Festival of Speed

Goodwood

9th - 11th July

The Goodwood Festival of Speed - you will have heard of it, you might even have been, and if you haven’t you should experience it at least once, especially if you like super rare cars and bikes and like to take the odd automotive photo.

This was my first visit to Goodwood and as a newbie this report is my experience of what everyone has been telling me is the best event celebrating motorsports in the world.

And that’s the strap line - it’s a celebration. Yes there is competitive motorsports; put a professional race car driver in a competitive car and they will try and take that vehicle to its limits but the impression I took away from my two days in the rolling hills of west Sussex is it’s 70%  celebration 30% motorsport.

I enjoyed this unique celebratory feature, as participating in modern motorsport is quite a serious business.

So it was a breath of fresh air watching drivers thoroughly enjoying themselves while showboating to the crowd at the detriment of recording a fast time.

The unique aspect of the FoS is the reuniting of drivers with the original motorsports vehicle that they took to glory back in the day.

If you missed Emerson Fittipaldi win the Formula One World Championship back in 1972 and you were at the FoS last weekend you will have seen him reunited with the beautiful black and gold John Player Special Lotus.

This is one of the aspects I really like about the festival, it’s great to see a historic vehicle with the historically correct driver. It’s also great to see the diversity of vehicles on show from NASCARs to F1, from Rally to Drift and don’t forget about the concept, road going and prototypes.

As there are so many vehicles this requires many ex and current races to pilot them, so you never know who is going to turn up next or where they are going to appear from. My top tip especially when in the paddock is to keep your head up and your eyes peeled.

Hillclimb 

It’s at this point that it’s worth talking about what sort of motorsports are on show at the FoS. The main event and central to the celebration is the Hillclimb. The 1.16-mile course runs through the middle of the Goodwood estate past Goodwood House.

The fastest drivers in the fastest cars will be completing the course in under 50 seconds, the best closer to 40 seconds.

But it’s not all about speed, even though that’s what it says on the tin, many of the drivers were taking the course at a steady pace.

You can imagine the brief when a race car driver from the 1960s gets into a priceless piece of motoring history, “remember you aren’t 20 any more, bring it back in one piece.”

However, one set of drivers did a bit of both speed and showboating - the drift cars. I’m a bit of a 1990s car fan and love watching 700bhp cars sliding within inches of a wall, smoking the tyres.

There was no wall in the practice and demo runs on the two days we were there, so it was all about the screaming engines and the tortured tyres.

On race day the drift cars had a number of barrels with proximity sensor beacon lights on top that they had to activate by drifting close to them.

Points were also given for the time taken to get up the hill, styling it out on the run and parking at speed. All of this combined was a great crowd pleaser as the cars snaked up the hill leaving a smell of burnt rubber hanging in the air.

There are loads of great locations to take photos of the action on the hill climb, the main area being in front of Goodwood house where the centre piece art display is situated this year, called the Lotus Aeroad.

There were mixed reviews on this year’s effort. I was underwhelmed until I realised you needed an app that used augmented reality technology that then had the cars flying around virtually.

The first corner and second are also good locations to grab a picture or spectate. There are straw bales which can get in the way if you are a little short but there are grandstands that cost a few extra quid but do elevate you for an unobstructed view.

The second corner, Molecomb, produced some of my best results from the weekend. There is a limited head-on shot but when the light is right it’s right. To get a good spot here you will have to wait a while or be very lucky.

I timed it just right and got a good spot as everyone was leaving after one of the sessions.

The Hillclimb top paddock after the finish line is another good location to pap the drivers as they exit their vehicles for a chat. Not much in the way of action here, but you will get the odd burn out or at the very least a lot of engine revving. 

Forest Rally Stage

To get to the Forest Rally Stage and the Hillclimb top paddock you will have to pass the off road course. Again we were lucky as we arrived as the main participants were really going for it.

Later that day we passed this location on the way down the hill hoping for more of the same. Unfortunately the action wasn’t as good. Sometimes you are just lucky.

The Rally Stage is located within a forest not too far from the hill climb and was originally designed by Hannu Mikkola in 2005. There are loads of great viewing areas here, the best ones being on the inside of the course. 

There is an access point just before the hill climb finish line where you can follow the track round to the top of the stage where the cars assemble for the off and return to once the stage is complete.

If you want to get back down to the main paddock area there is a shuttle bus. Well, it’s a tractor towing a trailer and there was quite a queue on both days.

Top tip, ride up, but walk down to the main paddock. Or if you are stupid like me, walk both ways, on a very hot day, with a massive rucksack full of camera gear.

Main Paddock

We parked in two different cars parks during our visit, and after a quick check of vaccination status or negative lateral flow test (one or the other was required to get in as the event was being run as a test event) we entered the main paddock.

According to my shooting buddy who has been to many FoS over the years, the garages in the paddock were more spread out than usual. Also there were other paddocks located at the bottom of the hill, again spread out to help keep the crowds form bunching up.

The main paddock had a great selection of modern and classic motorsports vehicles to get up close to. All of the bays were open for you to have a closer look, except for the formula one teams. 

As it was a working paddock the cars were in and out of the bays all day. The marshals walked with the cars moving the crowds to one side, not that you need a marshal to tell you there is a V12 with a straight through exhaust coming up behind you.

It wasn’t just cars, there was also a great selection of racing motorcycles. I was immediately drawn to the number 34 bike ridden by Kevin Schwantz.

I loved watching him race but I wasn’t to see him reunited with his bike. When the FoS can’t match up a racer to a machine, they get someone appropriate.

In this case we would see the number 34 lucky strike Suzuki go up they hill with British MotoGP rider Steve Parish.

The holding area below the main paddock is a great location for people-watching. The drivers and riders will get out of the vehicles and chat to the crowd, well the younger ones will.

Once the older drivers have been strapped in that’s it, a few aren’t as nimble as they used to be.

Our final area to look around was the manufacturers, trade and display areas. I have the Goodwood app on my phone and I must say it’s an excellent tool for finding your way around and planning your visit, and best of all it’s free.

The night before visiting the FoS I went through the timetable on the app tapping what I wanted to see. The app will then notify you of an upcoming event.

There were quite a few reveals and interviews that I would have missed without it as you can get sucked into the on-track action.

Jenson Button was on the Lotus stand but it was the all new gorgeous looking Emira and Evija all-electric hypercar that drew the crowds all day. We waited until just about everyone had gone home to take a good look round the stands. 

The McLaren stand was outstanding as well,although to be fair if they just parked the McLarens on the grass they would have looked stunning.

Most of the manufacturers' stands had a party atmosphere, playing music, and with large screens showing off the latest automotive products.

That is the lasting impression I will take away from the Goodwood Festival of Speed. It’s a party, it’s a celebration of the internal combustion engine on a grand scale. If you haven’t been then go, you won’t be disappointed.