Even by the enormously excessive requirements of the Goodwood Revival, the annual historic racing occasion at Goodwood in England, the St. Mary’s Trophy is a banger. It is a race for “saloon” vehicles of the early Sixties, and also you get the whole lot from Mini Coopers and Alfa Romeo GTAs, to Lotus Cortinas and Jaguar Mk IIs.
Then there are the Ford Galaxie 500s. Jack-of-all-trades racer Romain Dumas lined up in the back of the grid for this 12 months’s race and fairly actually muscled his manner ahead within the big-block Ford. Per the commentary, Dumas wasn’t purported to be at this 12 months’s Revival. However, a last-minute alternative got here up, and he was flown within the day earlier than.
Dumas lined up on the grid in twenty ninth, since he wasn’t in a position to qualify the automobile, and made a frenetic tempo through the 25-minute dash. It is a observe and automobile he is conversant in, although, having won this very race in this car back in 2022.
The St. Mary’s Trophy is a superb demonstration of the strengths of assorted vehicles. Minis do not have the grunt, however they have the pace by means of Goodwood’s quick corners. Alfas and Cortinas have extra energy, however they’re nonetheless momentum vehicles. The Jags are muscle vehicles by comparability, however at a horsepower observe like Goodwood, it is vitally laborious to argue with a Galaxie 500 wheeled by somebody like Dumas.
That is additionally no strange Galaxie 500, although. Those that race at Goodwood are “R-Codes,” factory-built light-weight racers with 427-cubic-inch V-8s stuffed underneath the hood. A muscle automobile if there ever was one.
However this is not a case of horsepower trumping all. Dumas is sort of continuously countersteering, and even clutch-kicking the automobile out of the sluggish chicane to forestall it from bogging down. There are some loopy saves right here, and heart-in-mouth moments as he threads the World’s Largest Needle.
Finally, he managed to take third, only a few thousandths behind the second-place finisher in his Plymouth Barracuda. The St. Mary’s Trophy continues with a second 25-minute race on Sunday at Goodwood, and Dumas’ teammate and automobile proprietor Invoice Shepherd took the checkered flag first.
There are a ton of highlights from the Revival and so they’re all price watching. However when you have 10 minutes, watch this one.
