Goodwood

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The classics, the racers and the special guests

BY RICHARD WEBB

At the annual Goodwood Festival of Speed, heritage racing cars and motorcycles scream, throb, bellow or whisper up the twisting hill to take centre stage.

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t the genteel Goodwood House estate, about 7km north of Chichester in England, there is an extraordinary driveway, unlike any other. This curvaceous drive belongs to Lord March, the son of the tenth Duke of Richmond, and leads from the main road into his Goodwood estate, and it becomes the racetrack artery for four days of the year at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

Now, with more than 200,000 visitors, it has become a huge open-air motor show and historic hill climb event that draws automotive enthusiasts from all over the world. Although participants are competitive and try their best to score fast times, the overall atmosphere is basically a huge party, with spectators being treated to seeing unusual and surprising vehicles.

There is also plenty of reward to be had in far-flung areas away from Lord March’s driveway. The Festival of Speed prides itself on bringing its audience something new every time and this year was no exception. With unparalleled hospitality and stalls and exhibits in their hundreds, there is something for everybody. It is the world’s biggest and most diverse celebration of not just the history of motor sport and car culture but all things luxury, and a truly unique event.

‘Hill-climbing’ is a totally different concept from other motor racing, because racers are primarily racing against themselves – up a hill. Unlike a circuit, the Goodwood course isn’t very wide and it is lined with trees – a danger for the unwary. The Festival was inaugurated by Lord March in 1993 because he wanted to bring motor racing back to the historic Goodwood circuit. The necessary permits to host a race there were not forthcoming, so he simply hosted it on his own grounds.

Lord March

Suzi Perry with Valentino Ross

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This year’s festival theme ‘Flatout and Fearless: Racing on the Edge’ was an extravaganza of fuel induced exotica - and the most actionpacked Goodwood Festival of Speed yet for fans of automotive endeavour. Motor sport fans, especially motorbike enthusiasts, had their hero and MotoGP racing legend Valentino Rossi on hand for his debut at Goodwood.

Five of the pre-eminent Formula One racing teams turned up to showcase their latest championship racing cars: Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes, Red Bull and Williams. F1 racers Felipe Massa and Kimi Räikkönen were part of the action.

Bentley Continental GTR

Nico Rosberg with Sir Stirling Moss

Le Mans Endurance prototype cars from Audi, Nissan, Porsche and Toyota were on display, along with a colourful and riotously noisy display of NASCAR racers through the ages, including those from legends Richard Petty and Bobby Labonte.

Sir Stirling Moss celebrated the 60th anniversary of his landmark victory at Mille Miglia in 1955. Seven of the historic Mercedes 300 SLR racers gave the hill climb a blast. Staring number 722, which is not just the Holy Grail for any car collector, but it would also be the world’s most expensive car - if you could buy it. The 300 SLR Roadster driven by Stirling Moss and his co-driver, Dennis Jackson, in the 1955 Mille Miglia started at 7.22am, April 30, in Brescia and crossed the finish line - also in Brescia, ten hours, seven minutes and 48 seconds later. In that time they had driven more than 1,000 miles, to Rome and back again in a record time, and at an average speed that has never been beaten: 156.9kph.

Mercedes 300 SLR

Valentino Rossi

Lewis Hamilton

This year's festival theme ‘Flatout and Fearless: Racing on the Edge’ was an extravaganza of fuel induced exotica - and the most action-packed Goodwood Festival of Speed yet for fans of automotive endeavour.

Sebastiaan Loeb, Citroen DS3

Jess Button

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The Jaguar Land Rover stand was marked by the debut appearance of a very special version of marque’s flagship, the Jaguar XJR Rapid Response Vehicle (RRV) for Bloodhound SSC. A selection of Jaguar’s most iconic heritage cars including XJ13, Group 44 E-type, Long Nose D-type, TWR XJS and Broadspeed XJ12C rounded off the heritage collection.

Aston Martin was keen to treat fans to something special with a cornucopia of ‘firsts’, starting the debut of the race track-derived Vantage GT12, as well as the luxurious new Lagonda Taraf super saloon. Aston Martin Racing was also represented by the 2015 Le Mans 24-hour Vantage GTE #97 Art Car, which also made spectacular trips up the famous Goodwood Hill.

1911 Fiat S76

For some, the main draw card is a bottle of champagne and a chat, or a bout of sunbathing in the splendour of Goodwood House. For others the day is all about the cars and the heritage. A network of paths enables spectators to get close to a special rally stage in the woods above the hill climb circuit to watch classic and modern cars as they tackle the stage. The paddock area is an opportunity for enthusiasts to inspect the cars and famous drivers in that friendly spirit rallying does so well.

Natalie Anderson

Meanwhile, the Brooklands paddock is a celebration of the older machine. From the huge Edwardian pioneers of motor sport, via relatively svelte machinery such as the Bugatti Type 35, to the likes of the Jaguar E-Type and AC Cobra. The Cartier Style et Luxe concours d’elegance is a celebration of fine automotive design, where hugely valuable cars compete for titles including goddess of the highway and sweeping statements.

The 1937 Talbot-Lago T150 CSS ‘Goutte d’Eau’, also known as the Talbot Teardrop, was the overall winner of this year’s concours. It is one of five Figoni et Falaschi-bodied cars of the 1920s and ’30s exported to California, where they have become a huge hit with Hollywood stars of the era. Ken Block brings some American show business to the very genteel world of Goodwood by doing doughnuts on the tarmac in a custom 845bhp all-wheel drive 1965 Ford Mustang monster called the Hoonigan.

The Red Arrows are a regular fixture at Goodwood, utilising the aerodrome for a spectacular display. Being a huge commercial motor show, as well as an enthusiast’s event, all the major manufacturers build elaborate displays and showrooms to woo the motoring public and display their latest models.

1927 Bugatti Type 39/35B

Joining it on the Hill was the most dynamic Mercedes-AMG currently on sale – the GT S. But the quickest Mercedes-Benz of all at Goodwood was the Mercedes AMG Petronas W04 V8 Formula One car driven by World Endurance Champion Anthony Davidson on Friday and Saturday, and then on Sunday by Nico Rosberg.

Valentino Rossi, Nico Rosberg, Jenson Button, Kimi Räikkönen, Ford rally legend Ken Block, the Kaiser Chiefs and Jamiroquai lead singer Jay Kay were among the celebs enjoying the jaw-dropping supercars being maxed out on the hill.

Lewis Hamilton

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Mazda giant sculpture

The giant sculpture that served as the centrepiece of this year’s Festival of Speed was the 18th to be created on the lawn outside Goodwood House by the London-based sculptor, Gerry Judah.

Each year Goodwood’s mighty installation celebrates the spirit and values of a single automotive brand. This year Mazda was honoured in the central display feature in front of Goodwood House. It showcased all of its latest production models and heritage vehicles, including its Le Mans-winning 787B racer, which took on the hillclimb. A celebration of hypercars right up to the present day also saw the first vehicles to top 320kph making their mark on the famous hill Lord March’s penchant for blending tradition, vintage couture, extravagance and enthusiasm has helped revitalise the Goodwood Estate as a prestigious site for horseracing, golf, cricket matches and the Goodwood Revival, a 50s period costume motor sport extravaganza held in September.

It’s often the rarity that makes something so precious. If I were to have such extravagance daily, then I might begin to think that the world should be just like Goodwood. But the bonhomie and the heritage would seem rather ordinary rather than a treasure. And that’s exactly what it needs to stay – a treasure.

Mercedes Benz giant sculpture during 2014