From June 23 to 26, 2022, the Goodwood Estate in the South Downs National Park in Sussex once again paid homage to speed. At the 29th Goodwood Festival of Speed, around 500 of the most famous, best or most bizarre racing cars in history gathered in the Duke of Richmond's front garden for a joyful "everyone against everyone".
Folk festival with the smell of petrol
The Goodwood Festival of Speed is essentially a hill climb, even if it is only 1.86 kilometers up a small hill with no significant incline. But in reality, it is much more than that. Because since the first event, which was held here in 1993 and had more of a garden party atmosphere, the event is now one of the most important global motorsport events with over 200,000 spectators over four days. The event is a magnet for all the "superstars" of motorsport: from the world of Formula 1, rallying, Moto GP, sports cars, new technologies and, of course, historic cars and racing cars.
Every year, one car brand takes center stage and is allowed to present itself in an advertising-effective manner. This year, as at the Nürburgring, BMW celebrated 50 years of "Motorsport GmbH". Among other things, an impressive sculpture was erected in front of Goodwood House, which stretched genuine historic BMWs into the sky and showed them to the motorsport world in attendance.
The centerpiece of the event, however, is the outstanding array of historic motorsport on display, spanning from the early days of motorsport to the more recent past. The pioneers were represented by a 1903 Mercedes-Simplex 60 HP, the 1933 Napier-Railton record-breaking car with aero engine and the glorious Auto-Union Type C hillclimb car with twin tires on the rear axle, among others.
The endurance cars of the 1950s, such as the Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR and Jaguar D-Type, came from the early post-war period. The American motorsport scene was well represented with the class of the "Brickyard Heroes", the heroes of Indianapolis. In addition to Nascar racing cars, they included a March 86C and the wonderful 1957 Kuzma-Offenhauser "Dean Van Lines Special".
The motorcyclists should not be forgotten here. A particularly emotional moment came when four legends of two-wheeled racing rode up the hill together once again: Wayne Rainey, Kenny Roberts, Michael Doohan and Kevin Schwantz, all on their legendary two-stroke race bikes. Wayne Rainey got back on the saddle of his Yamaha YZR 500 despite his severe disability.
Three reasons to celebrate
In addition to BMW, Ferrari also celebrated an anniversary. To mark their 75th anniversary, they put over 30 "stallions" from all over the world on the racetrack, from the 125S from the founding year to the current 488 Challenge. In between, there were Le Mans prototypes, a 250 GTO, several Formula 1 cars - including Nigel Mansell in a Ferrari 639 from 1989 and two "Sharknose" replicas - as well as several GT and racing cars.
The cars in the special exhibition "40 Years of Group C" were among the "youngest old". In addition to the famous Porsche 956 and Sauber-Mercedes, Ford C 100, Lancia LC 2 and Nissan NPT-90 were also on display.
Formula 1 fans were treated to a fantastic spectacle with over 20 cars, from a 1955 Connaught B-Type to a Lotus 25, Renault RS 10, Toleman TG 183 and Williams FW-14 to the 2010 McLaren MP4/25. Rarer exhibits such as the Porsche 804 and Ferrari D50 also took to the hill.
Of course, BMW didn't just present its anniversary models suspended statically in the air. With a high-caliber selection of M models, which included classics such as the "Batmobile" 3.0 CSL, the M1 Procar, the first M3 and the McLaren F1 GTR with BMW V12, the Munich-based company took visitors on a tour through its history.
Over hill and dale and crest full
The Festival of Speed is now very diverse, but is usually limited to the "asphalt" part. The second biggest - unfortunately often overlooked - attraction alongside the hill climb is the rally track. This is a purpose-built gravel stage deep in the woods of the Goodwood Estate, which twists, turns, rises and falls and either forces the cars into wild dirfts or catapults them straight into the air.
It attracts all the big names and cars of yesterday and today, all driven according to Colin McRae's old adage "If in doubt - Flat out": Full throttle. With numerous Audi Quattros, first to third generation Ford Escorts - including a Mk1 owned by British rally driver Roger 'Sideways' Clark - and fire-breathing Group B monsters, this was dusty but spectacular entertainment.
Group A was represented by the Lancia Delta Integrale, Subaru Legacy RS and Ford Escort Cosworth. In addition to the typical classics, there were also more unusual cars such as a Citroën DS, a Lotus Esprit S1 or an Austin Maxi, which once drove the London-Sidney Rally, to commiserate with on the rough track.
No classes, just full throttle
The weekend concluded with the traditional "Shootout", in which everyone who still wants to and can, thunders up the race track at top speed. There is no division into classes here. If you want to be at the top of the podium, you should therefore have as modern and fast a ride as possible.
Max Chilton proved this theory impressively by racing up the hill in just 39.08 seconds in the brand new McMurtry Spéirling, setting a new track record in the process. The reason: the tiny electric sports car is a "fan car" like the Chaparral J2 and Brabham BT46B, which is sucked onto the road by a blower and thus has enormous traction.
The previous record of 39.9 seconds was set in 2019 by Romain Dumas in the usually spoilered VW ID.R. Before that, Nick Heidfeld's best time (41.6 seconds) in the McLaren MP4/13 had stood for an incredible 20 years. However, the lack of a class division caused a few surprises in the standings. Ben Mitchell in the 44-year-old March-BMW 832 and Justin Law in the 1993 Jaguar XJR12 D took third and fourth place between modern racing machines from Porsche and Subaru.
The 2001 Dodge Viper GTS-R also scored a respectable success with ninth place and a time of under 50 seconds. As did the famous Calsonic Skyline in 15th place: the former JTCC racing car with the hoarse sound was only just beaten by a modern BMW M4 CSL with a time of 51.32 seconds.
The essence of Goodwood
From the photographer's point of view, however, no car embodies the spirit of the Festival of Speed as much as the Auto Union Type C. The combination of looks, technology and acoustics, of fascination and fear, speed and impossibility of driving reaches its peak here. The 520 hp six-liter sixteen-cylinder was the most successful German racing car in 1936 and won three out of five "Grand Prix", half of the circuit and hill climb races in which the Auto Union competed. Hans-Joachim Stuck was originally supposed to drive the car at Goodwood, but was unfortunately unable to attend. So Tom Kristensen stepped in.
The Festival of Speed is now over for another year. But in 2023, the event will be 30 years old and promises to be one of the motorsport highlights on the calendar once again. Great things can be expected when Goodwood celebrates itself.
