Goodwood Revival 2025: Vans, Vintage and a Bit of Everything in Between
- The Sticker Queen
- Sep 21
- 4 min read
We’ve been to Goodwood before for events like Flat Six, but nothing prepared us for the scale of the Revival. It was huge, everywhere you turned there were historic vehicles, beautifully preserved, and crowds of people who’d all made the effort to dress up and step back in time.
This year marked 75 years of the VW Transporter, and our 1965 split screen bus was part of the celebrations. Months ago we’d applied to have it included, and when the acceptance came through we were over the moon.
The journey down was an adventure in itself. We trailered the bus behind our camper and crossed the Severn Bridge in torrential rain, wondering what on earth we’d let ourselves in for. At Chieveley services we met up with a few other VWs from Pembs, and from there we convoyed down to Goodwood together, gathering a few more along the way, which felt like the proper way to arrive.
Finding our way into the circuit was another story altogether, thanks to some dodgy directions from the Marshalls, we ended up driving anti-clockwise around the track, along with a couple of other equally confused vans. Cue chaos as everyone else was trying to get into the paddock meeting head on! Once parked up, though, the stress melted away, especially after we got chatting with the team from VW Heritage, who not only had a beautifully sign-written single cab pick-up but also kindly handed us a free brolly (a sure sign they knew what the weather had in store).
Cleaning the bus in the paddock gave us a few “Goodwood moments”. At one point Rowan Atkinson wandered past, whether he actually looked at the van or not is debatable, but let’s call it at least an involuntary glance!
Friday morning brought our first parade laps of the Goodwood circuit in glorious sunshine. In amongst the sea of split screens, the atmosphere was amazing. The smiles on people’s faces said it all as we all papped our horns the whole way round, as did the Split Screen fire engine van with its siren. Hearing the combined sound of all those air-cooled engines was incredible, and having owned air-cooleds for over 30 years, it was a real moment for me.
It was also nice to see familiar faces from West Wales on the grid — including Phil and his family, who were lined up ready for the lap too.
Saturday, on the other hand, threw everything at us; torrential rain, sudden bursts of sunshine, and relentless wind turned the laps into a damp and blustery affair. Back at the campsite, it was chaos, mud everywhere. I was very glad I’d packed my wellies at the last minute. With a severe weather warning out for Sunday, we made the decision to head home early rather than risk trailering the van over the Severn Bridge in high winds.
Even so, the second day had its highlight — Jason & Natz, from down our way and long time members of AirCooled Pembs, joined us around the circuit with their kids, which was brilliant fun and a real reminder of how the V-Dub scene brings people together.
The rest of the weekend was packed with highlights. Sublime, pre-war cars in stunning condition, historic F1 single seaters, and vintage motorcycles pushing the limits (frankly terrifying to watch). With paddock passes we could get right up close to the action, inches away from the truly priceless machines.
The Spitfire display on Friday morning was another spine-tingling spectacle, even if Saturday’s attempt was rained off. And while we didn’t catch it ourselves, it was brilliant to hear that Jenson Button took first place in the Freddie March Memorial Trophy driving a Jaguar C-Type.
The whole Revival vibe was spot on. Everyone made an effort, I dressed in 60s style to match the bus, Karl went 40s, and everywhere you looked people were dressed for the occasion. Combined with the hospitality, the food (great veggie options, too), and the lack of over-commercialisation, it felt like a true step back in time.
As for my personal highlights... catching flies staring at a 1955 Mercedes 300SL Gullwing in the paddock. And then there was bumping into the legend that is, superstar DJ Carl Cox at the Rennsport stand - the three of us ended up chatting for a while, just like old friends having a catch up... what a thoroughly nice guy!
Goodwood Revival really is unlike any other car event we’ve been to; part show, part race meeting, part vintage festival. For us, being there with the bus for its 75th anniversary was the cherry on top.
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