The Goodwood Festival of Speed, which took place as usual in the Duke of Richmond's Castle Gardens from July 13 to 16, 2023, was a celebration of celebrations. Perhaps the most notable celebration was the 30th anniversary of the event itself. Accordingly, a particularly large number of anniversaries were also celebrated.
The Festival of Speed began in 1993 with a handful of enthusiastic car owners and drivers who raced up the 1.16-mile short hill climb at Charles Gordon-Lennox, then known as the Earl of March, in attractive road-going sports cars and important historic racing cars. Over the years, the festival developed more and more into a huge public festival, at which motorcycles, rally cars (on their own track) and future vehicles could be admired alongside the historic racing cars. For the car manufacturers, the event is a fixed date in their agendas, as Goodwood is the place to celebrate premieres, present flagship models and cultivate the brand. The auction house Bonhams , which holds a major auction every year, has also been present virtually since the beginning.
Many anniversaries
In addition to its own birthday, Goodwood also celebrated 75 years of motorsport on the Goodwood circuit, 75 years of Porsche, 50 years of the WRC (World Rally Championship), 100 years of Le Mans, 75 years of Lotus, 60 years of McLaren racing cars and 75 years of Nascar in 2023.
Weather out of control
What the organizers had not counted on were the rather nasty weather conditions for once. Not only was it raining heavily in places on Thursday and Friday, but almost gale-force winds were also expected for Saturday. This led to the cancellation of the entire Saturday program. While valuable vehicles were brought to shelter in the trucks or elsewhere, spectators had to forgo their visit.
Thankfully, the weather conditions on Sunday were much better, so that the highlights could still be celebrated as planned. An impressive selection of sports and racing cars from almost the entire 20th century and beyond compensated the Sunday visitors for the moments they had previously missed.
Legends at the wheel and behind the wheel
As always, famous racing drivers and motorsport legends, who obviously enjoy the event themselves, were not missing from the Festival of Speed. Almost the entire Stewart racing family, Emerson Fittipaldi, Tom Kristensen (Mr. Le Mans), René Arnoux, Jacques Laffite, the Franchittis, Emanuele Pirro (a regular at the Goodwood events), Mika Hakkinen, Sebastian Vettel, Derek Bell, Mick Schumacher, Lando Norris, Felipe Massa, Jensen Button, David Brahbam and many others were spotted.
Depending on their temperament, they drove the valuable racing cars up the slope in a moderate or spectacular manner. Because some of them overdid it, there was also some damage to lament. The Porsche GT1, which won Le Mans in 1998, got stuck on the hay bales, a BMW M1 crashed almost without braking, others suffered minor and major damage to sheet metal and plastic parts. Despite the fact that (for most of them) nothing was really at stake, the drivers stepped on the gas hard.
The two-wheeled stars were also well represented, with Giacomo Agostini getting back on his bike and Mick Doohan, Kenny Roberts, Case Stoner, Randy Mamola and Freddie Spencer also racing up the short track.
Off the track
The world of rallying has been an integral part of the festival for years, and the specially constructed rally track through the forest is becoming increasingly popular with spectators.
With legendary and famous rally cars from the last 60 years from brands such as Lancia, Ford (Escort), Porsche, Alpine Renault, Audi, Peugeot, Toyota and Subaru, there was plenty of spectacle on offer, especially as the drivers hardly held back and did not shy away from bigger jumps and courageous crossovers.
No wonder, after all, well-known driving artists such as Sebastien Loeb, various members of the famous McRae family, Stig Blomqvist, Malcolm Wilson, Thierry Neuville and many others were also at the wheel.
Also some art
Don't forget to mention the spectacular sculpture at Goodwood House every year.
Gerry Judah is always responsible for this, and the motif changes from year to year. In 2023, the sculpture celebrated 75 years of Porsche. Legendary cars from the brand were displayed at lofty heights.
Chasing the best times
A very special event every year is the "Shoot Out" on Sunday afternoon, in which cars from different categories compete against each other for the best time. A year ago, an electric sports car with a vacuum cleaner effect developed almost for this purpose pulverized the record; in 2023, it was a trackday machine called the McLaren Solus that set the fastest time, narrowly beating a 30-year-old Subaru, which, however, had it thick as a fist under the sheet metal. Third place went to a McLaren F1 M26 racing car, followed by a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, a Nissan Skyline GT-R R32 and the fastest electric sports car, the Rimac Nemera, which won its category.
The drive of the Rolls-Royce Spectre, the new electric car from Rolls-Royce, was also truly impressive. Although the monumental luxury car, which weighs barely less than three tons, took around 10 seconds longer than the winning McLaren Solus, it was certainly on a par with F1 cars from the 1970s.
And the highlight?
For the photographer, there are so many wonderful memories from the three days that it is virtually impossible to pick a clear favorite from this kaleidoscope of motorsport anniversaries, but if you had to choose, it would probably be the sight of the legendary Le Mans cars with some of the original drivers, or the historic F1 cars being driven back up the hillside the way they were meant to be driven by drivers of the time and current hillclimb specialists....
