The annual Goodwood Festival of Speed, an event that brings the best of the car world together in one place, whether it be road or race cars, is a must on any petrolhead's bucket-list.
Words & Images: Stefan Kotze
With this iconic event running since 1993, you’d think that maybe it took a few years before truly special cars came to run up the Duke of Richmond's hill, but when you view some archival footage, you’ll see that even at the inaugural event, the likes of the McLaren F1, Ferrari F40, Jaguar XJ220 and Ford RS200 were already present.
The Duke clearly has had some pull in the automotive world, but that makes sense as his grandfather founded the Goodwood Motor Circuit just up the road, in 1948.
If you don’t know what the Festival of Speed is, you are probably on the wrong website here, but let me just entertain that thought and give you a quick rundown.
Basically, once a year, the beautiful property's entire driveway gets lined with hay bales, and OEMs, drivers and owners of special cars get invited to come show off their skills and magnificent machinery. The crowds come in droves. This year was particularly special, as it was the first FOS I attended in person. I had high expectations.
I watch the live feed religiously every year in July, but the footage and photos you see cannot even begin to prepare you for how epic and overwhelming this event is, because it’s a LOT.
After attending and photographing the event and racing for four very long days my legs were tired, but still there was more to see and experience.
This year’s theme, ‘Horseless to Hybrid,’ highlighted the evolution of technology in motorsport, going back 130 years up to present day and pretty much every notable car you could think of was there.
With the event having such great international coverage and with the downfall of shows like Geneva and Frankfurt, it has also become a place for many manufacturers to unveil their latest creations, with all the big names like Koenigsegg, Pagani, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Porsche, Ferrari and so forth all having massive presences here and sending multiple cars up the hill with great haste.
Apart from the racing action, there’s also loads to see in the trade stands and paddocks where you can get up close and personal with all your dream cars, including iconic machines like Le Mans racers, F1 cars, and even something as priceless as a Ferrari 250 GTO, which also went up the hill. This is a car that sells for between $50-70 million dollars, mind you...
As is usually the case though, one of the biggest draw cards of the Festival of Speed is the timed shootout which pits the fastest cars of the weekend against each other in different categories, with their final run on the Sunday afternoon being the only one that counts.
This year it was taken by the EV brigade, with veteran Pikes Peak International Hill Climb racer Romain Dumas clinching the title in a time of 43,99 seconds. This was in Ford’s Supervan 4.2, a 1400hp brick, with two tons of downforce and able to hit a trap speed of 241km/h.
In close second, the internal combustion camp showed it still has what it takes, with Scott Speed attempting his runs in a sinister looking Subaru WRX STI, built by Vermont Sports Car and Subaru Motorsport USA, especially for this event. In the end he crossed the traps with a time of 46.1 seconds.
Third place was not very far behind at 48.1 seconds, taken by 18-year-old James Wallis in a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car.
Once the Festival of Speed is over, you are almost left in a state of depression for a few days, as the adrenaline subsides. Nothing quite comes close to how much of a spectacle this event is, and the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see some of the rarest and most special cars is a memory that will stay with me forever. Many other iconic events have become almost too exclusive, requiring all forms of access passes to get close to the cars. The beauty of the Goodwood Festival of Speed is that all that is stripped away.
If you ever have the chance to go and attend, do everything in your power to make it happen as this is one of those rare occurrences where the event in real life surpasses the hype by a mile.