Goodwood Festival Of Speed - A - Z

W

Weather

Oh, the weather, the traditional British conversation starter, there was no way it couldn’t be included in this list.

Goodwood is not shielded from the shifting winds and rains that roll out across the countryside and whilst I would certainly agree that I have had a lot more sunny and warm days I have also got completely drenched on others. It is more the case that you will be hit by a short shower sandwiched between baking hot sunshine so not only do you need to take your warm clothes but a lightweight jacket is often shoved in the bottom of my bag too.

It's best to wear layers as arriving early doors usually means you are leaving a trail of footprints in the morning dew that has settled on the grass of the car park overnight, this usually burns away by the time you have made your first foray into one of the paddocks followed by a short shower in the late morning to wash off any suntan lotion you might have applied, you invariably forget to reapply it and burn anyway.

I must admit that I do enjoy the cars when it is or has just been raining, the droplets of water that settle on the badge or the bodywork as they sit on the stands and in the paddocks then there is the huge spray of water coming off the track as the cars pass by, although this does mean that the hill climb dries fairly quickly.

Then you have the offroad and rally stages where a bit of water is never a bad thing, if you are in there at the right time you can hide out in the woods until it finishes raining then carry on your journey. As long as you are prepared (or luckily in the right place) when those clouds open then this shouldn’t stop any of the fun you are having.

Walking

Alongside your good and varied layers of clothing, I cannot recommend highly enough a good pair of hiking boots and at least 1 change of socks because you will be racking up the miles and most of it will be on foot. I would say on average across all of my visits I probably walk over 10miles a day, I used to just wear trainers and these were fine you can get away with it however I just appreciate the hiking boots now.

The terrain is quite kind on the whole but the treks through the woods and when it does rain is when you feel the benefit of boots, also when I wore trainers, I would be knocking dust out of them for at least a week afterwards whereas the boots are just bashed together and sprayed with a bit of water and are good to go again.

Wheels

Ahhh wheels, where would we be without wheels, when you talk about wheels you have to include one of my favourite things in the world ever, alloys… Open admission, I started writing this some time (roughly 30,000 words) ago and had to just go back and make sure I hadn’t already used Alloys in my “A” section, luckily, I didn’t, I have already used tyres though so let’s avoid that a bit.

In a similar vein to the advances made on the race cars, their colour schemes and logos the humble wheel has also gone through quite the transformation as well. Unsurprisingly this hasn’t just been reserved for cars on the track either, the designs and construction of wheels for road-going cars has been just as dramatic, both for the aesthetics as well as the improvements to safety that comes with them.

From the old racers with their hundreds of spokes, looking like a pushbike wheel with one giant wingnut bolt which used to be done up with a hammer, moving through the very basic barrel or dustbin lid looking versions right up to the lightweight carbon fibre 5-point star offerings, or the two-tone metals with brushed shiny metal set against a black inner support.

I absolutely love taking photographs of alloy wheels, one of the first things I do is walk around the car and look at all four wheels to establish which one is going to get me the best photo, it’s mainly to do with the badge, is it the right way up, or at least close enough. What colours have they used for the brake callipers, does this match the car, if the name of the car or brand of brakes is written on the calliper can I get it to land between the spokes, if not can I angle the photo enough to show the right amount of branding.

If there is anything on the bottom corner of the bodywork like a model number, in some instances the tyre itself has a logo or image on it, sometimes there is a handwritten reference, can I get any of that in to add more detail. Is the alloy or the bolts shiny and reflective enough that when I invariably get home and see myself looking back at me will I have to bin off that photo.

Honestly its both a skill and a chore, mainly it’s a skill for me as I have got pretty good at spotting them now and it’s a chore for my wife as she has to wait for me to get my photo, and yes, I know I could get them on Thursday but the cars have moved since then so everything is reset and I just need to take another quick look at one over here because they were all wrong the other day.

Wow

Those moments when you turn to the person next to you, eyebrows raised, cheeks puffed out as in to say that was close or that was impressive, I don’t know how they managed that. I must admit for the majority of the time its children who demonstrate the wow moments the best, their mouths wide open and often with hands over their ears, as they look up to mum or dad smiling and laughing, a few examples that illicit these reactions would be when a red bull emblazoned 9.5-tonne Kamaz truck started doing power slides up the hill, I would highly suggest looking up these guys as they do some insane things with these trucks. There are of course the other areas that are filled with noise and smoke, the displays being watched both at ground level and in the skies as you look up in absolute wonder at the precision and timing of some of the stunts because quite frankly, they always seem to be a little to close for my liking.

Watching the hill climb attempts can also be an on the edge of your seat affair as the cars get faster and faster through the weekend, some having large twitches and lockups or as they brush within an inch of the flint wall you can hear the widespread deep breath in of thousands of people simultaneously thinking, that was very close.

There are also the moments when things go wrong and there is an accident, thankfully the numbers are low considering just how much is going on across all 4 days but there are always those anxious, holding your breath moments as you wait for the driver to come clear and then the replays show what went wrong.

If you would rather be in a seat than on the edge of one then the different experiences are where you want to go, I have seen first-hand the wide-eyed, beaming smile and boundless energy that comes out of someone when they have just climbed out of a Metro 6r4 and basically bounded around the rest of the festival using the energy gained from that experience. The first word is always wow.

Want’s and wishes

There is an ever-growing list of want’s that I have at the festival but none of it is the kind of thing the organisers can provide (well unless they are feeling extraordinarily generous). My lists started as most peoples do in terms of, I want that car or I want this car. I want to see that rider do that trick again.

This list has grown across the years and I would pretty much need a house the size of Goodwood just to park them all. My lists have also changed from unobtainable dreams to impossible wishes. Mainly I want more time, there is not enough time for me to do absolutely everything I want and I hate the idea of missing things.

I want to be the only person at the festival, all of the cars on display and I have all the time in the world without worrying about floating heads, without having to wait for my turn, to be able to get in and around every car and stand fully unobstructed, or to be able to move a car to a better background, so there are no reflections of other cars on the bodywork would be the absolute dream.

Sadly, if I don’t want reflections then I also have to remove myself, or at least become invisible, that would make life a lot easier.

Alongside this, I would love to be able to be there a few days early, get photos and action of the setups of the stands and cars arriving on trucks and in trailers, be able to walk around at night and take photos in low light or long exposures without worrying about the covers and sleeping bags that go on as the days wind down… And in Ferrari’s case stay on and behind barriers way longer than is strictly necessary.

Is that asking too much… well yes probably but that’s part of the appeal, no matter how much you are given, how much you can see and do, you always feel like you have more to do.