The Festival of Speed is an automotive extravaganza that covers a multitude of events encompassed within the vast Goodwood House estate. As such it caters for many tastes ranging from the speed and sophistication of the latest Supercars running on smooth asphalt to the brutality of huge off-roaders pummelling equally huge boulders via the antics of daredevil motorcyclists who avoid any form of contact with the ground as they perform aerial stunts. It calls to mind a multi ringed circus that allows the vast crowd close contact with the entertainment of their choice.
The main “ring” consists of the hillclimb that starts on the main drive, runs past the front of the House and then up through the woods towards the horse race track. It serves as a rolling motor show, a venue for the antics of the smoking drifters, a backdrop to many of the worlds great historic and current race cars and a “shoot out” to determine the fastest time over the whole course.
The “Ringmaster” of all this is the Duke of Richmond – who appropriately was in the first car to head up the hill on Thursday morning as a passenger in on of the Singer Porsche 911s. Singer was the featured marque for this year with 3 of their vehicles spectacularly suspended on the sculpture in front of the House
The Festival has also become the default replacement for the static motor shows that were a big feature of the automotive world in previous eras. Many manufacturers take large stands and use the event to launch new models. Some like this 1000bhp Jaguar Type 01 are still heavily camouflaged.
Noticeable in recent years has be the significant presence of some of the larger of Chinese OEMs. This 1600HP Denza Z was amongst these.
The Drifters were once again a crowd favourite.
Photo Smokey Pan PRH14306
As were F1and Grand Prix cars of various vintages – showing how complex the cars have become in the almost 60 years since wings and winglets first appeared on a Lotus 49 in 1968. This 1967 Ferrari did however have one of the most complex “bundle of snakes” exhausts ever seen.
Photo McClaren F1 PDR15476
There is a rally stage is set in beautiful woods that provided shade from this year’s burning sunlight – while the very dry and dusty conditions made for atmospheric shots.
The off road course produced even more dust ensuring that every vehicle appeared in a single shade of grey.
More colourful and just as entertaining were the acrobatics in the Goodwood Action Sports arena where death defying stunts were being performed.
As electric cars become a greater part of the motoring scene many were seen whooshing rather than roaring up the hill, including the Mustang MachE that won the “Shoot Out” and one of the Formula E Cars that will race next year under heavily revised rules, Including an almost doubling in power.
The entertainment continues after dark as the Drifters engaged in an encore followed by a wonderful fireworks before calm descended once more as the guests departed.
