Goodwood Festival of Speed 2014

Goodwood Festival of Speed

Goodwood Festival of Speed Car Race and show

Starts: 2014-06-26

Ends: 2014-06-29

Goodwood Estate

Chichester, West Sussex

Prologue

Images© by Mark J. Willison, Contact Photographer For Information on Photos of this Event

Goodwood Festival of Speed 2014 From your Sussex Riviera Correspondent: Mark J Willison

The great and the good of motor sport, along with more than a few legends came together with a greater attendance than the British Grand Prix arrive at the most beautiful parklands of West Sussex at Goodwood. The four copper green domes of the House surmounting the scene has become the centre piece of what must be the #1 showcase event of the calendar.

There couldn't be a greater cross-section of cars and associated people in one place on the season's calendar than those that attend the Festival of Speed.

In addition to the sights to digest, the atmosphere is something to behold. All manner of sounds: from the chug of an old Edwardian racer: tick-over can almost be counted with ear and fingers, to the honeyed rumble of a Jaguar straight six, through to the shriek of the pneumatic valves of a modern Formula 1 machine. Turbo pop's, bangs and chirps' from the over run of Group N rally cars, without the necessity of dump valves, emanate from the forest rally stage, that Ari Vatenan was instrumental in it's creation with our visionary host, Lord Charles March of Richmond and Gordon.

A unique component of the event of the event at which His Lordship excels is to reunite is to reunite cars with their drivers. And to remind the drivers of the quest: 'Addicted to Win': The Unbeatable Champions of Motor Sport, the theme of this years' the event. Richard Petty, Sebastien Loeb, Sir John Surtees, Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button, Sir Stirling Moss, Kimi Raikkonen, Sir Jackie Stewart, Damon Hill all put in an appearance. Ayrton Senna, Sir Jack Brabham and James Hunt were remembered by saluting their cars. Even Jean Todt put in an appearance.

The Driver's Ball held on the Saturday evening is the #1 event of the weekend and held at the House as a thank you to the driver's and their guests. The head line acts are quite something too: Blondie and a special reunion of The Eagles have both done the bit on stage for the assembled guests. The Ball is yet another brain child of our ever inventive host, Lord March. He came up with the idea at an early festival. So the storey goes; for want of something better to do the Ferrari mechanic's decided to drive to Worthing for some action and ended up in a night club until the small hours. The problem occurred when they tried to get back to their motor-homes at 3 a.m. when the grounds were locked down for the night. The Earl decided that a party was required to look after his guests without them having to worry about minor issues such as drink/ drive, where to go and having to break in after.

The idea of the Saturday evening's Driver's Ball first came about from an amusing storey: The storey goes, is that Lord March heard about some Ferrari mechanic's escaped an early event, in want of something to do. The mechanic's had a reasonably good evening at a night club in Worthing, a Victorian coastal resort about 30 mins., away east of Goodwood with a following wind and my home town for a good number of years. Occurrences that evening are, perhaps, best left to the imagination? It was then, Lord March, decided it might be an idea to look after his guests by holding the Ball for his guests.

At the Top of the Hill, I was lucky enough to find Jade Paveley, who is currently campaigning a Subaru for tarmac rally events through 2014. Jade; and a couple of friends were kind enough to pose for me whilst I took a few shots of them. The worry for me was, however, after talking to Jade was the first Festival of Speed, which I remember only too well, outdated her. Not good.

The Festival of Speed never fails to impress and amaze. All that remains is to extend a massive thank you to Lord March and his staff for putting together the complete history of motorsport in four days. And a thank you to the to the unsung heroes, to my mind of the event: the catering staff, without whom everything would run horribly dry very quickly, the boys and girls charged with parking us all, without whom, I am sure we could find our way in but it would be very doubtful if we would get out again in a hurry to find our preferred road home?

Immense gratitude to the marshals of the B.A.R.C., who give their time voluntarily, to keep proceedings moving through the assembly area, up the hill and turned around at the top of the hill, as well as manning the crossing points: not to mention getting the Hoover out after the occasional results from when ambition and ego overtakes talent.

Every so often, due to my own fuel and adrenalin addiction, I leave aside the fact that Goodwood is a first class sporting estate. There's Glorious Goodwood Horse Racing, not one but two PGA Standard Golf Courses, a WWII air station: feeder to, amongst others, to Tangmere: home to Sir Douglas Bader to name but one. To quote lord March, "sport lifts the spirits". The Goodwood Festival of Speed sure does that for me.

As a member of the Goodwood Road Race Club from day one; (and the Goodwood Supporters Association prior, the primary objective was to assist in winning the necessary planning permission with Chichester Council for racing to return to the circuit for the Revival) the next event your Sussex Riviera correspondent is looking forward to is the Thorough-bred Breakfast Club on 3rd Aug. Lunchtime onwards at the House is the GRRC Open Day and BBQ; at which GRRC Open Day, "50 members cars are selected by Lord March and displayed around the carriage circle. In addition to which, there is a Marquee, Hog Roast and a Playground for the children. Attendees are also encouraged to bring their own picnic and enjoy the Parkland surroundings for a relaxing afternoon"