For many years I have talked of making the trip to Goodwood for the Festival of Speed. This year, I finally made it! Accompanied by a group of guys who clearly knew far more about cars than I did (except, perhaps, when it came to Formula 1) and enjoying occasional light drizzle to make track conditions interesting, it was a great day.
The links on the left will take you to photos of the cars that (a) were in focus and (b) I could identify (I hope correctly!) ...
For those of you unfamiliar with the format, cars are divided into batches and classes. Each batch of cars contains several classes, which move from the paddocks to the start line, driving the 'wrong way' down the course and are then released in class order for their run on the Hillclimb. Because there is no return road from the top of the Hill, the course is closed periodically to allow vehicles to return to their paddocks (a good chance to get clearer photos when they're travelling a little slower!).
Competitors decide whether to do a timed or 'demonstration' run. Many of the competition classes are grouped together thematically, rather than in comparable cars, as you will see from the Class descriptions below. This makes any prize for the 'fastest car in class' meaningless. So, all timed vehicles are assigned to a 'timed category', for instance 'Fastest Vintage Racer (pre-1930)'.
Friday is practice day, although runs are still timed. I don't however have a record of the times recorded. All classes ran at least once, followed by free practice later in the day - for simplicity, I have ordered the photos by class regardless of what time of day they ran.
I don't have photos from all Classes, but for those I do, the Class descriptions are below:
- 01 In The Beginning - Motor Sport Pioneers, 1886-1914
- 04 Lasting the Distance - Sports and Endurance Racers, 1940-1962
- 05 Leading from the Front - Classic Grand Prix Cars, 1945-1960
- 06 All-American Heroes - Legends of the Indianapolis 500
- 07 Gentlemen and Players - The Advance of the GP Single Seaters, 1960-1970
- 10 Tortuous Torture - International Sports Car Racers, 1962-1980
- 11 Thunder Stormers - The Legendary CanAm Cars, 1966-1985
- 12 From Aero to Turbo - Evolution of the F1 Car, 1970-1990
- 16 High-Tech and High-Revving - Sophisticated Grand Prix Cars, 1990-2000
- 18 Feats of Endurance - International Racing Sports Cars, 1980-2006
- 30 Sunday Times Driving Supercar Run
If you'd like to know more about the Festival of Speed - visit their website.
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