Darren Turner always loves the end-of-summer racing spectacular that is the Goodwood Revival, and it’s a weekend in which he usually excels. This year however, it was another family member who stood on top of the podium; his 10-year-old son Dylan.
In his final appearance in the Settrington Cup – the traditional Austin J40 pedal car race for children which forms part of the Sussex event’s weekend celebrations – Dylan played a starring role. “It was so great,” said Darren. “Dylan has always enjoyed the Settrington Cup, but because of his age this was the last time he was eligible to take part.”
Turner Junior grasped the nettle with both hands, and having started seventh on the grid, he charged to victory in Race 1 with a three second gap in hand over the opposition! A win in Race 1 meant starting from 64th in Sunday’s race, but undeterred he set off in pursuit in true ‘Turner’ style, rocketing up the order to finish 15th. When aggregated together the two results meant Dylan finished third overall.
“That’s the first time a Turner has won in the Settrington Cup,” said Darren. “Over the years the race has been great fun to be part of, both with (my daughter) Lyla and Dylan, so I was super happy for him to finish up with a place on the podium.”
While Dylan triumphed, his dad toiled through his two races – the St Mary’s Trophy for production-based saloon cars (1950-1959) and the RAC Tourist Trophy Celebration for closed-cockpit GT and prototype cars – thanks mainly to terrible weather which sporadically, yet dramatically, afflicted the weekend’s proceedings.
“In the St Mary’s Trophy I raced an Austin Mini and I needed it to rain, and in the TT I was racing the 1964 AC Cobra with Oliver Bryant and we needed it to stay dry, and it did the opposite in both!” explained Turner.
To be fair, Bryant and Turner starred in the headline hour-long TT event that they also had won in 2021 with the same car, but circumstances prevented them repeating the glory this time around.
“Ollie was brilliant in the first qualifying session, which was dry, and his lap was good enough for pole,” said Turner. “The second session was a washout, so no one improved.”
In the race, Bryant put on a dazzling display at the front of the field before the Safety Car was pressed into action following an accident involving a rare Tojeiro-Ford EE Coupe. Such was the size of the crash, from which Afschin Fatemi walked away unscathed, that a lengthy red flag was called for.
“This wiped away Ollie’s advantage, and to add insult to injury it started raining…” said Turner. “The last thing you want to be driving in the rain at Goodwood is a Cobra when you’re fighting for victory in the TT.”
Nevertheless, Bryant pulled out 11s on second-placed Andrew Smith before that similar Cobra pitted at the end of lap 16, on, by this time, a sodden Goodwood circuit.
“The car to have in these conditions is an E-Type Jaguar…” said Turner. And, so it proved. When Bryant finally pitted from the lead with 24 minutes to go at the end of lap 18, he’d already lost enough track position that Rob Huff’s Jaguar moved ahead through the stops.
“We’d left our driver change much later than our rivals, which meant that Ollie kept the lead for longer,” said Turner. “But we took a bit of time to disconnect the rear anti-rollbar during the stop and then I tried to pull away in third, unfortunately, which cost a bit more time!”
By the time Turner got in the groove he was running seventh, in conditions that suited other cars better and with drivers who’d already got their eye into the slippery surface.
“For me, it was 20 minutes of trying to stay on the track, which I was successful in doing,” said Turner, “but I can’t pretend it was my best performance… it was more like survival! In the end I think we finished 12th, but at least the car, owned by Grahame Bryant, was in one piece.
“It’s always a great honour to be able to drive these cars on occasions like this, but there was simply no catching those E-Types!”
It was the same story in the St Mary’s Trophy, but in this case, it was a dry circuit that meant Turner was unable to keep up with the more powerful Ford Thunderbirds and Jaguar Mk1s on the fast sweeps of glorious Goodwood.
“Had it been raining we might have had a chance of an upset,” said Turner, “but it was still great fun!”
Turner ultimately finished 19th having found himself in a four-car battle with Josh Cook (Austin Lancer), Marino Franchitti (Standard Vanguard) and Neel Jani (Jaguar Vanguard). “They were quicker down the straights, but were really slow around the corners, so we were all swapping positions left, right and centre, with me ducking behind for a tow down the long straights…,” he said. “It was brilliant fun!” Which of course is what Goodwood’s Revival is all about.
“As ever the Duke of Richmond and his team do such an impressive job,” said Turner, “and it’s even more impressive when you see them contend so well with such awful conditions as they had this year. The atmosphere is so great, the cars are fantastic, and it’s just so brilliant to be a part of it all.”
Turner now turns his attention to the final round of the GT World Challenge America, where he rejoins The Heart of Racing Team and the Aston Martin Vantage GT3 that he shares with Gray Newell, for the 8-Hour race at Indianapolis on 16-19 October.