8 classic stars of Goodwood's 73MM

It’s the 73rd Goodwood Members' Meeting this weekend. Think of it as the starting gun in Goodwood’s programme of events that includes the Moving Motor Show, Festival of Speed and retro-tastic Revival.
 
You don’t actually have to be a member of the Goodwood clubs to attend its eponymous meeting, with tickets available on general sale too. Here are the finest slices of classic racing machinery on show in West Sussex this weekend.

Spotting one McLaren F1 is a rare pleasure, Woking only ever fashioning 106 of the V12 carbon missiles. So to see 12 - yes, TWELVE - race-spec F1 GTRs in various liveries at 73MM is the stuff of pure petrolhead fantasy. But that's exactly what you'll get at Goodwood. Can you imagine the unholy sound of 144 cylinders and 7524bhp? Put us down for the Gulf one, thanks.

A whole grid's worth of classic Le Mans Group C screamers will be taking to the Goodwood circuit at 73MM, but it's especially worth keeping an eye on the Nissan R90CK.

Not only is this car the apex of Nissan's early Nineties sportscar racing efforts, before the company left the sport, but its driver is a certain British ex-F1 babyface called Max Chilton. Getting his eye in early with endurance Nissans before his japes at Le Mans in the GT-R LMP1 in June...

 
What’s better than a touring car race? That’s right, a classic touring car race. A veritable smorgasbord of tin-tops will be racing at 73MM, with grids featuring Ford Capris, Rover SD1s, hot hatches and even American muscle. The driver line-up is festooned with both former and current BTCC drivers too. No body contact this time, boys…

Think modern F1 racers are a bit ungainly looking? (The cars, we mean, not the drivers.) Just wait until you clap eyes on the fleet of 1970s ‘High-Airbox' era F1 cars also in action at Goodwood over the weekend. Up periscope!

Of particular interest is the Shadow DN5, notable not just for its sinister name, but also its driver. Behind the wheel, swapping gears across the five-speed manual 'box, will be 68-year old Jean-Pierre Jarier. The Frenchman is being reunited with his DN5 for the very first time since he scored three pole positions in it during the 1975 season. Welcome home, J-P.

Another returning veteran is this Bastos-liveried Chevy Camero Z28, racing for the first time in over 30 years. The V8 monster will be joined by almost its polar opposite, in car terms - a rotary engine Mazda RX-7, which qualified alongside this very Camaro on the front row of the 1981 Spa 24 Hours.

That's what's great about Members Meeting - it's like a school reunion for very cool racing cars. Except instead of just meeting for a friendly coffee, they roll up their sleeves and have an on-track punch-up.

Lewis Hamilton's 2013 company car will take part in a staggered race with Merc's latest road car flagship, the AMG GT S, and a particular classic car from Affalterbach's stable...

The two modern Mercs will be challenging the iconic 300SEL ‘Red Pig'. Of course, it's the oldest car that has the biggest engine - a socking great 6.8-litre V8 growling out 420bhp.

This isn't a real Ferrari 250 GTO. It's a recreation, but a very good one, built to exacting standards by a Modenese coachbuilder called Carrozzeria Allegretti.

Based on a Ferrari 250 GTE, the 1978 creation is up for auction with Bonhams at an estimate of £400,000 - £500,000. That's about one-sixtieth of what you'd pay for a ‘real' GTO in such mint nick, which must make it a bargain, right?