Chichester, 11th - 14th of July
This year's Festival of Speed was held on the second weekend in
July celebrating its 20th anniversary. What started in 1993 as an
idea of some enthusiasts as a meeting for all things motorsport at
the hill in front of Goodwood house became an institution over the
following years. People who might have missed a few of the last
editions were surprised by the size of the event both in the
spectator numbers and the area. What was always important for
the classic car fans became a substitute for the British Motor
Show as all the manufacturers are present to show their latest
products. This resulted in the introduction of the Moving Motor
Show on Thursday before the actual Festival attracting thousands
of visitors to the grounds of Goodwood house to visit the
multi-level buildings set up in the infield. Beside the presentation
of the new cars the show field entertained with several show acts
like the GAS arena where the best free riders both on BMX and
Motorbike showed their tricks. In perfect sunshine families
enjoyed a typical British picnic on the grass whereas on the other
side of the track the cars arrived in the paddocks for the main
event on the weekend. Thursday was also the preview day of the
much awaited Bonhams auction behind Goodwood House with
the sale of the only Mercedes-Benz W196 in private hands and
everybody was curious what the result would be as no less than a
new auction record was expected.
... MediaCenter gallery >>>
Walking through the paddocks made clear that this year's edition
again included some of the most exciting machinery from an
entire century of Motorsports, all the factory museums opened
their treasury to bring the most successful and interesting cars,
current racing teams brought their latest racers to Goodwood to
present them to the public.
Every year special features are presented amongst the 25
classes divided in 5 batches (plus a supercar run for modern
supercars) on their way up the hill, most of them based on a
jubilee of a marque or a car.
This year's main feature including the sculpture in front of
Goodwood house was reserved to Porsche celebrating the 50th
anniversary of their main model, the 911. But not just 911
derivates were present as no less than 3 Porsche 917K were
lined up joined by a the 917/30, a 962C and the smallest and the
latest of the 935 programme, Moby Dick and “Baby”, the 2 Litre
version of the 935.
The later models were also part of the Martini racing livery display
that was celebrated in style with some exciting entries from the
last decades. The Italian spirits manufacturer celebrates his 150th
anniversary and in the last 50 years Martini livery could be seen
both on the long distance racing circuits with Porsche and Lancia
but also on the rally course with the Lancia Rally, Stratos and
Integrale.
Another very popular feature this year was the group of Land
Speed record holders. Several of the fastest cars from the last
hundred years could be seen both in static display (as most of
the later record cars are not suitable to drive up the hill) but also
running up the hill including the famous Napier-Railton, record
holder at Brooklands in the hands of John Cobb.
Whereas the last years tended to be a little bit more modern this
year's line-up included some very interesting pre-war cars like one
of the Bentley 4.5 Litre Team cars driven in Le Mans, the unique
Alfa Romeo 8C 2900 Le Mans Coupe and a Bugatti T59 but stars
were once more a pair of Silver arrows brought from
Mercedes-Benz (W154) and from Audi (Type C). When arriving
early at the grounds of Goodwood house to avoid traffic (delays of
90 minutes on the surrounding streets were reported during the
day) the day started with the warming up procedure of these two
cars giving a phenomenal orchestra in two-tone.
But Mercedes-Benz did not just bring the pre-war Silver Arrow but
no less than three of the later W196, one in grand prix
specification like the one at Bonhams and the two sports
derivatives, the 300 SLR as roadster and Coupé. Both the grand
prix but also the SLR were driven by Sir Stirling Moss joined by
Jochen Mass, Jackie Stewart and current F1 star Nico Rosberg.
Audi on the other side led the very popular group of endurance
racer including the famous Group C with this year's Le Mans
winning Audi R18 E-Tron, still dirty just as it came of the track a
few weeks ago. The E-Tron was joined by it latest rival, the
Toyota TS030 together with its predecessor GT-One and some of
the earlier Le Mans winners like the Porsche GT1, the BMW V12
LMR or a duo of Bentley Speed 8.
But Goodwood is also known for its numerous Formula 1 cars
including some newer models from the current F1 teams but also
a great selection of classic F1 cars. This year featured 50 years
of McLaren ranging from the older Can-Am series cars to the
latest F1. Many of these cars were driven by their former drivers
as the density of star drivers at Goodwood is unsurpassed.
But not only former world champions on four wheels could be
seen here but also a large number of motorbike champions led by
the great Giacomo Agostini or John Surtees.
After six runs up the hill on the three days of the event a small
group of top timed cars took the challenge to chase the track
record of Nick Heidfeld in the McLaren MP4/13 from 1999 when
the F1 cars were running fully race prepared including tyre
warming. Heidfeld was back again with the very same car in the
20th anniversary parade but he finally set the fastest time in a
current Rebellion joined by the latest Pikes Peak winning
Peugeot who was driven up the hill at exactly the same time. The
“shoot out” was finally won again by Justin Law on the Jaguar
XJR8/9.
At the end of the weekend most of the stars came together in
front of Goodwood house on the winners ceremony cheered by
those who stayed to the final curtain on a wonderful weekend.
Some might say that the Festival became too big and to
commercial in the past but those should be aware that an event
like this could just exist when done properly including raising
enough money to realize all these highlights. Thanks to Lord
March and his connections to all the major manufacturers,
collectors and race teams the Festival of Speed looks into a very
bright future and next year again more than 100000 fans will be at
the hill to see new attractions.
For now we have selected a few images to preview the upcoming
galleries and give an impression what this year's event looked
like.
More images and a full report will follow the next days.
Report & images ... Peter Singhof
www.ClassicCarPhotography.de
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