Goodwood Festival Of Speed - A - Z

I

Insights

I have learnt so many things from the Festival of Speed that I will gladly reel off snippets of information to friends at a moment’s notice, I do it with such confidence I almost sound like I know a lot about cars and bikes and engines etc. Here’s the truth, I don’t, I know very little beyond what I can remember on a surface level or by using logic to work out an answer that kind of makes sense.

There’s the basic stuff like reading a board that lets you know that the engine that was designed for a Metro 6r4 was then adapted and put into the Jaguar XJ220 right up to the fully engaging stands like the one that used to house the Bloodhound land speed record car which had full-height posters and information about different aspects of the car from the engine to the wheels. Even information on where the attempt would be taking place and how focused they had to be even down to walking the course to clear it of tiny stones and debris to prevent any accidents.

You could build speed racers using different shapes and wheels that clipped together before racing it down an air miniature track to see how well you had done before making changes and trying again to beat your score. There was even a seat and screen set up with a virtual speed run where you truly felt how difficult it would be to control this thing. A fully immersive and engaging experience bringing the whole project to life for people of all ages.

Iconic

There are so many things that can be deemed as iconic but I am focussing on the brands rather than individual models, even from day one, there have been some iconic brands coming to the festival, as mentioned with the Aston at the front of the house these iconic brands continue to show up. I think it says a lot that through the years the number of brands that want to appear front and centre (mainly on the bridge) has just grown and grown. The historic marques from across Europe and the world is staggering, Ferrari, Porsche, McLaren, Lotus and even Michelin and BMW.

The iconic tag isn’t just attached to things but it can also be attached to people too, there have been some absolute legends of motorsport who have driven the hill before, Jackie Stewart, Sterling Moss, Jenson Button, Nico Rosberg just a few of many I could name from F1, Sebastien Loeb, Colin McRae and Richard Burns from rallying then on to John McGuinness, James Haydon and Peter Hickman on motorcycles.

And I know I said I wasn’t going to focus on cars but they do have some iconic ones of these too, the Williams Red 5, Metro 6r4, Aston Martin Vulcan, Ferrari Dino 246/60.

The list is pretty much endless and my tastes may not match yours who in turn might not match the next person but that does not matter as it just means we will each be found in front of different tents and vehicles, although I will probably come and sneak a peak at your choices too.

Illustrious

The festival of speed continues to grow year on year, each time its reputation only increases, the organisation and breadth of the festival are world-leading and in turn, is respected and admired for its continued success. From local businesses and tv networks to a growing network of worldwide sponsors, exhibitors and extensive live-action and highlight offerings it’s been a pretty staggering rise to the top of the pile.

Able to attract manufacturers, teams and drivers from all corners of the globe before they return home talking of the fantastic four days, they spent on the south coast of England is a huge achievement from the team at Goodwood. So much so that people are trying to copy and replicate the event in other countries, even the cars made in the USA are taking the lead from this historic estate in Sussex.

In reality, it’s those huge American cars that are being loaded onto transport and brought over here to be at the premier auto event of the year. The growing number of Nascar’s grows every year alongside regular collections of Indy cars like that seen in 2021 where an entire row of Penske cars lined up side. Then you add in the larger-than-life stars like WWE legend Goldberg who drove the 800bhp Toyota Tundra up the hill, this stuff does not just happen without the reach and reputation that Goodwood has.

Adding to his reputation Goldberg put in a fairly solid time on the hill then followed this by helping carry a buggy across the bridge again showing the accessibility and friendliness of all attendees of the event no matter how big you are, physically or reputationally.

Inventive

The first step in getting to the top and then staying there is being inventive, you have to offer something that nobody else does and find solutions to problems that other people can’t. In the early 1990s, a plan was hatched to re-open the motor circuit but at this stage, a direct return to motor racing on the circuit was not on the cards and it would be a long and challenging path to tread so something else was needed.

Running a contemporary Hillclimb would be the ideal solution, using the roads within the estate to put on an event would bring both the fans and enthusiasts together at the same time whilst also demonstrating the ability to plan and run a safe event which would be the first steps in bringing other motor-sports back to Goodwood.

Being inventive also means talking to the right people and accepting when your initial thoughts and decisions might need tweaking or abandoning altogether, it is widely known that Dennis Carter of the BARC and Derek Ongaro of the FIA was heavily involved in shaping the initial plans which would go on to form the spine of the event we see today.

As the years have progressed, we have seen more and more additions such as the Rally stage at the top of the hill which arrived as a demonstration piece in 2005 before a full forest stage was introduced in 2006 designed by the Finnish World Rally Champion Hannu Mikkola, yet another example of utilising the right people for the right tasks. The growing popularity of the Future Lab, the drift arena, G.A.S. and the supercar paddock each write their own stories of success in an already packed offering.

This might go some way to explain the addition of Thursday as part of the moving motor show, originally slated as a press preview day it quickly became apparent that the desire for access and entertainment warranted an extra day for the public to attend.

Improving

Improving your offering is not always about adding more, the phrase bigger is not always better is something that must be remembered when you have so much you want to do and show to the fans. I can’t imagine the number of requests the Goodwood team receive to secure a place for a car either in one of the classes going up the hill or for one-off entries into Cartier Style Et Luxe. Beyond that you can only have one central sculpture, you can only fill the stable yard once, you can only have so many cars per class, the list goes on and on, I can’t even begin to imagine how these decisions are made but they always are and they are always done in order to give the best experience possible.

A big decision that was made fairly on was to require pre-booking as well as adding a limit to the number of guests each day, I know a certain amount of this is down to the dreaded Health & Safety requirements (which must weigh a literal ton based on the nature and volume of the vehicles involved each day) but you must also imagine that the number has been arrived at by taking into account the experience we all have. I would hate to be trying to get pictures with an extra 25,000+ floating heads around the cars all day.

There have even been aspects of the festival that have been cancelled altogether such as the soapbox challenge which was around for about 4 years before being removed from the event because (amongst other reasons) the cars were becoming too formulaic and lacking innovative thinking alongside increasing unofficial costs and the setup of test tracks and time on the hill being deemed reasons enough to pull the event.