After a successful career as a still-life photographer, Lord March was handed the keys to the family estate, Goodwood, in 1994, and promptly set about creating Festival of Speed – the event that introduced a new generation to classic cars. So ahead of this weekend’s Festival of Speed, we spoke to the aristocratic entrepreneur behind the Goodwood dynasty.
Even in the plush enclosure of the IWC hospitality paddock, the searing roar of nearly 30 Ford GT40s thrashing around the Goodwood track is putting the brakes on any sort of conversation. A step out onto the veranda only further engulfs the senses, the distinct aroma of fuel and oil accompanying the deafening noise. Albeit these aren’t the ideal conditions for an interview, this combination of refinement and Grand Prix pit lane is a perfect reflection of the man who put it all together, Lord March.
On the outside he’s every inch the eccentric aristocrat; tall, lean, nattily dressed and faultlessly mannered. Yet at the core, he’s a dyed-in-the-wool petrolhead with an unyielding passion for anything with an engine. Despite the obvious cliché, it’s this thirst that drives the Earl, and fittingly our chat takes place at one of the latest products of it, the 74th Goodwood Members’ Meeting, an event revived in 2014 to hold races between some of the world’s top driver, past and present. This in addition to two of Europe’s biggest motoring events: Festival of Speed and Revival.
Having been handed the keys to the house and the business just prior to his 40th birthday, as is the family’s tradition, Lord March left a successful career as a commercial photographer to build the business into a brand, a word he often refers back to. Brand is currency in advertising after all and, as he notes, the career gave him ‘insight into how to try and create and bring an overall look, feel and attitude and values to the whole thing.’ He’s certainly done that to the family estate and under his charge, it has accelerated from an annual turnover of £8 million to £73 million.
Festival of Speed has been at the head of this, undoubtedly, and now attracts 200,000 visitors to the estate every summer.
Having overturned a noise complaint from locals so he could reopen the old Goodwood track, the ribbon was cut on Festival in 1993. Lord March quickly discovered he had stumbled on something that resonated with fellow four-wheeled enthusiasts: ‘We had no idea that first year that we were going to get anybody. We were told that we were going to get 2,000 people, but we had about 25,000, and we weren’t ready at all. I remember looking out of my bathroom window thinking, “My god what are we going to do?” People were just streaming in and, of course, they all got in for nothing in the end as we had no way of controlling them properly.’
Throughout our conversation, Lord March, or ‘LM’ as he’s known in these parts, is never visibly happier than when he’s talking about motorsport. Festival of Speed may draw the big ticket crowds from around the world, but Revival has become an important date in the British summer calendar, too. The event, which is all about reliving the golden age and glory days of motorsport, is something people are buying into, literally and metaphorically.
(Photo: Amy Shore)
The three-day festival sees swarms descend upon the estate’s grounds, many dressed in appropriate garb to fit the period: ‘I hope that it’s had a big impact on the whole historic car market and historic car world, certainly the values,’ he says. ‘If we focus on a car at Revival, it’s a certainty the value will increase quite a bit – I hope we play quite a big part in bringing that world to life.’
But it’s not all about burning rubber, not for the Earl and not for his brand. It would be naive to put all this down to a passion for revitalising British motorsport; there’s an obvious acumen for business on his part – not that he’s particularly forthcoming about it. From speaking to him, you don’t get the impression he’s ever going to pen a book on entrepreneurialism, or ever refer to himself as an entrepreneur. There’s a sense of duty about what he’s done here, as if he’s bound by his title and seat to make a success of it all, when in reality there are few members of the aristocracy that could make a go of it quite like he has.
Looking back, Lord March wasn’t entirely unprepared for the role and responsibility of running a business. He employed a reasonable sized studio that he says required him ‘to try and be creative and to do things a bit differently’. He also had the educating experience of working for legendary filmmaker Stanley Kubrick straight out of Eton. ‘The amazing thing about Stanley was that there was no compromise. All that mattersed for him was the end result – how you got there was irrelevant. How much pain went in or didn’t was simply irrelevant. There was to be no compromise, it was all about getting the best possible end result. For a 17-year-old that was a formative experience.’
(Photo: CarMagazine)
To the outsider looking in, or frankly, the insider looking out, the Goodwood proposition makes the head spin. As well as motorsport, there’s a farm, a hotel, horse racing (the Qatar Goodwood Festival is in July), a shoot, golf (two courses), an aerodrome, cricket, and most recently Hound Lodge (see panel). Nothing is outsourced. Lord March recognises that it may be more profitable in the short-term, but in the long-term it’s not going to turn Goodwood into a world-beating brand. ‘It’s complicated. I think it works because we’re lucky that everything is held together by this place. This setting holds it all together. There are so many bits to it and they’re often quite small, but we’ll spend as much time talking about making hams on the farm as putting cars on the track. It all matters.’
This setting is also the reason he has no intention of taking Goodwood global, not physically anyway. There’s been clamour from the petrol-blooded to export the Festival of Speed concept worldwide to Florida, China and the like, but as Lord March says, without the authenticity of the stage, it loses some of the sparkle. Instead, his latest venture is in media: the Goodwood Road & Racing channel. From filming events and making use of 20 years of archive footage, he hopes to bring the Goodwood experience to the billion people who can’t make it each year – and what an experience it is.
Naturally, retirement is far from his mind. His eldest is still near 20 years short of taking over the seat but he does admit there are plans, hopes at least, for a dynastic cycle to follow the business as well as the family titles. Just like his parents entrusted him with the keys to the picture-perfect castle, he has every intention of trusting his children with what he’s built when the time comes.
For more information, visit Goodwood here.
This article was taken from our May/June issue. Subscribe to Gentleman’s Journal here.
Main and featured image by Amy Shore.
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