Avebury, UK, April 16 — Era Motorsport has just finished one of its most successful weekends as a team at the exclusive 81st Goodwood Members’ Meeting, successfully managing to pull off not only their first Goodwood win, but also a seven-car Shadow CanAm Showcase in conjunction with the Goodwood CanAm Celebration.
The Shadow cars joining the exhibition is the result of over a year of work by Era Motorsport and car-owner Jim Bartel to make sure the cars were prepped, running, and shipped from their home in the US to the UK to take part in Goodwood events in 2024.
1974 CanAm Champion Shadow Driver Jackie Oliver was reunited with his championship winning Shadow DN4 for the first time in 50 years, and was able to jump back in and get comfortable behind the wheel almost immediately.
“Well it was nice to be reunited with the car I used to win the Canadian American Championship in 1974, 50 years after the championship!” said Oliver of the occasion, “And particularly here in the UK, with the cars brought over from the US, and to sit in it and drive it at Goodwood which I’m much familiar with.”
“It’s a nice thing to be able to do! The car has been looked after very well by the owner James Bartel and his team, and Kyle Tilley particularly, and I’m still good enough to get in it!
“Life is pretty good when you still fit in the car you drove 50 years ago!”
Especially after so much work to make the exhibition happen, team-owner Kyle Tilley was similarly excited about the event, stating “I’m super, super happy and proud of the effort everybody has put in. Big thanks to Jim for trusting us with them, Jackie Oliver, Tom Kristensen, Marino Franchitti, Jason Miller, Kirt Bennet, Marcus Pye Saturday, and Jake Hill Sunday, I just can’t thank everybody enough.”
Tilley was lucky enough to pilot not only the Shadow MKI Mosport race car on Saturday, but the MKI Prototype complete with its air-braking system on Sunday as well.
“If I stood here and thought about it, I might get a little emotional. I don’t know what to say other than a massive thank you to everybody on the team. It’s been pretty stressful, so on one hand I’m glad it’s over, but it’s so cool to have Jackie back in his championship winning car 50 years later, and just to showcase Shadow’s CanAm effort. The amount of attention the cars have gotten has been incredible.”
Scottish Sports Car Racing legend Marino Fanchitti was lucky enough to be behind the wheel of the 1972 Shadow MKII, a redesigned car for the 1971 season that was improved upon for ‘72.
“It was amazing! Everyone was getting after it and you had this beautiful big line of Shadow CanAm cars, and Porsche 917/30 in my rear-view mirror, it was just incredible.
“Through the kinks on the back stretch, first-gear, flat-out on the first time through I was behind Jason [Miller] and the front started getting super light, and it just gives you an idea of how crazy these CanAm cars were, and the driver, how brave they were, and how insane these Shadows are.
“I’ve driven the 917/30 before, so it’s really interesting to see the different approaches with these naturally aspirated engines compared to the turbocharged engine, but nothing beats CanAm. Nothing.
“I think I was born in the wrong era, I wish I’d been around to race these things. At the time they were faster than a Formula 1 car, and I think they stack up as a rules package and a time where I don’t think things have ever really been better for craziness.
“I’m super thankful to Jim Bartel, Kyle Tilley, and the entire Era Motorsport crew for having me, it’s been a pleasure.”
British Touring Car Championship driver Jake Hill got in on the fun for Sunday’s festivities immediately after leaving a podium celebration for his result in the Ken Miles Cup, stepping into the 1970 MKI Mosport car for the second exhibition of the weekend.
“When I saw the Can-Am cars that were going to be here for the meeting as the demo, I thought, ‘well that’s pretty cool,’ but I didn’t expect to be in one!” he said after the event.
“I’ve known Kyle [Tilley] for a little bit now, he’s a great guy, and he said he had to jump in the Prototype Shadow so he asked me if I’d like to drive this one. I said, ‘Of course! It’s gonna be absolutely fantastic!’
“So huge thanks to the owner, obviously it’s a huge, huge privilege, and another car ticked off the bucket list. I've had an absolutely fantastic day here at the revival made even better by making a life-long memory in a car such as this.”
Traveling from across the pond, no stranger to seeing the Shadows at their hometown track of Road America, US historic racing regular Jason Miller was making his Goodwood debut in style behind the wheel of the MKIII.
“It’s a once in a lifetime experience to be in a CanAm car at Goodwood, I got to experience both for the first time today. It’s something that’s very special, and I’ll always remember because it will probably never happen again.”
“The Shadow MKIII just begs for more, and I wanted to give it more as I was getting more comfortable obviously, so someday I’ll have to come back and have a race, but it was just a wonderful experience”
Finally, behind the wheel of his own 1973 Shadow DN2, Kirt Bennett
“Any time you get in these cars for any reason, it’s a thrill. It’s always starting over the first time you get in when you’ve been out for a while. They’re just super exciting to drive, and thankfully all the cars ran great. It’s just pretty cool to be on the same track as Jackie Oliver and Tom Christensen, both of whom were right in front of me the whole time.
“These cars really like the high-speed wide-open stuff. This track would be absolutely perfect for these cars, but there’s no way you’re going to be able to get a bunch of guys to race high-speed around this place in these types of cars. We’d be doing 195MPH down the backstretch and there’s just nowhere to go if something happens.”
Despite running seven-tenths, the cars garnered a huge amount of attention and excitement both on and off the track, with their strange quirks, and rarity making them stand out even amongst a Goodwood paddock.
The seven monstrously powerful CanAm machines joined a field of 24 cars from the famed era for two exhibition runs, one on each day of the Members’ Meeting, both time leading the fast-paced parade of cars around the track.
As Bartel put it after the Meetings’ conclusion on Sunday, “It can’t be topped and it can’t be repeated. It’ll never be the first time again, and you can’t beat Goodwood.”
In addition to all of the excitement around the Shadows, Era Motorsport picked up an exciting win in the Graham Hill Trophy with Miles Griffiths at the wheel of the No. 180 TVR Griffith ran by Era, marking the team’s first win on the hallowed grounds of the Goodwood Motor Circuit.
Griffiths started second on the grid after setting the second-fastest time in Saturday’s practice session in the V8 powered coupe.
After spending the first 10 minutes of the race closely chasing down Alex Buncombe in a Shelby Cobra, a slight mistake by the Cobra allowed Griffiths and the TVR to pass, and hold the lead for the remainder of the 25-minute race.
“It was great fun,” said Griffiths, “it’s wonderful to be driving at the Goodwood Members’ Meeting again.”
“The car was lively, it has such a short wheelbase and a lot of power, but I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I’m really pleased with the win. It’s my first race with Era Motorsport and it went really well!”
“Battling the Cobra was hard work, we sort of made our lap time in different ways. He’s better on the brakes, we’re a bit better mid-corner, so it was just managing that really. Then when he made a slight mistake we were able to just nip though.”
“Big thanks to Era Motorsport for doing such a great job, Kyle has been mega all weekend, the car has been really reliable and really fun to drive.”
Tilley, who accepted the prize on behalf of Griffiths at the award ceremony said of the win, “It’s just been an incredible weekend all around really! The win in the Graham Hill Trophy is just icing on the cake. It really goes to show just how great our team has been to be able to put together a winning car while handling seven other highly specialized cars at the same time.”
“I think what we have at Era Motorsport is something special, and we continue to prove it time and time again. Massive thanks to the dozens of people who have been involved in making this weekend happen.”