Commissioned as RAF Westhampnett 1940-46, the former WWII airfield morphed into the popular post war Goodwood racing circuit in 1948 before closing 1966.
The inaugural Festival of Speed took place June 1993, an idea of the then Lord Charles March, now Duke of Richmond, and organized by the British Automobile Racing Club. Originally planned as a one-day event with just a few hundred spectators expected, 25,000 people turned up and Goodwood’s remarkable motorsport phenomena was born!
The annual Festival of Speed has now mutated into a frenetic 4-day motorsport extravaganza based around the March family’s stunning Jacobean mansion, sumptuous grounds and sinuous 1·16-mile tarmac drive which conveniently bisects the estate. Sponsored by Mastercard and held in near tropical weather, this year’s event claimed a weekend visitor footfall of 200,000, as Goodwood strictly controls daily visitor numbers to maintain a manageable crowd.
Centre stage in front of the main house, this year’s sculpture featured three Porsche 911’s from renown California-based Singer representing its reimagined and uber cool Classic, Classic Turbo and DLS restoration services. Designed by world acclaimed artist Gerry Judah, the much-photographed structure was backed by a spectacular daily fireworks display.
Festival theme this year was ‘The Rivals – Epic Racing Duels’ recalling motorsport’s most famous rivalries and bringing legendary two and four-wheel battles back to life: Hunt vs Lauda, Hill vs Schumacher, Rainy vs Schwantz, Ford vs Ferrari, the latter culminating at the 1966 Le Mans 24 Hours, with Ford’s three podium GT 40’s running up the hill.
Among the plethora of celebrities, Damon Hill celebrated 30 years since his 1996 world F1 championship, joined by current world champion, Britain’s Lando Norris, two of the amazing ‘Who’s Who’ also including Mario Andretti (above), Emerson Fittipaldi and evergreen Jackie Stewart. Austrian F1 Ferrari and Benetton driver Gerhard Berger was beguiled by his first visit to Goodwood and will return.
Providing welcome shade for rally enthusiasts, the forest rally stage, introduced in 2005 and designed by Hannu Mikkola, provides a demanding 1·8 test for a wide spectrum of rally cars 1960s – 2026. Current WRC drivers on duty to give white-knuckle rides to corporate guests included Seb Ogier, Team Principal Jari-Matti Latvala and current championship leader Elfyn Evans (above) in a Toyota Team Yaris WRC1 and Josh McErlean in an M-Sport WRC1 Ford Puma. Southern Car Club and the International Rally Drivers Club were entrusted with the organization as usual.
Culminating the event, the Shoot-Out for fastest time saw drivers facing increasingly dusty and slippery conditions and it was experienced speed hill climber Alex Summers who starred in his iconic but a tad ungainly UOP backed Shadow DN4 CanAm with an incredible 46.30 in third, leaving the two main protagonists, Dan Ticktum and four-time Shoot-Out winner Romain Dumas to battle for overall victory.
First Ticktum in the newly launched Formula E Gen4 who set a target of 42.46 for Dumas to beat but the Festival of Speed veteran accepted the challenge and made it three in a row for him and Ford, as he took the remarkable Super Mustang Mach-E to reach the top of the Hill in 41.97. Thus ended another successful Festival of Speed, essential motorsport enthusiast’s viewing. The 2027 edition is 15 to 18 July.
© Images & words: Goodwood & Ken Davies
