Do machines have soul? Maybe not. As inert objects, they are what they are, but if you ever had doubt, then take yourself to Goodwood Festival of Speed, as I have done repeatedly, and observe the relationship between man and machine. Here you'll witness special relationships between the two, people engaging in their passion, a passion that is hard to describe or to explain, but something that is felt more than witnessed. More than a hobby or a passing interest. The smell, the noise, it's all there...and more.
If machines don't have soul, then you can't fail to have yours stirred. To watch owners and enthusiasts waken these slumbering giants, to coax them into life, to nurture their innards from a cold start, to warm them through and then to unleash their mighty bellowous and thunderous roar, you can't fail to be engaged in wonderment in how men not only create such machines, but then attempt to tame these motorised firecrackers in their battle with time. Time is both the victor and the enemy.
With passing years these machines need to be loved, their foibles understood and tolerated. But this character, this charm, this is their soul. I stood there, gazing at machines I've never seen before, thinking my Dad would have loved this. Then I saw one I recognised, one I'd snapped as a teenager. A Porsche 956C at a Silverstone 1000km. The sign above, read 'Celebrating 30 years of Group C History'. I was staring the passing of time in the face. I dug out the contact sheet. This was my history.
Of course birthdays are like that. Time for reflection. My earliest recollection of a birthday was my 3rd. It thundered. My Mum, as Mums do, wisely gave me one of those Mum facts that as you get older they forget to tell you it was complete bollocks and let you lead an innocent life of facts that aren't quite factual. But for some years I knew for a fact that it only ever thunders if it's someones birthday! It rained this morning as I took a run to the woods, but no thunder this time. Today, time ticked by curtesy of the Jodrell Bank Cafe atomic clock. Good cake. Happy Birthday me.
