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Festival Of Speed Review
By Sam Cooper July 14 2008
Ok, so maybe planning a long weekend out at one of the best motorsport events in the world might take more than a few days, and the hotel probably should be booked a lot sooner than five hours before we were scheduled to be down in Chichester, UK, the home of the Goodwood festival of speed- being the un-organised person I am, this didn’t happen.

Just a few minutes before I set on the 250 mile plus drive down to Portsmouth- where I ended up staying, we managed to book a hotel, something comforting, knowing that once the five hour drive was over, we’d have somewhere nice to sleep, without any hassle- or at least, that’s what we’d hoped.

 

Nothing ever rarely goes right when you need it to the most, so after a long drive down the M1 and around the nightmare that is the M25- the ring road around the capital (London) a unexpected wait of an hour was in order, to sort out rooms, even though we’d booked a non smoking room, instead, we got a smoking room, with few of the features we’d specified.

 

Anyone, not being the one for complaining when your dropping to the floor with tiredness, I accepted the room without any resistance, on the condition that a non smoking room would be exchanged for the smoking room by the following night, this slight delay in sleep meant that I arrived at the festival at half past eleven in the morning, a lot later that I wanted to arrive there.

 

Though since it would be a Friday, not as many people would be there, meaning we could park as near the entrance as possible, sadly I was mistaken again, we parked, near the exit of the car park, ensuring that we had a nice long walk to motorsport heaven.

 

It is truly that, so after what felt like a 20 mile walk, something I was assured to be no longer than a mile or so, we arrived at the start line, to the smell of burning rubber- brilliant! On display were cars that were past their 100th birthday, some of the designs and technology that was on display in them was amazing, one hundred BHP doesn’t seem that much for a racing engine now, but back then, it was cutting edge, and a pleasure to visit.

 

I’d also like to add in a little thank to the McLaren staff that were taking part during the three day event, many people regard McLaren to be very secretive and very overprotective of their cars and their prizes, though, on display was the trophy that Lewis Hamilton won at this years British Grand Prix, best yet, they were letting ordinary members of the public, like me and you, hold it and have your picture taken, which is a privilege to be able to do so- not to mention yet another reason why you’ve got to be at next years festival of speed.

 

McLaren’s press and mechanics were fantastic throughout the weekend, letting fans sit on the cars and have their pictures taken, Pedro de la Rosa, who I had the pleasure of seeing after the end of his second run on Friday was more than happy to go out and meet the fans, sign autographs and talk to use, something that I’m happy to see the teams and the drivers reaching out to the fans, something that you don’t get at Grand Prix.

 

I can’t go finish this story without saying how breathtaking the main statue was, in front of Lord March’s house, a display, celebrating the 60 years that the legendry 4x4 maker, Land Rover, has been with us. Stretching thirty four meters into the sky, the temporary monument was something to behold- pictures and wallpapers of this can be found on one of the gallery and download section of our GoodWood coverage, as well as a selection from the previous years at the festival.

 

Its surprising how many cars and motorbikes for that matter are there, even classics from the early 1900’s are present- though they aren’t raced up the famous hill. Though recent F1 cars like the McLaren MP4-22 and the Honda RA107 are sent up the hill, if that wasn’t enough racing cars from all the ages are raced up the hill, as well as expensive supercars.

 

If you want to get closer to the cars, closer to the drivers and closer to the fantastic world of motorsport, I urge you to go to the festival of speed, located in Chichester on the south coast of the United Kingdom, it’s a great event to be at, its petrol head heaven! I’ll be adding galleries and wallpaper sections for you to enjoy at throughout the course of this week.

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