A white butterfly flits between food vans and disappears into the blue sky over a WWII living history tent. A man dressed in tweed munches his sandwich while sitting on the ground in the afternoon sun, back against a fence, suitcase by his side, as the roar of cars resounds around the track. It can only be the Goodwood Revival. This year's event, at Goodwood Circuit in Chichester, West Sussex, took place over the weekend of 16-18 September. In the Earl's Court display area were 621 AOK, the first production Morris Mini-Minor to leave the Cowley production line in 1959 (on loan from the Gaydon museum) and S677 JKP, the Paul Smith MINI Recharged Mini. It's a 1998 Paul Smith LE converted (reversibly) to electric by MINI in conjunction with Recharged Heritage Limited. The ethos of the car, as far as Paul Smith was concerned, was to create something that was fit for today's world and reflected concerns around sustainability. That's why it has recycled rubber mats and seat fabric. It has a 'stripped-back' look with a removable steering wheel, as he cheerfully demonstrated when he arrived to talk about the car. EV conversions were aplenty as we also spotted an RHL test vehicle, Mike Cooper's electrically-converted Cooper Car Company Mini Van, in the paddock, brand-new electric Mokes and MiniWorld EV project Mini OBie.
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