Goodwood, 11 – 13 July 2008
Excess all areas! – The 2008 running of the Goodwood Festival of Speed lived up to the reputation built up
through the previous fifteen gatherings, with an enormous selection of attractions to thrill the petrol head.
Virtually every type of two and four wheel motor sport is covered, then there is the Cartier Style et Luxe concours,
the various manufacturers displays, the trade area, the cricket pitch dragster display, whilst even the kids are
made to feel welcome with the Junior Festival of Speed area, together with the Wacky Racers, which are equally
enjoyable to adults. The entertainment is not limited to the ground, as on the Saturday the whisper quiet new
Airbus A380 flew over, and displayed its capabilities at low altitude, then on Sunday the Red Arrows gave their
always spectacular aerobatic display.
Themes – Each year there are themes to the event, together with anniversaries to be celebrated, and of course
what has now become a tradition, the sculpture in front of the house. The theme this year was “Hawthorn to
Hamilton – Britain’s Love Affair with World Motor Sport” celebrating the 50th anniversary of Mike Hawthorn
becoming Britain’s first F1 World Champion Driver. On the anniversary front, a massive steel girder structure
commemorated the 60th anniversary of land Rover, this stretched so high skyward that it had an aviation
warning beacon on it! Other 60th anniversaries were the first post-war British Motor Show in 1948 and Porsche.
Golden anniversaries were Lola Cars, Cosworth Engineering and the British Touring Car Championship, whilst
the event also recognised centenaries of the Model T Ford and the birth of Ian Fleming, the author of the James
Bond novels, with a display of the cars used in the films, complete with “Bond” girls. For all these anniversaries
there were either displays or demonstration runs up the hill. On a more sombre note, the festival also
recognised the achievements of Britain’s first World Rally Champion, the late Colin Mcrae, who died in a
helicopter accident in September 2007, with a display of the cars that he drove during his career. At the wish of
his family all charity proceeds raised at the event will go to the Make-A-Wish Foundation for youngsters fighting
life threatening illnesses.
Two Wheels – The motorcycle fraternity was well represented with a wide selection of both classic and modern
bikes, including John Reynolds on his 2004 BSB Championship winning Rizla Suzuki GSX-R1000, Jamie
Whitham on a KTM Superduke 990R, and Terry Rymer on a Loctite Yamaha OW01 with which he won the BSB
Championship in 1990, whilst classics included a 1925 Brough Superior and a supercharged 1939 DKW
350SS. Other riders in attendance reads like a “who’s who” of the motorcycle world, Jim Redman, Leon
Haslam, James Hayden, Michael Rutter, Mick Doohan, Alex Barros, Troy Corser and Carl Fogarty to name but a
few. However, the star on two wheels was none of these, despite the rubber they burned and the wheelies that
they pulled, it was Dougie Lampkin, who treated everybody to some spectacular stunt riding. This included
riding through Goodwood House, yes, through the house, on the polished floors and plush carpets, climbing
the stairs to exit onto the roof where he rode along pulling wheelies and standing it on its front wheel, not for the
faint hearted!
Formula 1 – Every year the event is supported by a number of F1 teams, and this year there were six teams in
attendance, BMW Sauber, Ferrari, Honda, McLaren, Red Bull and Toyota, plus the FV10 team of Cars
International, with a 2003 Jordan E13 and a 2004 Jaguar R5, the former being driven by car owner Andrew Tate,
and the latter by ex F3 Champion and test driver Marc Hynes and ex-F1 driver Johnny Herbert. The F1 team
driving duties were as follows, BMW Sauber had Marco Asmer and Christian Kline, Ferrari had Marc Gené,
Honda had Jenson Button and Alexander Wurz, McLaren had Lewis Hamilton and Pedro de la Rosa, Red Bull
had Sebastian Buemi, and Toyota had Kamui Kobayashi, the latter two doing some spectacular “doughnuts” for
the appreciative crowd. There was also a display of historic McLaren F1 cars in the paddock, together with a
wide variety of historic F1 cars in attendance. There were also some great pre-war single seaters, including the
re-creation of the mid-engine 1938 Auto Union Type D, which was driven by Nick Mason. Unsurprisingly the big
attraction for the British fans was the appearance of Lewis Hamilton, who appeared on the Sunday, and was
interviewed on the balcony of Goodwood House by radio and TV personality Chris Evans, while the appreciative
crowd thronged around the sculpture on the lawn to capture his every word. A nice touch here was that
Champagne was served to the crowd, so that they could toast him at the end of the presentation, which must
have emptied a few magnums of Verve Cliquot!
I started with “Excess All Areas”, and that is certainly the case, there is so much to see and do, people to meet,
ambience to enjoy, the Bonham’s auction, the Cartier Style et Luxe concours, not forgetting a scout around the
trade area, so that even after three days solid you still haven’t seen everything.
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