Festival of Speed

[Nemesis]

What was the fastest car in the times? I nodded off during the ads! Steve that old vauxhall cavalier wasn't hanging around! That M3 fairly whacked the bales.

[blackx]

Originally Posted by Fireblade

Yes, John Dawson-Darmer driver a Lotus 63 4WD car was killed on the Finish and a marshal lost his leg and subsequent years showed a distinct drop in cars electing for a time.

And a marshal lost his life (Andy Carpenter) along with the marshal who was badly injured (Steve Tarrant)

[Sabrejet]

Whilst I agree that the TV coverage is (and always is) abysmal, the Festival is well worth a look. Despite appearing to be just F1 and rallying, there are plenty of real race cars there every year. Highlights (for me) this year:

1. FOUR genuine E-Type lightweights
2. 1991 Le Mans-winning Mazda 787b (great to see and hear it again)
3. Tecno DAF single-seater - never even knew it existed!
4. F2 Protos
5. Those Indy roadsters.
6. Chris Evans' GTO
7. This year's LM-winning Audi R18
8. CD Panhard 3
9. 1911 Indy-winning Marmon Wasp (now where am I ever going to see that again?)
10. Andreas Mohringer's Ferrari 375MM - loved the patina!

However, I'd agree that this year didn't feel like one of the better ones. I do really think that Lord March is doing himself a great disservice with the publicity and TV coverage surrounding the event. If you didn't know better you'd think it was all F1, 'celebrities' and rallying. That's not the case and I think it's a shame.

In the meantime it would be great to see a Top 10 runoff done with REAL hill climb cars! That would wake the armchair enthusiasts up. But do you really want them coming to a hill near you?

[wight jr]

The gfos is just a show and they want it that way, was great to have been part of it, but its a show..

[kevham]

I used to go every year (I lived very close to Goodwood) and to be fair, it is a great motorshow event - very relaxed and a great atmosphere. As everyone has said, the hillclimb element is really just a demo BUT, until I first went, I had never heard of hillclimbing. Going to Goodwood sowed the seed for me - I last went to the FOS in 2002 and I got my first speed licence the same year........

[tombrown]

I went for the first time this year - cant say I'll be rushing back. Watching cars that were built to race yet being driven so bleeding slowly was a real let down.

Some lovely cars there though, so walking round the pits was a treat. Think moving museum rather than anything competitive.

The only one who seemed to be going well on the hill was a fellow named David Franklin - cant think where I've heard that name before!

[Fireblade]

I was fortunate to be there in the early years at the beginning of the 90's and it was different then.
In the first couple of years we had Graham Hickman, Mike Lawrence and A D-O represent hillclimbing and it wasn't until Jnrs visit that we saw a real hillclimber there again.

Nick Heidfelds 1997 record was spectacular in the Mclaren and he was awesome into Molecombe, although an F1 car all experienced hillclimbers that saw it recognised it as being a special wolf in sheeps clothing. No other F1 car handled anywhere near like that.

The Honda special year where the musueum was bought over from Japan, cars and bikes, was also memorable with ex Prost/Senna cars wailing round the place as well as the Hondola and a host of other.

After the tragic accident the pace did slow with many more opting for no times recorded and it tured into nothing more than a moving museum and I for one lost interest but by that time it was being advertised to the masses in every Little Chef and Harvester in the South of England. I remember punters leaping back from the rails as Michelle Mouton came past in the Audi whooshing popping and whistling. To the weekly hillclimber or Group B rally fan it was no shock but the family watchers were blown over. We saw it all the time with the late Tom Hammonds in his Quattro.

Probably the hillclimb fraterity have been spoilt are hard bitten having seen the great competitors such as Lane, Grace, Bolsover, Franklin etc and also the latter breed of chargers Jnr, Priaulx, Groves, Roger & Scott all different in their style but to one intent - to get up the hill fastest.

Goodwoods glory days are long past IMHO.
You can't have a Festival of Speed on a hillclimb without at least having the British champ there, it would be like staging Hamlet without the Prince of Denmark.

[robcapper]

this one you mean?


"that's good, yeah, lovely".. as the man says himself...

[Fireblade]

That'll be the one then, Rob. He was like it all weekend. Up until that weekend Martin Brundle had held the record.

Interestingly it was the first year of any sort of motors for my girlfriend of the time and even with her limited knowledge of the sport she could tell the difference between Goodwood and a warm Shelsley British round. There again only a few weeks before she had witnessed Gracie on a balls out charge. A tough act to follow.
It was a case of 'get your coat David'

[blackx]

Originally Posted by robcapper

this one you mean?

That looked a real handful to drive that's for sure