If I were a perfumer charged with creating a new man's fragrance it would have a base of fresh upland air laced with a sea breeze, hints of warm grass, pipe tobacco and barbecue smoke and a dash of warm car leather. Above this would hang the sweet and stirring scent of hot motor oil, vapourised by the overheated and over-revving engine of a 1930s racing Bugatti. Finally I would add hints of floral and citrus from the perfumes of passing well-dressed and elegant women.
Or maybe I'd just go to Goodwood Revival, taking place this weekend.
This beautiful woman apologised for getting in the picture - she thought I was photographing the car!
At Goodwood Revival you'll experience all the above, with the welcome addition of two further senses. The tearing-calico sound of vintage racing cars, pushed to the limit by their proud owners and the sight of beautifully-dressed and elegant women for whom the forties and fifties were the height of flattering femininity (what's happened since to hide women's natural curves?) Goodwood provides all the elements of the perfect weekend for a man.
And I haven't mentioned the Battle of Britain Memorial flight, with the steady bass of Rolls Royce Merlin engines droning overhead, or the sinister whisper of early jet fighters such as the Gloster Meteor or the Canberra bomber.
I was at Goodwood Revival as a guest of Private White VC, those Manchester manufacturers of casual menswear, who had a couple of cars racing on the track (below). They are, of course, as British in style as Goodwood Revival itself.
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| Nick Ashley, designer, and some of the Private White VC team |
