More than 100 Volkswagen Kombis took to the track at this year’s Goodwood Revival to celebrate 75 years of the much-loved icon that famously sired the concept of the “people carrier”. Our contributor Graeme Hurst was there to lap up the atmosphere.
Conceived in the late 1940s by Dutch VW importer Ben Pon – who was inspired by a Beetle-based “parts mover” he saw on a factory visit – the Type 2 (as it was labelled), which was launched back in 1950 and came in Transporter, Kombi, and Microbus versions, was venerated at the 2025 Goodwood Revival.
And dozens of each variant in all manner of finishes and conditions turned up at the Sussex-based motor circuit in the UK last month (from 12 to 14 September) to demonstrate the universal love for VW’s Splittie (named after its characteristic split windscreen), with more than 1.4 million units produced over 17 years.
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The tribute to the automotive icon tied in with the celebrations of the “Summer of Love” at the 2025 Goodwood Revival (the movement kicked off in San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district in the late ’60s).
Visitors arriving at the circuit’s entrance were greeted by actors clad as hippies (together with nuns enjoying a puff!) and a recreation of Further, the school bus which was famously painted in psychedelic colours before being driven across the USA in 1964 by counterculture group, the Merry Pranksters.
Celebrazione Alfa Romeo at 2025 Goodwood Revival
The Volkswagen parade marked the opening of the action-packed 2025 Goodwood Revival race programme each morning, with the grid lineups interspersed with Celebrazione Alfa Romeo – a celebration of 100 years since Alfa Romeo won the inaugural Manufacturers’ World Championship and 50 years since it clinched the 1975 World Championship for Makes in the Sportscar Championship.
More than 45 competition examples of the famous Milanese marque took to the circuit daily to show the sheer scale of Alfa Romeo’s legendary ability across Grand Prix, sports, touring, as well as prototype categories over the decades.
Attending Alfisti were thrilled to see such icons as the pioneering P2 Grand Prix car – as well as the 1929 Mille Miglia-winning 6C 1750 SS Zagato Spyder – alongside more modern fare such as the ex-Jochen Rindt Giulia GTA and a duo of the mighty flat-12-engined 1972 Tipo 33 sports racers.
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Goodwood also took the opportunity to mark another important milestone: 60 years since legendary Lotus hot shoe, the late Jim Clark, won a hat-trick of races at the 1965 Goodwood Easter Meeting.
That’s when he took the chequered flag for the Lavant Cup sports prototype race in a Lotus 30, the St Mary’s Trophy for saloon cars in a Lotus Cortina, and the Sunday Mirror Trophy in a Lotus 25.
It was the latter race that saw him and Jackie Stewart (who was also at the 2025 Goodwood Revival, he is pictured above) jointly set the circuit’s (as yet unbeaten) record of 1 min 20.4 seconds.
Clark, the 1963 and 1965 Formula 1 drivers’ champion, was already a star some years before, after he scored another hat-trick when he took the chequered flag in the Rand Grand Prix, the Natal Grand Prix, and the South African Grand Prix in the space of 2 weeks back in December 1961!
And the very Lotus-Climax 21 (shown above) he campaigned on our shores back then formed part of the celebrations at the 2025 Goodwood Revival. It lined up next to another Lotus with links to SA – the Lotus 18 Formula 1 car that Wolfgang von Trips raced at Killarney in 1960.
50 years of BMW Art Cars
Other anniversaries included BMW’s celebration of 50 years of its famous Art Cars with 6 originals – including the 3.0 CSL by Frank Stella, which competed in Le Mans and the 320i Turbo by American Pop artist Roy Lichtenstein. More recent examples in BMW’s amazing back-catalogue of rolling art included the 1995 850 CSi by British modern artist David Hockney and the 2010 M3 GT2 by Jeff Koons.
The famous Munich marque’s 50th anniversary celebrations extended to the E21-series 1st-gen 3 Series – first launched back in 1975 – with an example parked up in a period ’70s fuel station as the centrepiece to the ever-popular Earls Court display.
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Also being celebrated was 60 years of the mighty Cosworth brand, with a photographic display of 6 decades of achievements fronted by an example of the iconic Ford DFV V8 – widely regarded as the most successful F1 engine of all time.
Of course, the highlights at this famous step-back-in-time three-day fixture were by no means all static: the 16-strong race programme didn’t disappoint, especially with the ever-changing weather over the weekend which saw various races start in the dry only to finish in the wet.
The frequent change in conditions upped the excitement on the track, most notably for the two-part St Mary’s Trophy Race for saloon cars, which saw Steve Soper’s hefty Ford Fairlane reign supreme in the first – the ‘dry’ – race on the Saturday. It was all change for the second part, the next day, when a sodden track had the fish-tailing Ford being outgunned through the twisty bits by a trio of Jaguar Mk1s.
F1 stars turn out for RAC Tourist Trophy
The rain also dialled up the thrills for the Revival’s Blue Riband fixture, the RAC Tourist Trophy for closed-cockpit GT cars and prototypes. It featured a 29-strong grid complete with two F1 World Champions, no less: Jacques Villeneuve and Jenson Button! Villeneuve was behind the wheel of the famous “Hairy Canary: Shelby Cobra while Button was piloting his own Jaguar E-Type.
Sadly, their respective talent was no match for the TT regulars and the race was won by Tom Ingram (second time in a row) and Richard Kent in a Jaguar E-Type after leader Rob Huff incurred a pitstop penalty in the last few minutes.
But 2009 F1 champion Button had better luck when he (and Alex Buncombe) drove his ex-Juan Manuel Fangio Jaguar C-type to victory in the one-hour Freddie March Memorial Race, which kicked off the race programme on the Friday evening. It was Revival-regular Button’s first win at the event.
Not all the action on track involved four wheels, mind: Saturday’s celebration parade in honour of Jim Clark saw a herd of sheep take over the grid in a tribute to the legendary Scot’s farming roots. And race commentators were quick to report on their progress as a sheep dog guided them along the circuit!
There was another surprise on the Sunday when the circuit’s straight hosted a street party during the race programme’s lunch hour to honour the 80th anniversary of the VE celebrations, which saw neighbourhoods across the United Kingdom throw parties to welcome the end of hostilities.
It was a fitting moment for a circuit that has its roots as RAF Westhampnett – a WW2 fighter base that played a crucial role in achieving victory.
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