HISTORY OF GOODWOOD FESTIVAL OF SPEED

History

Founding

The Goodwood Festival of Speed was founded in 1993 by Lord March in order to bring motor racing back to the Goodwood estate — a location steeped in British motor racing history. Shortly after taking over the estate in the early 1990s, Lord March (as he is formally known) wanted to bring back motor racing to Goodwood Circuit, but did not have the necessary permit to host a race there. Therefore, he instead hosted it on his own grounds. With a small selection of entrants made up of invited historic vehicles, the first event that took place on Sunday 13 June proved to be a success, taking in a crowd of 25,000 despite a date clash with the 24 Hours of Le Mans that year. After the first event's date clash, Lord March would ensure that the event would never be allowed to clash with either Le Mans or Formula One races. In 1994, Saturday was added, making it a weekend event. In 1996, Friday was added, making it a three day event. In 2010, the Moving Motor Show was added on the Thursday.

Features and attractions

1970 Porsche 917 going up the hill at the 2006 Festival of Speed

The hill climb

  Sébastien Buemi demonstrating a Red Bull RB1 Formula One car at the 2008 Goodwood Festival of Speed

Thanks to the event's classification as a hill climb, its location and desire to reflect the style and history of motor sport, visitors are afforded close views of the action - separated only by a few metres and reinforced straw bales from the track. Visitors are free to walk around several paddocks where the cars and drivers can be seen at close quarters. The atmosphere of the Festival of Speed, when compared to the separation of fans from drivers and machines common to most top end motor sport events, encourages participation by the fans.
The track has an elevation change of 92.7 metres, for an average gradient of 4.9%. The record time for the hillclimb was set in 1999 when Nick Heidfeld drove a McLaren MP4/13 Formula One car up the hill in 41.6 seconds (100.385 mph). For safety reasons Formula One cars are no longer allowed to do official timed runs, and will often focus on demonstrations that are spectacular rather than fast. In 2006 Heikki Kovalainen completed the course in a Renault R25 F1 car and was unofficially timed below 40 seconds.

Soapbox challenge

From 2000 to 2004 this was a downhill race for gravity-powered cars. Starting from just below the hill-climb finish line, to a finish line in front of the house. It included entries from Cosworth, Prodrive, and other top companies. With some famous riders/drivers piloting them, including Barry Sheene. However, there were frequent accidents. Despite an official cap on the cost of cars, the unofficial costs were becoming too high, so it did not return in 2005.

The forest rally stage

From 2005 to present there has been a demonstration area for the rally cars at the top of the hill. Initially, in 2005, the track through the forest was widened, and the rally cars ran down through the forest, turned on the tarmac section just outside the wood, and returned up the same track. This meant that the cars could only run one-at-a-time.
In 2006, a full forest stage was introduced, designed by Hannu Mikkola this was a complete circuit, with a separate start and finish line at the top of the wood. This allowed the cars to start at timed intervals, allowing many more cars to run.

The sculpture

Since 1997, there has been a spectacular Gerry Judah sculpture in front of Goodwood House usually incorporates rare race cars.

Supercar run

Since 2000, there has been a Sunday Times Supercar Run, for road-going supercars. Since 2014 cars could opt to do a timed run. It is now common for specialty car manufacturers to show off their latest sports model, including newly released mass-produced sports models and working concept models.

Cartier Style et Luxe

Since 1995 this is an auto show which takes place to the west of the house. It is a similar format to the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. Entry is usually by invitation, and this provides some leeway as to which type of vehicle can enter, usually resulting in a more varied event than usual Concours d'Elegance. Unlike most concours shows, the Cartier Style et Luxe is judged by a panel of selected judges consisting of celebrities from all around the world to car designers.

The Moving Motor Show

Since 2010, the Moving Motor Show, was added. Mainly in response to the cancellation of the British International Motor Show aimed exclusively for buyers of new cars, allowing them a chance to test the cars on the course. Following its success, it was announced the MMS would return in 2011.

McLaren MP4-12C at the 2010 Festival of Speed

The 2010 event also included the running of the new McLaren MP4-12C.
The official website lists the Festival of speed dates as the Friday to Sunday, but the weekend tickets for the Festival include a moving motor show ticket. So it's not strictly part of the Festival of Speed, but it is a part of the Festival of Speed weekend.

Other

Other popular attractions at the event are the real life replicas of the Wacky Races cars, which serves to provide lunchtime entertainment for the crowds, and the airshow, which usually include the RAF Tornado and Red Arrows, and in 2004 and 2005 a low-flying Boeing 747,a low-flying Airbus A380 appeared at the 2008 event.
Since its beginning, the poster art has been illustrated by renowned motor racing artist Peter Hearsey.
In recent years, they have also put on the GAS Arena (Goodwood Action Sports) who showcase extreme stunts such as Freestyle Motorcross, BMW and Trial bike Riding

Other events

The Festival of Speed has a sister event, the Goodwood Revival Meeting. This event, normally held in early September, relives the glory days of the Goodwood Motor Racing Circuit.