packed around twice the power of the current breed.

Scenes like this can't fail to get the old nostalgia going, can it?

Fastest knitted jumper advert ever, they used to say at the time!

Naturally enough, with these old cars being worked really hard, they will protest at their treatment occasionally as the smoke pouring out of this racer shows.

After a long, tiring day even a racetrack full of screaming fast cars couldn't stop this chap getting his afternoon snooze!

It really was a truly fabulous day out, great cars, close fast racing, no crowding and the usual Goodwood eye for detail, made this probably the best event I have attended there. Can't wait for the 73rd!