Goodwood Festival of Speed
Roving PC snapper and old metal enthusiast, Seth Kennedy, reports from Goodwood Festival of Speed.
Goodwood House once again became the destination of choice for thousands of automotive fans this past weekend. The Festival of Speed has an incredible draw thanks to the huge variation of exhibits and goings on. Many people come for a close up glimpse of their modern F1 or WRC heroes but for admirers of classic machinery there is even more on offer.
The Cartier Style et Luxe had a very Italian theme and played host to some stunning coachbuilt machinery with a selection of pre war Alfa Romeo 8Cs and numerous fities and sixties GT cars. The 1955 Ghia designed Gilda Streamliner must have landed from another planet with rocket ship detailing throughout. Only eight long wheelbase four door (and Italian powered) Citroen SMs were built by Chapron, yet one of them was also on the lawn.
The Cathedral Paddock is a virtual heaven to those in the know. Tucked away and surrounded by trees, it is where most the older classes of car are housed and wait for their turn up the hillclimb. This year there was a V12 Delage from 1923 that set the land speed record in 1924 and an even earlier 1905 Darracq with a monster 25.4 litre V8 – the first successful V8 engine in fact.
Half a century newer but equally as boundary pushing, the CD-Panhard 3 was built to compete for the Index of Performance at Le Mans in 1964 and has an extremely slippery shape. Opposite the group of Carrera Pananmerica cars was a line up of various Alfa Romeo racers.
My pick of those was the plain looking 1988 164 on the end. So plain in fact that lots of people walked straight past it. If only they realised it was actually a Formula 1 car in disguise, built for a planned FIA series that never happened. Sadly it was only a static exhibit.
The Festival of Speed is more than just a car show though, so what of the action? A hike up to the rally stage at the top of the hill is always worth it to see some historic machines being chucked about through the woods on what was this year a very dry and dusty surface. The informative commentary over radio/tannoy was provided by Tony Mason and Graham Robson.
I wasn’t able to spend a huge amount of time up there as there was still so much to see elsewhere but it was still worth the trek to see Group B Skoda, Lancia Stratos and a Lotus Cortina (amongst others) fly by.
Lord March’s tarmac drive saw even more burning rubber as one after the other, various icons of the automotive world raced up the hill. The V8 Darracq mentioned previously was driven with verve and was incredibly swift though some other vehicles were treated fairly gently.
They were likely very valuable cars being driven by someone other than the owner. The famous Jaguar, NUB120 looked stunning in the sunlight. Julian Balme’s 1953 Lincoln Cosmopolitan Carrera Panamerica car got a good work out, as did the ’54 Mecedes W196 Grand Prix car, storming past the crowds lining each side of the track.
This was my fourth visit to the Festival of Speed and it is yet to disappoint. I only wish it lasted for a week so that there was enough time to look and study all the exhibits. Maybe next year.
Posted: 9:00am, 7 July 2010
Words: Seth Kennedy
Images: Seth Kennedy
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