10 reasons to attend the Goodwood Festival of Speed

Nowhere else can a motorsport fan encounter such a vast range of moving history from such a variety of motorsport categories than at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, which makes its welcome return this weekend after the COVID-19 pandemic caused 2020's event to be cancelled.

From Formula 1 icons to Group C sportscar greats, giants of the World Rally Championship stages and oval-conquering Indycars, over the next four days the grounds of the famous estate will be a rich melting pot of legendary machinery as past and present heroes take in a reminder of all that makes motorsport good.

Here's a flavour of what interested onlookers can look forward to. 

1. The Iconic Hilclimb

 

For Goodwood host the Duke of Richmond and Gordon, having a hillclimb course in the front garden is part of his family’s heritage. His grandfather, Freddie March, the ninth Duke, won the 1931 Brooklands Double-Twelve race and organised a hillclimb on the estate in 1936. Thus the Festival of Speed was first seeded 85 years ago.

At 1.16 miles, today’s course is the longest in regular use in the British Isles; Northern Ireland’s Craigantlet – debuted in 1913 over a 1.12-mile stretch of road outside Belfast and part of the British Championship since its inception in 1947 – being ‘just’ 1460 yards.

Starting in an avenue of mature trees, competitors burst into the light through two deceptively quick right kinks, then hurtle past the imposing Goodwood House, with its magnificent Palladian south wing. After the critical left-handed Molecomb corner, the course gets darker again, climbing Pheasantry Hill, jinking round the Flint Wall, shooting across a clearing at Carnes Seat and finishing via an ultra-fast left on Birdless Grove.

2. The Sunday shootout

 

The focal point of the four-day event for many fans is Sunday afternoon’s shootout, in which competitors piloting a wide spectrum of vehicles from across the entry, split into categories, harness all the performance of their steeds and experience of the difficult course, to gun for major awards.

It’s a phenomenal spectacle, vivid colour and raw speed melding into one as the fastest ballistically accelerative weapons, guided by skilled hands, shoot to the course’s summit in a crescendo of sound. And not just the music of highly tuned internal combustion engines…

After 20 years, Nick Heidfeld’s outright record of 41.60 seconds, set in a Formula 1 McLaren-Mercedes MP4/13, was plundered in 2019 by Frenchman Romain Dumas in the electric Volkswagen ID.R, which had conquered the US classic Pikes Peak ‘Race to the Clouds’ in Colorado. British hillclimb aces would adore a crack at Dumas’ 39.90s target – Graeme Wight (Gould GR51) cut 42.90s in 2003 – but are not invited.

3. Roger Penske honoured

 

American legend Roger Penske’s CV in racing and business is stellar, thus it’s brilliant that the 84-year-old is due to be present at the Festival. This is not the first time Penske has visited Goodwood. He drove a Ferrari to eighth in the 1963 RAC Tourist Trophy, won by Graham Hill in a 250 GTO.

‘The Captain’ embodies the event’s theme: ‘The Maestros – Motorsport’s Great All-Rounders’. The Daytona 24 Hours, 18 Indianapolis 500s, plus NASCAR, Can-Am and Trans-Am races are among the events Team Penske entries have won over seven decades. Roger will drive the 2008 Sebring 12 Hours-winning Porsche RS Spyder.

A collection of cars illustrating the breadth of Penske’s influence assembled on the cricket pitch will include the four-wheel-drive Lola T152 with which Team Penske made its Indy 500 debut in 1969, McLaren M18 and Penske PC23 winners, the first Poole, UK-built PC1 F1 car and John Watson’s 1976 Austrian Grand Prix-winning PC4.

4. Formula 1 on track

 

A week before the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, Formula 1 makes its now customary pitstop at Goodwood to show an appreciative fanbase what it can do at close quarters. World championship leader Red Bull is represented by Alexander Albon in a 2011 RB7, with designer Adrian Newey and son Harrison sharing a sister car.

Aston Martin Racing is fielding last year’s car (nee Racing Point) for Lance Stroll, while Valtteri Bottas and Esteban Gutierrez alternate in a 2019 Mercedes F1 W10. FoS regular Marc Gene returns, driving a 2017 Ferrari SF70H, while Jenson Button has long enjoyed the event and the 2009 world champion shares a Williams-Cosworth FW08 with Karun Chandhok, now exerting his influence on the sport through FIA and Motorsport UK roles.

David Brabham, youngest son of three-time champion Sir Jack, is entered in a Brabham BT60B, while the ex-Graham Hill Embassy Shadow DN1 is out in the hands of historic racer Ewen Sergison.

5. Jackie and Emmo return

 

Inaugurated in 1993, the Festival of Speed became a regular rendezvous for Sir Stirling Moss – whose racing career took off after a 500cc Cooper victory at the motor circuit’s opening event in September 1948, and ended abruptly there in 1962 – and many old friends from the 1950s and 1960s, such as Roy Salvadori, Sir Jack Brabham, John Surtees and Sir Jackie Stewart.

Now, Jackie is the earliest-surviving F1 world champion – the title winner in 1969, 1971 and 1973, driving Ford DFV-powered Matra and Tyrrell cars. Delightfully, both Stewart and Emerson Fittipaldi – 1972 (Lotus) and 1974 (McLaren) champ – wouldn’t miss it. The Scot heads the Tyrrell Racing Organisation pageant honouring Ken, whose F3 break at Goodwood in 1964 presaged a wonderful career and who died 20 years ago this August.

Emmo will of course be reunited with a JPS Lotus 72, and is down for some demo runs with McLaren’s current rising star Lando Norris – a three-time F1 podium finisher this year – and team-mate Daniel Ricciardo in a Honda-powered MP4/5B honouring triple champ Ayrton Senna.

6. Mikkola's forest yumps

 

Hannu Mikkola may be gone – Audi’s 1983 World Rally champion died in February, aged 78 – but the popular flying Finn will never be forgotten at Goodwood. His spirit lives on in the Forest Rally Stage he helped mastermind, long a popular showcase for the sport he and his contemporaries defined over three decades.

A special class dedicated to Mikkola this year features Ford Escort twin-cam to various Audi Quattros, but contemporary Proton Iriz R5 and Ford Fiesta Rally2 entries should be quickest on the dusty technical course hewn through the trees by the estate’s foresters.

The pictorial history of stage rallying is traced by Alpine A110, through Group 4 Escort RS1800s and Fiat 131 Abarths, gruff MG Metro 6R4s and an exotic Lancia 037 Evo 2 from the awesome Group B era and younger Toyota Celica GT-Fours, Subaru Imprezas and Mitsubishi Lancers. Not to be missed, especially if you have not ventured off piste previously.

7. Andretti the great

 

As a driver who won the Formula 1 world championship, four Indycar crowns, world sportscar championship races, finished second at the Le Mans 24 Hours and tasted success in NASCAR, Mario Andretti personifies the Festival of Speed’s Great All Rounder tagline.

Over an extraordinarily long and diverse career, Andretti aced the Daytona 500 (Holman & Moody Ford Galaxie) and Indianapolis 500 (Hawk-Ford) in 1967 and 1969 respectively. A force wherever he competed, Mario won prolifically on short ovals, having started covertly on the dirt at Nazareth, Pennsylvania, and the Pikes Peak Hillclimb.

Andretti is due to be at Goodwood driving the Gold Leaf Team Lotus 49 in which he made his F1 debut in 1968, his 1978 title-winning Lotus 79 (now owned by Zak Brown) and – a treat for British-based fans – a 1974 Formula 5000 Lola-Chevrolet T332 from Brown’s stable. With fellow gods of the sport Jackie Stewart and Emerson Fittipaldi, Andretti covers all bases bar rallying.

8. A Sauber stunner

 

The Group C sportscar era of 1982-93 brought together some of the most sensational and fastest machines in racing history, the quickest of which exceeded 250mph on Le Mans’ Mulsanne Straight. F1 race winner Thierry Boutsen, who finished second at La Sarthe for Peugeot at the end of the era, is entered to drive Martin Halusa’s Porsche 962.

Northern Ireland’s Kenneth Acheson has a small collection of cars from his career, including a Sauber-Mercedes C9 he raced in 1989, and has been invited to debut the bellowing turbocharged V8-engined Silver Arrow. The Cookstown Flyer and Mauro Baldi won Brands Hatch and Spa’s world championship rounds, helping Peter Sauber’s squad secure the teams’ title.

Quickest of the timed runners will surely be mulitple FoS winner Justin Law in a Jaguar XJR-12D. Contrast in the showcase will be provided by Porsche 917s from the past and hill record holder Romain Dumas in Jim Glickenhaus’s new SCG 007LMH.

9. Grand Prix greats

 

Due to be celebrated last year before the pandemic's impact was felt, the world championship’s 70th Anniversary is a magnificent landmark.

Among the cars due to appear are Alexander Boswell’s 1952 Ferrari 500/625A from year one of the brief two-litre interlude in which Alberto Ascari was almost unbeatable.

Lukas Huni is bringing an early louvred Maserati 250F from 1954, and the transition to rear-engined cars includes a Lotus 18, Jason Wright’s fastidiously recreated sharknose Ferrari 156s of Phil Hill’s 1961 pomp, the ultra-sleek monocoque-chassised Lotus 25 of Jim Clark’s era and a Brabham-Repco BT20 from ‘Black Jack’s’.

A BRM sub-set features a V16, a Type 25, which scored the marque’s maiden GP win, P48, P261, Andy Middlehurst in Clark’s 1966 US GP-winning H16-engined Lotus 43 and a P160. Hopefully Richard Attwood – who made his F1 debut at the adjacent Goodwood Motor Circuit in 1964 – will demo the P261 during the weekend.

10. Supercars on parade

 

Supercars – some capable of three times the national speed limit – have a huge fan following, particularly at Goodwood when they are unleashed by racing drivers on the hill. This may be the only time that enthusiasts can get up close to the latest automotive technology as marques vie for the attention of the few buyers with deep enough pockets to invest.

This year’s bumper crop offers full sets of Aston Martins – from DB11 AMR to Valkyrie – Ferraris and Lamborghinis, Lotus Evija, Maserati MC20, McLaren (Artura, Elva, evoking memories of its mid-1960s’ build partner’s name, and GT), plus Porsches and Rolls-Royce’s Black Badge Dawn on the factory’s doorstep. Serious spotters will want to tick off the Kimera EV037, Koenigsegg Jesko, Rimac C Two and SCG 004S.

First Glance reveals Genesis cars, INEOS Grenadier, Jaguar XF Sportbrake, Kia EV6 GT, Lotus Emira, Mini Electric Pacesetter and Porsche 718 Boxster 25. Expect drama from stuntmeister Paul Swift in a Ford Mustang Mach-E GT, too.