Turner fills his dance card as he has a ball at Goodwood
Darren Turner’s dance card was full for this year’s Goodwood Revival weekend as the British sportscar racer drove four machines from different eras of motorsport history, on what is always one of his favourite racing weekends of the year.
Each season the former Battle of Britain airfield, which began hosting motorsport events in 1948, hosts cars built and raced before 1966, drawing in prestigious cars and owners, a host of superstar drivers, and more than 145,000 fans every year.
Turner, Aston Martin’s longest-serving and still active works driver, adores the event and this year couldn’t resist the invitation to race two famous Aston Martins from different periods, as well as two American muscle cars from the 1960s.
“Normally I wouldn’t necessarily take on four races over the weekend,” explained Turner, “because you really hope to have the time to soak it all up and relax a little, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to drive two Aston Martins I love.”
Turner’s relationship with Aston Martin LM4 is already well established, having driven the 1930 Irish Grand Prix winner owned by Jonathan Lupton several times over the past few years. Were it not for a few niggles, he might have raced it onto the podium in the Brooklands Trophy.
Despite a small misfire, Turner qualified the little 1.5-litre speedster ninth for the pre-WW2 machine event. That issue resolved, he had high hopes for the race, but had to pit at the end of the first lap because of another small issue, which took four laps to resolve.
“It’s a shame,” said Turner, “because the pace in the car was there, we just needed a little bit more luck. But this car is always fun to drive, especially somewhere like Goodwood, where you work hard in the cockpit. The laps I got in, I really enjoyed!”
It showed too, as Turner set the fourth fastest lap of the race, and was the quickest of all the 1.5-litre-powered cars.
Turner then stepped out of the pre-war Aston Martin and into another icon, the Aston Martin DB4GT entered by marque specialist tuners R.S. Williams. Alongside co-driver Harrison Newey, he raced into the twilight of a Friday evening in the 45-minute Stirling Moss Memorial Trophy.
Newey started the race and the former Le Mans racer made great progress to fourth from 16th on the grid by the time the pitstop window opened. Turner took over in sixth, but as the Pros took over, the Jaguar E-Types came to the fore. He hung on to take tenth at the flag.
“It was nice to finish in the top ten,” said Turner, “but to be honest it was just an absolute pleasure to drive that car. The balance was incredible around Goodwood, it just glided through the corners and was super easy to control. Then to have the opportunity to race into the night added an extra dynamic.
“The lights on these cars are not the same as some of the modern cars we race, and Goodwood is quite dark around the back, so that was interesting!”
Turner was also given the chance to sample a 1965 Plymouth Barracuda alongside its owner Duncan Pittaway in the two-part St Mary’s Trophy.
“I did the first race on Friday,” said Turner, “and I was surprised by how well poised the car was!” St Mary’s always features a broad range of touring cars, from Alfa Romeo Giulias and Lotus Cortinas to nimble Minis and big American cruisers like the Ford Galaxie. The Barracuda sits firmly in the latter group.
“I was really expecting it to be a handful like all the big American muscle cars, but it was really well balanced,” he said. “If the grid had been full of those kinds of cars, I think it would have been close to the front, but everything finds its laptime in a different way, which makes it fun to race in. The Minis are mighty through the corners, but down the straight the Barracuda was awesome… once you got it pointed in a straight line.”
Finally, no Revival weekend would be complete without the headline Royal Automobile Club TT Celebration race, which this year Turner contested in Marco Attard’s 1965 Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray.
“The TT is such a special event, it really deserves its headline billing,” said Turner. “These [GT] cars were the best of their period, and now they are even better and super-fast. The grid is full of great historic drivers, paired off with a field full of racing legends. It’s amazing to be a part of it.”
The Sting Ray isn’t the obvious car for Goodwood, but Turner was happy with its performance in qualifying, and he and Attard were the fastest of the three entered.
“For some reason the car didn’t quite have the same rear-end grip it had in qualifying,” said Turner, who took the opening stint. “So for me it was 20 minutes of hanging on and bringing the car back to Marco in one piece! Sometimes the TT is not something you enjoy in the moment, because the cars are monsters, but when you look back on it you have a big smile on your face!
“Marco did a great job to get the car home without a scratch, and he was up against some mighty fast drivers as well.”
With another Goodwood Revival in the books, Turner is already looking forward to the 2027 edition. But before then comes a crack at the British GT GT4 class overall title. Having already sealed the Pro-Am crown for the third time, Turner heads to the Brands Hatch finale next weekend as part of one of four driver crews in contention.
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