Ferraris At Goodwood: The Festival of Speed
by Keith Bluemel
6-8.7.01

Each year you think that the Goodwood Festival of Speed can't get any better but somehow each event seems to surpass the preceding one, with a spectacular range of machinery to delight the enormous crowds. This year's attendance figures broke all previous records, with around 123,000 people attending over the three days.

A number of anniversaries were celebrated this year, including the centenaries of Mercedes-Benz and Ford in racing, 90 Years of the Monte Carlo Rally and Indianapolis, 75 years of Maserati and Ducati, 40 years of Brabham, and the fiftieth anniversary of Ferrari's first F1 World Championship victory.

There was a fine display of historic F1 Ferraris and Grand Prix Maseratis along the top boundary of the F1 paddock, which was also home to no less than seven current F1 teams and their attendant transporters. Williams-BMW had a FW22 for Juan Pablo Montoya, Ferrari an F1-2000 for Luca Badoer, BAR-Honda a 002 for Darren Manning, McLaren-Mercedes a MP4/15 for Alexander Wurz, Jaguar-Ford a R" for Eddie Irvine, Benetton had a static B 201 on display, and Minardi had their 2 seater taking competition winners up the hill, driven by team boss Paul Stodart.

The current F1 drivers did untimed demonstration runs, so apart from leaving long black marks on the startline tarmac with the attendant cloud of smoke, they then frequently came to a halt along the main stretch in front of the house and performed the same act again for another section of the crowd. The shrill sound of V10 F1 engines at x thousand rpm, must have been heard for miles around.

Apart from the impressive collection of rare and desirable cars and motorcycles to drool over, the personality aspect of Goodwood is another of its major attractions. This is one of the few places where the general public can get access to current F1 drivers without the need for a special pass. Apart from the previously mentioned names there were three Ferrari F1 World Champions in attendance, Phil Hill, John Surtees, and Niki Lauda, as was the popular 1996 Champion, Damon Hill. Then there were rally stars like Sandro Munari, Walter Rohrl, and Timo Makinen, plus the evergreen Sir Stirling Moss, current F1 drivers Jean Alesi and David Coulthard, and the list goes on.

Bonhams & Brooks held their regular auction for automobilia and cars on Thursday 5 July and Friday 6 July. There was also the regular Cartier "Style et Luxe" Concours which attracted some very rare and even unique cars. These included the 1946/51 General Motors Le Sabre and the Panther designed and built Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona shooting brake. Add some sky action from the Red Arrows aerobatics team and the Blue Eagles helicopter display team, a soap box derby, numerous other peripheral activities, and you had all the ingredients for a very full and enjoyable weekend.

PARTICIPATING FERRARIS

* Nevada USA
** France

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