Goodwood Revival: best time/day to check out car park??

[rbc2014]

Hi all, occasional lurker, first time poster.
I'm an American traveling to the UK next week for the Revival and some other tourism. It will be my first time to Goodwood. However, due to the cost and distance, a return trip to the Revival is probably unlikely, regardless of how much I enjoy myself. Because of that, I made sure to get tickets for all three days.

I have been doing some research on how to make sure I see/do the most amount of things possible, and gleaned some good advice from this and other forums...check out indoor things (Earl's Court Motor Show, vintage Tesco, etc) on Friday when it will be less crowded, get there early each day, go to the far side of the track to get smaller crowds, etc.

But one thing I have been wondering is when to check out the car park. I understand that tax-free cars from 1975 or so back have free parking in a specific lot, and that it makes for a great show of classic road cars. I'm particularly interested in checking out classics that aren't too common in the US.

Can anybody give some advice with respect to what's a good day/time to check this stuff out? I would think Saturday or Sunday would be best, but not sure if it is recommended to go early before racing starts, during racing events that I am less interested in, or after track action ends. I think I read that a small selection of these cars will get VIP parking inside the track, so those should be easy to check out on the way to something else. But as for the general classic lot, about how long does it take to get there from the main start/finish area? And how long do you guys usually spend checking it out?

Thanks in advance for any tips,
Ryan

[rbc2014]

Thanks for the helpful comments guys. Sounds like it is pretty easy to pop over to the car park to take a look during lunch. I have heard that there are typically 4000-7000 classic cars in the parking lot. That seems like an unbelievable number. Is that right? Or are they double and triple counting cars that are there multiple days, to get a higher number?

I couldn't come up with a US themed costume...I thought about doing a 1960s California look, but decided against it in the end. Also not interested in military gear. So, I'm defaulting to tweed and a flat cap. A bit predictable perhaps, but oh well.

Let's hope the forecast of good weather holds!

[rbc2014]

Any idea when they post the schedule with specific times of races? Hopefully the stuff I am less interested in (motorcycles, formula juniors, etc) will be right before or after lunch, to give a nice long block to check out the car park.

[rbc2014]

Hi all, OP here. Just wanted to say thanks for the various pieces of advice. I ended up strolling through the car park on Friday evening and Saturday morning. I would have liked to do it properly during the middle of the day, but there was just too much other great stuff to do. Despite the car park being only partially full in both cases, there was still tons of cool stuff I'd never seen before and in some cases never even heard of...a Panhard, various Jensens, an Ockelbo, a Gilbern, etc. Of course, lots of more common things too, like Jags, MGs, TRs, Porsches etc. The whole event is so amazing, and if I lived in Europe, I'd go every year. Hopefully I can return again soon!