From July 11 to 14, 2024, the Duke of Richmond once again made his castle and its surroundings available to historic and contemporary motorsport and all interesting cars in general. Thousands of spectators responded to the call, and on Thursday the grounds were already as full as if it were the only day of the event. The weather largely played along, with a few rain showers in between ensuring that it felt like being in England.
The Festival of Speed is an event for car (and motorcycle) enthusiasts. Historic automobiles are mixed with the most modern vehicles and are usually shown on the move; in principle, the festival could be seen as a traveling motor show with a classic car fair attached.
The event has so much appeal that many car manufacturers like to present their new products at Goodwood. In addition, there are famous and legendary people from the automobile and motorcycle world, who usually take a seat in some kind of vehicle in a good mood at the festival and thunder up the makeshift hill climb track. Speed is only decisive in very few cases, show and emotion always are.
100 years of MG
Every year, a sculpture commemorates a major event or anniversary. In July 2024, the MG brand, which is now 100 years old, was celebrated. Although it fell into Chinese hands a few years ago, cars with the famous octagon logo are still being produced.
The sculpture made the transition from the once popular MGB to the current MG Cybster.
A number of MGs, including a K3 and a Metro 6R4 Group B car, were also on the track to highlight the history of the famous brand.
From the drive without a horse to the hybrid
The main theme on the hill was "Horseless to Hybrid" and thus racing and sports cars from over 130 years of automotive history. The oldest car, a Salvesen Steam Wagonette from 1893, battled against the most modern hyper sports cars for the favor and interest of the trellised public.
Of course, there was no shortage of purely electric cars either, but vehicles with characteristic to dramatic sounds were probably more popular with visitors.
Of course, there was no shortage of exciting vehicles - when do you ever see a Lancia Stratos, an Alpine-Renault A442B, a Matra MS670 or a Jaguar XJR9 LM pass you by?
20 years of Red Bull Racing
A not inconsiderable number of spectators, including very young people, probably came to Goodwood because of Red Bull Racing. In fact, the racing car company that once started out with the cars of Jaguar Racing, which in turn had emerged from Stewart Grand Prix, can be considered a legend. Since then, 20 years have passed and Red Bull can be proud of six constructors' and seven drivers' titles.
This was celebrated with a broad appearance and almost all Red Bull evolutions were on site, almost half of them were also shown driving on the hill climb track. Among those behind the wheel were team boss Cristian Horner, current world champion Max Verstappen, as well as Mark Webber, Christian Klein, Daniel Ricciardo and David Coulthard.
130 years of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport
Mercedes-Benz has slightly more years under its belt than Red Bull Racing (including predecessors). Stuttgart can look back on 130 years of motor racing and this was also celebrated at Goodwood.
Pre-war racing cars such as the Mercedes-Benz Targa Florio from 1924, the W25 from 1934 and the W196 Streamliner were on display.
The famous blue racing transporter "Blue Wunder" was also a highlight, although it was only shown statically.
For fans of younger racing cars with a star, the Sauber-Mercedes C9, the CLK LM and a Formula 1 from 2021 were among the cars on display on the hill climb track.
Premiere Auto Union Type 52
Audi Tradition had a special "novelty" to offer. The Auto Union Type 52 from 1934 was presented for the first time, a car that only existed as an idea in the planning stage at the time.
Now the car has been recreated from old drawings and Hans-Joachim Stuck was allowed to drive it up the hill.
There are also other interesting Audi vehicles on display, such as the Type C, several Audi quattro cars, several R8 Le Mans cars and an R18 TDI from 2011.
Memories of Niki Lauda
Niki Lauda, the "Resilient Racer", was also remembered.
Among others, a BRM P180 from 1972, a Ferrari 312 B3 from 1974, a Ford Capril RS 3100 from 1974, a Brabham-Alfa Romeo BT46B from 1978 and a McLaren MP4/1B from 1982 drove up the castle hill.
Reinhold Joest and his racing team, who competed in Le Mans several times with Porsche and Audi vehicles and took home the winner's trophy in many races, were also celebrated.
The spectacular Shadows
The cars from Shadow Racing, billed as "Motorsport's Most Mysterious Machines", were a visual and acoustic experience.
On display were a variety of CanAm racing sports cars, but also Formula 1 racing cars, most of them in the famous black UOP livery.
At the steering wheels were racing greats such as Damon Hill, Jackie Oliver, Marino Franchitti and Jake Hill, who left no stone unturned in his high-speed drive.
Elegance off the racetrack
In addition to the many racing and road classics on static display, Goodwood also hosted the "Cartier Style et Luxe" Concours d'Elégance on the castle lawns.
An eclectic mix of luxury cars and sports cars faced the judges, including a collection of tractors from Porsche, David Brown and Lamborghini.
The winner of the Concours was the Bugatti Type 57 SC Atalante. The class winners were a Pagani Zonda C12S, a Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost, a Fiat X-1/9 Lido, a Lamborghini Countach, a Meyers Manx and the David Brown 880 Selectamatic.
Gravel and forest
Driving was not only on the asphalt road up the castle hill, but also in the forest at the northern end of the Goodwood Estate. Hannu Mikkola designed a special forest stage in 2005 and it has been run every year since then.
Exciting cars from rally history put themselves to the test on the sometimes quite slippery gravel course through the forest. Among others, various Audi quattro, Lancia Delta, Porsche 911, Subaru Impreza, Ford RS 200 and modern rally cars from the current WRC were on display.
There was plenty of action on offer here too and there was also a competition for the best times.
Battle for best times
For many fans, however, the most exciting part of the event was the shootouts on the hill climb track at Goodwood Castle with the final jump-off on Sunday evening. The top 10 cars stayed under just over 50 seconds despite the track being quite slippery in places.
Michael Lyons in the 1974 Gurney Eagle EA74 achieved the impressive time of 50.29 seconds, which was beaten nine more times, but mostly by much younger cars. Only Jake Hill in the Nissan Skyline GT-R32 and Nick Padmore in the Lotus 77 were behind similarly old steering wheels, while the rest of the cars were significantly younger.
Romain Dumas was the fastest up the slope. The clock stopped at 43.98 seconds for the Ford Supervan 4.2, which boasted 2000 hp of electric power. Second place went to the "Midnight" project, a modern Subaru WRX. Third place went to the just 18-year-old James Wallis in the Porsche 992 GT3 Cup.
However, the times of much older cars that were unable to compete for overall victory were also quite impressive. Mark Walker in the 1905 Darracq 200 HP, for example, managed a time of 1:14 minutes and Julian Majzub in the Bugatti 35B only just over a minute.
The shootout had to be interrupted several times because vehicles had come off the track and there were also one or two other slips to report, but in each case only the material suffered.
While all traces of the visually and acoustically exciting event should have been removed from Goodwood by now, preparations are already underway for the event in 2025. And there will be no shortage of surprises and sensations at the next event, as the Duke of Richmond can certainly be trusted.
P.S. The picture gallery with over 270 photos gives a good impression of the event.
