Yahoo Autos Road & Track's Road to Revival Experience Was an Epic Adventure Through England's Car Scene
I’ve coveted the Road & Track experiences for a very long time. Driving through the wine country of California or the Smoky Mountains, taking in a race track, amazing roads, and gorgeous hotels—a week of motoring and culinary indulgence. It’s kind of like my day job, as one of this magazine's editors-at-large, only with much better food and accommodations, and at the end of it, there’s no magazine feature to write or video narrative to unearth from hours of footage. Heaven. Okay, so maybe I’d have to listen to editor-at-large Matt Farah on a walkie as he leads the pack. But otherwise, heaven. So when the email lands that the Experiences team wants me to help out on the latest adventure, Road to Revival, it’s a no-brainer. "Details to follow…" I can barely wait.
Slowly, the dream unravels. It’s to be in the U.K., based mostly within an hour or two of my home, so there's no extravagant travel involved. We will visit a racetrack. One of the greats, in fact. But our time at Silverstone will be spent at the museum. The hot flush of mild panic starts to rise up my neck. What next, I wonder? The revelations continue apace.
As the good readers of Road & Track will be arriving from the U.S., they can’t bring their own vehicles, so our meandering road to the fabulous Goodwood Revival via car factories, museums, and incredibly niche engineering specialists preserving and upgrading iconic cars will be navigated by coach. As this last detail emerges, I’m fighting back the tears. I text Matt Farah but he confirms he’s "busy" for this one. I start praying for any reasonable excuse to hoist me out of this seemingly sour deal.
Yet here I am with the Road to Revival still fresh in the memory and the warm glow of a genuinely incredible experience. A week that completely blew my preconceptions away and instead provided great insight into places I thought I knew, hours of fun conversation with like-minded enthusiasts, and culminated in an unforgettable day at the surreal, irresistible Goodwood Revival. We met Senna’s race engineer from the glory years and heard about the fierce rivalry with Prost from somebody who was embroiled in the chaos; we waded through water and mud in Land Rover Defenders, drooled over Aston Martins of all flavors from Valkyrie to DB4 GT Zagato, saw Morgans coming to life in the factory they’ve been produced in for over 100 years and so much more.
Dinner was time for reflection on each day’s events but also veered into stories about Ford GTs—incredibly, one of the Road & Track readers on the event was chief engineer of the second generation Ford GT, plus worked with Carroll Shelby on the Viper—McLarens, big pick-ups, and country music (in England we’re sure it’s some sort of elaborate prank), sex shops, and religion. Nothing was off the table... as it should be when a group of friends get together. I’m not allowed to mention the participants by name, but I certainly ended the week with a new group of pals, which is pretty cool. I’m very grateful they let me tag along.
Highlights for me included visiting the McLaren Technology Center, which has a breathtaking mix of sci-fi space station and Bond villain lair. I knew the guests would love it, but the whole experience was made better by the presence of the Drive to Survive team being there to capture interviews with the drivers, plus an extended lunch with Neil Trundle, former chief mechanic to Senna and a guy instrumental in the formation of McLaren as we know it. Neil’s life is intertwined with that of Ron Dennis and he had so many stories to tell. From working on the Tyrell six-wheeler F1 car to having a huge part to play in the first carbon fiber monocoque used in the sport, Trundle is fascinating company. Getting this personal insight in a stunning setting amongst F1 cars, the Le Mans-winning F1 GTR, and various outrageous road and racecars was a proper pinch-me moment.
There were many more, of course. Pouring over the pre-War Bentley that had just won the Paris to Peking rally at Kingsbury Racing Ltd., one of many specialists at the Bicester Heritage site; looking at dyno charts for Aston Martin engines at RS Williams (who seem to have built a hotrod motor for every DB4, DB5 and DB6 on planet Earth); eating venison scotch eggs in a gorgeous hotel opposite Shakespeare’s old place in Stratford Upon Avon—it was a good week. Heavenly, in fact. I even enjoyed snoozing on the coach. There, I said it. One thing’s for sure, I was right to covet Road & Track’s blue ribband events. Get yourself on one, and please request that I attend, too. Preferably in a very fast car and with a healthy tire budget.
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