Goodwood Festival of Speed

For those of you that haven’t been to the Goodwood Festival of Speed, it is a definite must for any petrolhead.  Not only does it ooze high-octane fun, but all the racing legends past and present turn up to take part in this motoring garden party.  You can get close up to cars and bikes: mingle with the stars whilst soaking up the smells of the methanol fuel.

In it’s 20th year, an array of Formula 1 World Champions from the past turned up, from Jenson Button, Emerson Fittipaldi, John Surtees to first timer to the event, current World Champion, Sebastian Vettel. All were around to mingle with the fans, enjoy the atmosphere and take some fast machines, some dating back to the 1900’s up the famous hillclimb.

Six current F1 teams were there to showcase their cars to the public and featured marque, Lotus had even arranged two of their cars in a vertical display on their stand. The sportscar maker was also part of the main sculpture outside Goodwood House and many visitors craned their necks to look at the cars racing skywards.

The bikes weren’t to be outdone by the cars and a whole host of former racers took to the track including American Kenny Roberts, Australian Wayne Gardner, former World Superbike Champion, Neil Hodgson and Isle of Man TT multiple winner, John McGuinness. From Harley Davidson to Yamaha to Valentino Rossi’s 2011 Ducati Desmosedici GP11, bike nuts were in their element inspecting all the motorcycles.

The car manufacturers were also out in force showcasing some of their past, present and future vehicles. Volvo had their new model, the V40 on display to the public, while Toyota were whetting appetites with their sportscar the GT86.

The Supercar Paddock is the world’s most expensive car park and with an impressive array from Bugatti, Lamborghini and other exotic looking, expensive sportscars, many visitors piled in to take a look.

Even children got a look in and Chevrolet had placed their Aveo model up an abseiling wall, which you could scale too, while MINI had the fun of the fair with mini dodgems.

The Festival of Speed is also about aviation and a peace shattering display from an RAF Typhoon brought the crowds to a standstill. A heartstopping feature from the Red Arrows turned the sky white, blue and red with their smoke trails and a tribute to their two colleagues that died in separate incidents last year, brought many a tear to the eye of the watching public.

To celebrate the Queen’s Jubilee, a special tribute showcased some half-scale cars, a caravan and a midget racer driven by Prince Charles. Quite a few children were itching to jump in and try out the royal toys.

With four days of motoring heaven and over 185,000 visitors to the Festival of Speed, it is the event of the summer. For those wanting more, then the Goodwood Revival takes

Goodwood Festival Of Speed