Goodwood , 03 – 05 July 2009
Where to begin? The spectrum of cars, bikes, personalities, air
displays, road and rally track action, auction and all the other
peripheral activities is so great at the Goodwood Festival of
Speed, that it is difficult to know where to be and what aspect to
cover first! Add in a decent spell of weather, with only one brief
shower on Saturday morning, and you had Nirvana for the petrol
head.
Celebrations – As the traditional sculpture on the lawn in front of
Goodwood House is the main focal point, let’s start with that.
Last year it was a complex girder structure celebrating Land
Rover, and this year it was the complete antithesis, a simple but
beautiful grey swept crossing arc to celebrate the centenary of
Audi, with a thirties Streamliner at one end and a R8 Coupé at the
other. 2009 is also the centenary of Morgan, and there was a line-
up of their cars on the walkway up to the drivers club. It was also
the centenary of Bugatti with a fine selection of cars from the
company’s history, ranging from a Type 16, through a Type 35C,
Type 54, and Type 59 to a pair of the latest Veyrons. Another
anniversary was 40 years of Frank Williams in Formula One, with
a display of their F1 cars in the F1 paddock, including the FW11B
in which Nelson Piquet won the 1987 Drivers’ Championship, and
the 1996 FW18 which Damon Hill drove to his Drivers’ World
Championship. Another 40th anniversary was that of Matra’s first
Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championships with Jackie Stewart
and the MS80 respectively. One more 40th anniversary was that
of the legendary Porsche 917, with a great display of variants in
the F1 paddock. There was also a celebration of 75 Years of the
Silver Arrows, featuring a superb display of Mercedes-Benz and
Auto Union Silver Arrows cars in the F1 paddock, which were
demonstrated throughout the weekend by the likes of David
Coulthard, Jacky Ickx, Jochen Mass and Sir Stirling Moss. Audi
Tradition also had a strong presence in other classes, including
examples of their R8R, R8, R10TDI and R15 TDI in the Legend of
Le Mans Class, a pair of Quattros in the International Rally Cars
Class, an R8 LMS in the Contemporary GT Racers group, DTM
saloons, the Quattro “Pikes Peak”, plus the 200 Quattro TransAm
and the 90 Quattro IMSA GTO. There were also a pair of Quattros
in the Legendary Group B Rally Cars group.
Personalities Aplenty – The list of drivers and riders in
attendance quite literally read like a motorsports Who’s Who,
with legends from virtually every field of the sport. Apart from
those names mentioned elsewhere, there was the only man to
have won World Championships on both two and four wheels,
John Surtees, current F1 Drivers’ Championship leader Jenson
Button, 2008 World Drivers’ Champion Lewis Hamilton, 1980
World Champion Alan Jones, ex-F1 drivers like Eddie Irvine,
Takuma Sato, Martin Donnelly, Jacques Laffitte and rising star
Bruno Senna who drove his Uncle Ayrton’s JPS Lotus-Renault F1
car. Then there were drivers better known for their sports car
activities, like Richard Attwood, Derek Bell, David Brabham,
Jacky Ickx, Allan McNish, David Piper, Emanuele Pirro and Vern
Schuppan, rally stars like Stig Blomqvist, Hannu Mikkola and
Walter Rohrl, plus motorcycle giants like Max Biaggi, Carlos
Checa, Mick Doohan and Phil Read, to name but a few. One of
the non-motoring stars with the crowd was “Easy Rider” film star
Peter Fonda, who did demonstration runs on his chopper from the
film, “Captain America”.
The Paddocks – There are three main paddock areas, the F1
Paddock, the Cathedral Paddock and the Supercar Paddock. As
the name of the first implies, this is where one will find most of
the F1 cars, but it holds a lot more as well. Apart from the
breathtaking display of “Silver Arrows” and the great selection of
Williams F1 cars and Porsche 917s, there were the participating
current F1 team areas, Brawn GP, Ferrari, McLaren, Red Bull,
Toyota and Williams. Another big attraction here was the 1965
Indianapolis 500 winning Lotus-Ford 38, driven to victory there by
Jim Clark. The Cathedral Paddock housed historic race cars,
including the freshly restored Ferrari 512 S, chassis # 1006, of
Shaun Lynn, the Ferrari 250 GT “Breadvan, chassis # 2819 GT,
the beautiful little Abarth 205 Monza Coupé, plus many other
desirable machines and the Matra anniversary display. The
Supercar Paddock name is self explanatory, with a wide selection
on current production, high end performance cars, like a pair of
Bugatti Veyrons, a Grand Sport and a Pur Sang, a pair of Alfa
Romeo 8Cs, a Competizione and a Spider, a trio of Ferraris, a
Scuderia Spider 16M, a California and a 599 HGTE. Pagani
showed their Zonda R, whilst Mercedes showed a quintet of SLR
McLaren variants, and there were concepts like the Stile Bertone
Mantide and the wild Citroen GT.
Style Et Luxe – The Cartier Style Et Luxe Concours comprised
of eight classes, embracing a wide variety of cars, including one
to celebrate the centenary of Bugatti with a sextet of pre-war
models. Another featured the iconic Mini, with period variations on
the Mini theme, including a Wolseley Hornet Convertible, a Mini
Moke and a Unipower GT, and another class was “Alfresco
Exotica” featuring elite performance cabriolets between 1965 –
1975, in which there was one man’s interpretation of a Jaguar “E”
Type, the Guyson E12, he probably would have done better to
leave well alone! On the Sunday there was an addition to the
concours field with the arrival of “Chris Evans’ Magnificent Seven”,
seven Ferraris which had just completed a charity run organised
by the radio personality to raise money for Children in Need.
The Lawn – Surrounding the cricket pitch on the opposite side of
the track to Goodwood House, is where one finds all the trade
stands and manufacturer pavilions, together with other activities
stretching up the hill towards the rally stage. This year the feature
display on the cricket pitch was the “Wacky Racers”, the cartoon
like cars and their equally wacky drivers, which are a great hit
with young and old alike. Adjacent to this was the BP Ultimate
FoS-TECH pavilion, which featured a range of cars and
motorcycles promoting green technology, like the Lexus LF-A,
the Porsche based RUF Greenster and the Mini EV. On the way
up the hill there was the Land Rover Driving Experience, the
Porsche Driving Experience, the Junior Activity Field and the Audi
4x4 demonstration Area, so it can be seen that this side of the
track alone provided plenty to keep one occupied.
Track Action – The action on the track and on the rally stage at
the top of the hill was fast and furious throughout the weekend.
The rally stage has increased in popularity over the years, and
this year one of the stars in attendance was World Rally
Champion Sebatian Loeb, together with team Citroen mate Dani
Sordi. On the hillclimb the F1 teams always put on a great show,
and it great to hear screaming F1 engines at such close quarters.
Performing donoughts and burning rubber is also part of their
spectacle, and one of the star turns this year was Timo Glock in
the Toyota TF108 F1 car who really laid some rubber on the
tarmac. Outside the F1 cars it was a close call as to who created
the largest clouds of rubber smoke, but I think that it went to Dirk
Mueller in the BMW M3 GT2, which had its tyres spinning
virtually all the way up the hill, whilst Peter Kox in the Prodrive
built 550 Maranello GTS ran him a close second on Sunday
morning, all great crowd pleasing stuff, even appreciated by those
downwind of the acrid smoke!
Reach for the Sky – As if there wasn’t enough going on around
you on the ground, the Red Arrows performed their always
spectacular aerobatic display on both the Friday and Sunday.
Saturday was the turn of the really impressive Eurofighter, whose
roar whilst doing low passes and amazingly steep climbs quite
literally made the ground shake. Once again, the Goodwood
Festival of Speed organising committee and staff, headed by Lord
March, showed that only the sky is their limit when it comes to
putting on a great weekend of motor sport based entertainment for
the whole family.
David O’Neill
07/2009
Images
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David O'Neill >>>
Ferrari Entry
Model Colour Entrant/Driver(s) Chassis #
312 F1 Red J-F. Decaux 0007
312 T3 Red-White Ten Tenths/E. Irvine 084
126 C4 Red L. Prandina/A. Merzario 072
F300 F1 Red P. Masselli 183
F2008 F1 Red Met’ Ferrari SpA/Display 268
F2008 F1 Red Met’ Ferrari SpA/M. Gené 270
166 MM Barchetta Red/Tan S. & D. Mason-Styrron 0040M
312 P Red A. Meier/D. Franklin 0872
512 S Red-White/Blue Stripes S. Lynn/D. Clark 1006
250 GT SWB “Breadvan” Red K. Werner/M. Werner 2819GT
250 GTO Red Ten Tenths/A. Mason & M. Franchiti 3757GT
550 GTS Red Prodrive/P.Kox 113136
F430 GT2 Yellow-Black Dunlop Display 2408
599 HGTE (LHD) Grey Met’/Tan Ferrari North Europe 159058
16M Scuderia Spider (LHD) Yellow/Black-Yellow Ferrari North
Europe 166877
California Red/Beige Ferrari North Europe 167148
Cartier Style & Luxe Concours
365 GTB/4S (LHD) Red/Black Cars International 14605
Sunday Only – “Chris Evans’ Magnificent Seven”
250 GT California Spider SWB Black/Black C. Evans 2377GT
250 GT SWB Berlinetta White/Pale Blue C. Evans 3401GT
250 GT Lusso White/Pale Blue C. Evans 5377GT
275 GTB/4 White/Pale Blue C. Evans ?
Dino 246 GT White/Pale Blue C. Evans 04552
GTO (288) White/Pale Blue C. Evans 55233
F40 White/Pale Blue C. Evans 95249
Bonhams Auction
Model Colour Chassis # Price
Dino 246 GTS Red/Beige 07398 £73000
365 GTB/4 Red/Beige-Black 15381 NS
456 GT Dark Blue/Black 103611 £24275
456 M GTA Blue Met’/Tan ? £25300
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