What It's Like to Drive in the Greatest Vintage Race on Earth
Three days, one Jaguar, and a starstruck Yankee at the Goodwood Revival.

Every September, some of the greatest names in motorsport descend upon a small track in England. They come for the Goodwood Revival, a vintage-race weekend that attempts to reawaken the sport's heady past. Polite dress is required in the paddock. Warbirds take off from the infield. And the cars are invite-only, as significant as they come.

But the show is the main draw. The Revival has been called the world's best vintage race, but also the only real one: Cobras and 250 GTOs sliding inches apart. Modern touring-car stars hammering Cortinas. And thanks to a ferociously unforgiving track, palpable risk. Tickets sell out annually.

In 2015, editor-at-large Sam Smith raced in the Revival with Jaguar Heritage. He qualified on the front row at a track he'd never seen, in a 64-year-old car he'd barely driven, a brilliant result. The details are the stuff of dreams.