Goodwood Festival of Speed

History

The Goodwood Festival of Speed was founded in 1993 by the then Lord March (now the Duke of Richmond) 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 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 20 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. The first driver to tackle the event's hillclimb course was Sally Mason-Styrron, in her Ferrari 166 MM Barchetta. After the second event also clashed with Le Mans, Lord March ensured that future events would never 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. The 2020 event was cancelled then later run in October combined with events at Goodwood Motor Circuit, without spectators, but streamed online and shown on terrestrial TV. The event was modified to incorporate historic cars from the Revival, rally/sprint cars from the Member's Meeting, and an attempt to set a new track record. The organisers cancelled the Saturday schedule of the 2023 festival due to severe weather warnings.

Features and attractions

Hillclimb

The event is classified as a hillclimb and visitors are accorded close access to that part of the track. The 1890 m, 9-turn track climbs 92.7 m, an average gradient of 4.9%. The record time (but not the record) was already lowered in 2019 to 39.90 seconds in practice by the Volkswagen ID.R prototype electric race car, driven by Romain Dumas.

The Alpine Alpenglow Hy6 hydrogen car was refuelled by Fuel Cell Systems at the Goodwood Festival of Speed 2025, marking a significant moment in the demonstration of hydrogen-powered vehicles in motorsport.

Soapbox challenge

From 2000 to 2004 the Soapbox Challenge 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. However, it did return in 2013. Companies such as Bentley and McLaren competed.

Forest Rally Stage

From 2005 to present there has been a demonstration area for the rally cars at the top of the hill. Ever since its inception Southern Car Club have been entrusted with the organization of the rally stage, held under an MSA permit.

Initially, in 2005, an existing track through the forest was widened, and the rally cars ran down through the forest, turned about 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 as 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.

Supercar Paddock

Since 2000, the Festival has hosted the Supercar Paddock 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.

The Arena

The Arena is a new for 2019 attraction that showcases drifting and stunt driving. It is a large tarmac area that used to contain the Michelin Supercar Paddock, with 2 barrel donuts and 2 wall rides with a large viewing area just above the drift paddock. Spectators can watch stunt shows throughout the course of the day, the drift competition, and the hillclimb shootout on the big screen.

Future Lab

Officially the future science and technology pavilion at the Festival since 2017. Several major global reveals have debuted as part of this exhibition, including autonomous trucks by Einride, prototype flying cars like Airspeeder and autonomous delivery vehicle kar-go. The 2025 event included a 1.5 m 3D-printed exhibit of Ernest Shackleton's ship Endurance as part of the Seabed 2030 project.

Cartier Style et Luxe

Begun in 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.

Moving Motor Show

From 2010 until 2018, 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.

The 2010 event also included the running of the new McLaren MP4-12C.

The official website listed the Festival of Speed dates as the Friday to Sunday, but the weekend tickets for the Festival included a moving motor show ticket. From 2019, the Festival of Speed has been a four day event with no moving motor show. 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 (Thursday was known as Press preview day, then incorporated The Moving Motor Show), which serves to provide lunchtime entertainment for the crowds, and the airshows, which usually include the RAF and Red Arrows. Flybys have included an RAF Tornado, a low-flying Boeing 747 in 2004 and 2005, and a low-flying Airbus A380 in 2008.

From the festival's beginning, poster art had been illustrated by renowned motor racing artist Peter Hearsey until his retirement in 2015. In 2016, the poster art was designed by Klaus Wagger, who rose to prominence as a racing artist when he won a competition to design the official poster for Mille Miglia in 2000.

In recent years, they have also put on the GAS Arena (Goodwood Action Sports) who showcase extreme stunts such as Freestyle Motorcross, BMX and Trial bike Riding.

In 2018, for the first time at the Festival – as part of the Future Lab exhibition – a driverless Roborace racing car negotiated the course, and a virtual passenger seat experience was made available online. In 2019, the car made an official run in 66.96 seconds.

FOS events contain balcony moments where motorsports stars are interviewed on the Goodwood House balcony to celebrate their career and the festival of speed. Notable balcony moments include the MotoGP legends, Red Bull Racing, and seven F1 World Champions.

Sister event

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

Incidents

There have been two fatal accidents at the event.

The first was during its inaugural meeting in 1993, when vintage racing motorcyclist Chas Guy was killed in practice following the completion of the course when his Vincent motorcycle developed a steering wobble known as a tank slapper, throwing the rider into a tree. Since then, motorcycles are not timed for their run.

In 2000, driver John Dawson-Damer lost control of his Lotus 63, and crashed into the finish line gantry, killing himself, a marshal Andrew Carpenter, and seriously injuring another, Steve Tarrant, who sustained serious injuries, including the loss of his leg.

Central display

Aston Martin set up a central display for the first Festival of Speed in 1993. Since 1997, the display erected on the lawn in front of Goodwood House has been designed by the sculptor Gerry Judah. The displays honoured car marques until 2017, when for the first time it honoured a career, that of Bernie Ecclestone. This is a list of the temporary monuments:

Appearances in media

A Goodwood Festival of Speed event is available in Gran Turismo 6 with both the 2014 and 2015 central displays shown, and the nearby Goodwood Motor Circuit track is available in Gran Turismo Sport and Gran Turismo 7. ITV gives live coverage throughout the weekend and Sky Sports simulcast the Sunday show. it is also streamed on YouTube.

Winners (Hillclimb Shootout)

The Hill Climb Shootout or The Sunday Shootout, is an event during the Goodwood Festival of Speed in which a selection of drivers with the fastest Hillclimb times of the weekend compete to get to the finish line the fastest.

Source:

Track records

References

References

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