Goodwood Festival of Speed

Motorsport venue
Name = Goodwood Festival of Speed | Location = West Sussex, England
Time = GMT
Owner = Charles Gordon-Lennox, Earl of March and Kinrara


Image_caption = Main footbridge at Goodwood Festival of Speed
Events = Goodwood Festival of Speed
Layout1 = Hillclimb
Length_km = 1.86
Length_mi = 1.16
Turns = 9
Record_time = 0:41.6
Record_driver = Nick Heidfeld
Record_team = McLaren
Record_year = 1999
Layout2 = Forest Rally Stage
Length_km2 = 2.5
Length_mi2 = 1.5 | The Goodwood Festival of Speed, commonly abbreviated as "FoS" and referred within the United Kingdom as the "Festival of Speed", is an annual hill climb featuring historic motor racing vehicles that is held in the grounds of Goodwood House, West Sussex, England. It was started in 1993 by the present Earl of March in order to bring motor racing back to the Goodwood estate - a location steeped in British motor racing history. Shortly after taking over the estate in the early nineties, Lord March (as he is formally known) wanted to bring back motor racing to Goodwood Circuit, but did not have the necessary permit to host a race there. Therefore he instead hosted it on his own grounds. With a small selection of entrants made up of invited historic vehicles, the first event that took place on Sunday 13 June proved to be a success, taking in a crowd of 30,000 despite a date clash with the 24 Hours of Le Mans that year. For the following year, the event expanded to two days, and in 1996 added one extra day on Friday. After its date clash for the first event, Lord March would ensure that the event would never be allowed to clash with either Le Mans or Formula One races.

Since the early days of several tens of thousands of visitors over the weekend it has grown to attracting daily crowds of around 100,000 visitors over the three days it is held. The record was in 2003, when a crowd of 158,000 attended before the advanced ticket policy came in to force, but in 2005 attendance has crept back to 150,000.

Typically held in late June or early July, the event is always scheduled to fit into the motor racing calendar and primarily to avoid a date clash with the Formula One season, enabling not just fans but many teams involved in current motor racing championships to attend. Visitors can expect to see cars and motorbikes from over 100 years of worldwide motor racing history climb the hill, including the several of the latest Formula One machines. Aside from the machines, the event attracts a host of names from the past and present of motor racing, offering a rare chance to see world famous names driving a wide range of machines.

Between 2000 and 2004, one of the unique features of the event was the Soapbox Challenge, a downhill race for gravity powered cars. However, as accidents became frequent, costs of cars became higher and safety rules became tighter, it did not return in 2005. The specially built forest stage for rally cars was introduced that year. The other unique feature from 1997 until 2007, was a Gerry Judah sculpture in front of the house incorporating rare racecars.

One of the other most popular attractions is the Supercar Run for road-going supercars, which has been running since 2000. It is now common for speciality car manufacturers to show off their latest sports model, including newly released mass-produced sports models (e.g. the Nissan 350Z) and working concept models. The other popular attractions at the event are the real life replicas of the Wacky Races cars, which serves to provide lunchtime entertainment for the crowds, and the airshows, which usually include the RAF Tornado and Red Arrows, and a low flying Boeing 747. The latter was replaced by a low flying Airbus A380 at the 2008 event.

For a change of pace, also held is the Cartier Style et Luxe, an auto show which takes place close to the track, similar to the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. Entry is usually by invitation, and this provides some leeway as to which type of vehicle can enter, usually resulting in a more varied event than usual Concours d'Elegance. Unlike most concours shows, the Cartier Style et Luxe is judged by a panel of selected judges consisting of celebrities from all around the world to car designers. Since its beginning, the poster art has been illustrated by renowned motor racing artist Peter Hearsey.

This however is not the limit as to what makes The Festival of Speed unique as a motor sport event. Thanks to the event's classification as a hill climb, its stunning location and desire to reflect the style and history of motor sport, visitors are afforded unparalleled views of the action - separated only by a few metres and reinforced straw bales from the track. In addition, visitors are free to walk around several paddocks where the cars and drivers can be viewed at close quarters. The atmosphere of the Festival of Speed, when compared to the separation of fans from drivers and machines common to most top end motor sport events, encourages participation by the fans.

The record time for the hillclimb was set in 1999 when Nick Heidfeld drove a McLaren MP4/13 Formula One car up the hill in 41.6 seconds. For safety reasons Formula One cars are no longer allowed to do official timed runs, and will often focus on demonstrations that are spectacular rather than fast. In 2006 Heikki Kovalainen completed the course in a Renault R25 F1 car and was unofficially timed below 40 seconds. [http://www.goodwood.co.uk/live/fos_live_release_1.asp?ID=1645]

The Festival of Speed has a sister event, the Goodwood Revival Meeting. This event, normally held in early September, relives the glory days of the Goodwood Motor Racing Circuit and is viewed by many enthusiasts as the perfect complement to the Festival of Speed.

Incidents

There have been few incidents at the festival where cars have been severely damaged or serious injuries incurred. To date, the event has suffered just two separate fatal accidents.

The first was during its inaugural meeting in 1993, when vintage racing motorcyclist Chas Guy, was killed following the completion of the course when his Vincent motorcycle developed a steering wobble known as a tank slapper, throwing the rider into a tree. Since then, motorcycles are not timed for their run.

In 2000, tragedy again occurred when driver John Dawson-Damer suffered a heart attack before the finish line, causing him to lose control of his Lotus 63 and crash into the finish line gantry, killing himself and marshal Andrew Carpenter. Another marshal, Steve Tarrant, survived but sustained serious injuries to the lower part of his right leg. Since his recovery, despite his disability, he continues to marshal to this day. The gantry has since been made wider.

Honoured car manufacturer

*1997 - Ferrari
*1998 - Porsche
*1999 - Audi
*2000 - Jaguar
*2001 - Mercedes-Benz
*2002 - Renault
*2003 - Ford
*2004 - Rolls-Royce
*2005 - Honda
*2006 - Renault
*2007 - Toyota
*2008 - Land Rover

Notable car and driver appearances

*1993 to 2005 — Stirling Moss (until 1996, Denis Jenkinson) — Mercedes-Benz 300SLR (#722)
*1993 & 2003 — Honda Dream (1993 World Solar Challenge winner, did not run in 2003 due to broken axle)
*1997 — MINI (pre production)
*1997 — Jim Hall — Chaparral 2F & 2J
*1999 — Mario Andretti
*1999 — Michele Alboreto
*2000 — Emerson Fittipaldi - JPS Lotus 72
*2000 — Smokey Yunick
*2000 & 2004 — Bobby Allison
*2000 — TVR Cerbera Speed 12
*2001 & 2003 — Bob Riggle — Hemi Under Glass (1966 Plymouth Barracuda)
*2001 — Dick Landy — Dodge Challenger
*2001 — Darrell Waltrip — 1985 Chevrolet Monte Carlo
*2002, 2003 & 2007 — 1970 Toyota 7
*2002 — Cadillac Cien
*2002 * 2007 — Rod Millen - Toyota Celica (1994 Pikes Peak record holder)
*2002, 2003 - Graeme Wight Jr. - Gould GR51
*2003 — Dan Gurney — Alligator
*2003 — Jim Hall - Chaparral 2E & 2J
*2003 — David Pearson — Ford Torino
*2003 — Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren (pre production)
*2003 — Rod Millen - Toyota Tacoma (1998-2000 Pikes Peak winner)
*2003 — Shelby-American Toyota 2000GT - SCCA CP car
*2005 — Kazunori Yamauchi - Jaguar D-Type
*2005 — Ewan McGregor & Charley Boorman — BMW R1150GS Adventure
*2005 & 2007 — Ukyo Katayama — 1999 Toyota GT-One (Le Mans runner up and 2007 poster car)
*2005 & 2007 — Ukyo Katayama - Castrol TOM'S Toyota Supra (1997 JGTC title winner)
*2005 & 2006 — Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren (production version)
*2005 — Maktoum Hasher Maktoum Al Maktoum — A1 Grand Prix racer
*2005 — Peter Brock - MHDT Holden Commodore VK (1984 Bathurst 1000 winning car)
*2006 — Charley Boorman — BMW F650 GS Dakar
*2006 — Richard Petty — 1974 STP Dodge Charger
*2006 — Bugatti Veyron
*2006 — Dennis Aase — 1986 Toyota Celica (1986 IMSA GTO winner)
*2006 — Hurley Haywood — 1988 Audi 5000 (1988 Trans Am winner)
*2006 — Greg & Leo Mansell — Formula BMW racers
*2006 — Nigel Mansell — Grand Prix Masters racer
*2007 — Nobuhiro Tajima - Suzuki Escudo (Pikes Peak racer)
*2007 — Lewis Hamilton - Vodafone McLaren Mercedes MP4-22
*2008 - Lewis Hamilton - Vodafone McLaren Mercedes MP4-23

Track times

Nissan 350Z - Richard Lyons - 49.51

External links

* [http://www.goodwood.co.uk/fos/ Goodwood Festival Of Speed website]
* [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/system/topicRoot/Goodwood_Festival_of_Speed/"Times Online" guide to the Goodwood Festival of Speed ]
* [http://www.festivalofspeed.net Independently run website photographically chronicling the Festival Of Speed from 2003 to present]