| This year, we visited the Goodwood Festival of speed. This is a 3-day event in southern England where famous cars from past and present take part in a timed hillclimb and and/or a forest rally stage. The event attracts famous drivers including some current F1 pilots and some heros from the past as well. The weather this year was great and the highlight for me was the rally stage (less people and some shade!) and the F1 cars. As we were there on the Saturday, it was practice-run day and the Formula one teams took the opportunity to show off a bit by doing burnouts in front of the assembled crowds!The images below were taken either on my SLR or by my phone, hence the difference in quality! |
| At the beginning of the day, we
headed straight for the forest rally stage. Located at the top of
the hill, this was a good walk but not many other people had made
it. The stage is a bit narrow for some good sideways action but
it was still good to see some classic cars having a go, including
an Audi quattro, an old saab that sounded like it had a 2-stroke
engine, and more. We wandered through the stage towards the start/finish
paddock, and here all the current WRC teams had set up their garage
areas. A little later on, their cars all got a couple of runs through
the stage at much higher speeds - probably because the drivers don't
own them and are less worried! |
After this, we set off back down the hill in time to catch the first batch of Formula one cars. Most of the drivers stopped at regular points up the hill to subsequently re-start with a full throttle burnout! Hearing them drive off in first gear on the rev limiter was pretty impressive. The only one to not do this was the Renault driver; he preferred to go for a full speed run each time!
Next, we headed back down and took up position by the bridge for some of the other cars to come through - including some modern exotics such as the new Ferrari 599 (the driver of which managed to end up in the hay bales) and the Bugatti Veyron. Most of these cars were suprisingly quiet on track though.
Finally, there was an excellent static display we looked
around both first thing and before leaving. This is where all the cars
to climb the hill were set up and you could wander around at leisure.
Many classic racing cars were here, along with more recent stuff such
as the Audi R10, and the Bently that both take part in the Le Mans 24
hour race.
All in all, it is a great day out if you're a bit of a petrolhead. To
be honest, you really need to visit on both days to see everything to
its full, but careful planning does mean one day is ok if you don't need
to see everything! Pictures below...
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