Posted on July 30, 2018.
by Edward Brown
Celebrating its Silver Jubilee, with an ever increasing four day attendance approaching two hundred and seventy-five thousand visitors, the Festival of Speed remains a pre-eminent celebration of endeavour on two, four and more wheels. With multiple exhibits from global motor manufacturers and renowned private collections, combined with the stars who have shaped our sport, this event remains unmissable whatever your preferred discipline.
Celebrating its platinum anniversary, Porsche AG was this year’s featured marque. Atop Gerry Judah’s biggest ever “sculpture” outside Goodwood House were a 1948 356 coupe, the 1969 917K endurance racer (driven by Steve McQueen in the film Le Mans), the 1987 Paris-Dakar winning 959, a 2015 918 Spyder hybrid road car, a 2015 919 Le Mans Prototype and the 2016 911R road car.
Other celebrations included:
– Seventy years of the British Grand Prix
– The all-terrain Land Rover Series One’s seventieth birthday
– Sixty years since former FOC GB President, the late Jack Sears, won the inaugural British Saloon Car Championship
– The Diamond anniversary of global, multi-discipline, race car manufacturer, Lola Cars; made more poignant, by the very recent loss of its former owner and historic racer, Martin Birrane.
The three established paddocks, located either side of the House, were split by entrants of the Cartier Style et Luxe Concours, with an eclectic entry of forty cars, including Peter Neumark’s recently restored and unique, Pininfarina-bodied, 1954 Jaguar XK120, complemented by multiple variants of the legendary sports-racing Porsche 550, Gavin Moule’s 1995 McLaren F1 and my favourite – the 1956/63, unique Michelotti-bodied, Jaguar D-type. Overall winner was Colin Mullan’s 1972 Monteverdi High Speed 375L.
Ferrari S.p.A. & Corse Clienti
The adjacent supercar display has evolved into a global Motor Show – this year, more than thirty manufacturers displayed production models, prototypes or design concepts. Ferrari S.p.A. presented an FXXK Evo, the sonorous FXX, a black-hued La Ferrari Aperta, the 710bhp 488 Pista and the stunning 599FXX, Aston Martin it’s visceral “track-day only” Vulcan and recently released DBS Superleggera whilst Bentley Motors demonstrated their 2018 Pikes Peak class-winning Bentayga. Very popular with visitors were the all–new McLaren P1 GT, the 1300+ bhp all-electric Nio EP9 EV, the very limited production Koenigsegg Agera RSN and the locally-built opulent Rolls Royce Cullinan.
The highly anticipated and very well attended Bonhams auction had something for every pocket – with an extensive selection of automobilia, collectible road and historic competition cars, with each of their “star lots” selling to private UK/European bidders.
The F1 Teams
With the F1 season almost at halfway point several teams stopped off en-route to Budapest to entertain in the balmy weather in the West Sussex countryside – Williams, McLaren, Ferrari, Red Bull and Renault shared the limelight, with 2009 World Champion Jenson Button driving the Honda Collection’s 1968 RA301 F1 car and current Mercedes-AMG Petronas racer. Valterri Bottas delighted Sunday’s attendance with multiple doughnuts aboard the 2016 Constructors Championship-winning W07 Hybrid.
On the “hill”, the Ferrari enthusiast was well catered for – F1 test driver, Marc Gene drove the 2009 F60; historic racers Sally Mason-Styrron and Nick Mason were quick in their 166MM and Group 4 Daytona respectively, 2017 FIA WEC GTE Championship winner James Calado made several very rapid ascents with a 488GTE and Gestione Sportiva racer Arturo Merzario and Jason Wright demonstrated the latter’s two superb 156 F1 “Sharknose” recreations.
On-board the first ever driverless ascent of Goodwood Hillclimb, with Robocar .
The continued popularity of Goodwood can be seen from the number of famous drivers and riders, past and present, who relish the opportunity to be reunited with their original charges – this year the “Drivers Club” welcomed amongst many others – Tom Kristensen, Emerson Fittipaldi, Mikka Hakkinen, Emmanuele Pirro, Kenny Brack, Rene Arnoux, Mark Webber, Frank Biela, Jochen Mass, Richard Attwood, John McGuinness, Bobby Labonte, Giacomo Agostini, Steve Soper, Derek Bell, Mike Skinner, Matt Neal and Freddie Spencer.
Each Day’s Highlights on YouTube:
Congratulations to overall winner Romain Dumas in his 900+bhp 2018 Pikes Peak hillclimb-winning Volkswagen I.D. R, ahead of sometime DTM racer Peter Dumbreck in the aforementioned Nio EP9 EV and former European Hillclimb Champion Joerg Weidinger in a BMW M3 coupe equipped with a 550bhp F1-derived Judd V8…..third overall in 46.43 seconds and the fastest ‘climber powered by a car with an internal combustion engine!
The full results are available here.
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Ace Bugatti restorer, Tim Dutton presented a sublime Type 59, fresh from restoration -
Sally Mason-Styrron and her Ferrari 166 Barchetta, celebrated being the first pairing to climb the Goodwood hill, at the inaugural FOS in 1993 -
Jim Hall Jnr brought his family’s, highly innovative 1966 Chapparal 2E “Can-Am” car from Texas -
…whilst Californian Zagato afficionado and prolific collector, David Sydorick, demonstrated his Alfa TZ1 -
TWR’s Transatlantic Jaguar Group C success and Goodwood FOS-liveried Maserati MC12, attracted much attention -
The central paddock celebrated Lola Car’s sixtieth anniversary and the very recent, sad loss of its former owner, noted historic racer Martin Birrane -
“Star lot” at Bonhams was the 1961 Aston Martin DB4 Zagato, achieving £10 million, sold to a Dutch enthusiast -
Two of Porsche’s most-celebrated sports-racers, the 908 (Left) and 917K, were demonstrated by an extensive roster of drivers over the weekend -
…whilst ably demonstrating the marques significant, cross-category achievements, either side of the Atlantic -
2017 FIA WEC GTE Champion and AF Corse-run “factory” driver James Calado made several rapid hill ascents in his
