It may be all too easy to dismiss Sunday morning classic car gatherings as little more than a bunch of anoraks in a car park. But factor in the romance of the Goodwood Motor Circuit location and the sheer professionalism of Goodwood’s organisational capacity and you can guess that the Goodwood Breakfast Club gathering is going to be worth a trek.

It means an early start if you aren’t close to England’s south coast (proceedings kick off at 8am, and it’s all over by midday) and, if your car matches the event’s theme, make sure you register yours so it can be displayed within the hallowed grounds of the circuit.

This weekend was Soft-top Sunday, and featured a bewildering array of convertibles, cabriolets and roadsters. How bewildering? They lined both sides of the track from Woodcote to Madgwick, taking in the start/finish straight past the pits, and they filled the whole paddock area too.

E-types, MGAs and Big Healeys figured large, as (perhaps predictably) did Lotus Elises and Mazda MX-5s – many of which had been reclaimed from their poseur roots and transformed with new wheels, ground-hugging stance, rollcages, battery cut-outs and all manner of trackday accessories.

Octane favourites included a splendid Austin-Healey 100/8 (converted from its original four-cylinder status with a Chevrolet V8), a mid-1970s Crayford Audi 100LS, and an extremely rare Alpine GTA with soft-top conversion by German dealer Pahnhenrich.

Goodwood’s Breakfast Club meets on the first Sunday of every month from March to December (with a gap for this May’s royal wedding). Admission is free, proper platefuls of Goodwood-reared breakfast nosh are available and, even if your car doesn’t match the trackside theme, the public car park up the road is another classic motor show in itself.

The next meeting is on 5 June, with a ‘sporting legends’ theme – perfect for all you owners of post-1970 sports, performance and GT cars, with a special celebration of the TVR marque. For details, see www.goodwood.co.uk.