SUSSEX, ENGLAND – It’s early in the morning at Goodwood and the sound of history rings in the air. A century or more of motor racing is firing up. The noise is deafening and exhaust smoke drifts across the historic 12,000-acre Goodwood estate.
Rows and rows of the most iconic road and track racers from as far back as the turn of the last century are quartered in covered stalls on the grounds of Goodwood House which hosts this annual gathering that is like no other. Private and manufacturer museums have shipped their cars to the Festival from all over the world to be seen, heard and raced.
See also: Here are the 6 best cars to race up Goodwood this year
The silver 1909 Blitzen Benz belches smoke as it starts with a roar. A few stalls away is the 1920 Sunbeam Bluebird with its 18-litre V12 engine. It set a world land speed record on July 21, 1925 to become the first to break the 150 miles per hour barrier. Alongside is a red 28.5 litre 1911 Fiat S76 nicknamed ‘the Beast’. It was an early Grand Prix winner, running in public for the first time in more than 100 years.
The 1923 Thomas Special, nicknamed Babs, roars to life with mechanics in white coveralls hovering over the open engine bay. Originally built by Count Zbrowski as the fourth Chitty Chitty Bang Ban\g car, it’s powered by a 28-litre aircraft engine putting out upwards of 600 horsepower. Nearby, the Halford Special with its turbocharged engine starts up. It was a Grand Prix car in 1925.
The 25-litre aero engine-powered Napier Railton Special ran flat-out between 1933 and 1937, setting 47 land speed records in the process. It will run again with other race cars from all eras on the Goodwood Festival of Speed straw bale-lined hill climb. The run is just over one mile long.
A rotary engine Mazda race car from 1990 at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
Alyn Edwards, Driving
Tens of thousands of enthusiasts mill about the various paddocks filled with the history of motor racing. Others watch the hill climb from trackside or strategically placed grandstands and manufacturers’ viewing galleries. Overhead is an air show with jet fighters roaring over the grounds completing barrel rolls.
Sir Stirling Moss is in the post war section with the alloy-bodied Mercedes Benz SLR – one of the greatest sports cars ever built. This is the 60th anniversary of his landmark win at the 1955 Mille Miglia in this car, of which just nine were built. Eight still exist and seven of them are at the Festival of Speed. Six of the other SLR race cars will later follow Sir Stirling Moss up the hill.
Audi Tradition has entered its Auto Union Type D Kompressor, a 3.0-litre supercharged rocket that won the Italian and British Grand Prix races in 1938 and the French, Bucharest and Belgrade Grand Prix races the following year just before WWII broke out.
The famous 1955 Mercedes SLR Mille Miglia winner is pushed to the starting line to be piloted by 85-year-old Sir Stirling Moss.
Alyn Edwards, Driving
‘Flat out and fearless – racing on the edge’ is the theme of the 2015 Festival of Speed – the biggest motorsports event of the year. The drivers and their iconic cars don’t disappoint the fans who see this as ‘petrolhead heaven’ – five of the top Formula One teams are being represented here and NASCAR legend Richard Petty is on hand to drive his famous 1970 Plymouth Superbird up the hill.
Arching skyward 40 meters over the front lawn of Goodwood House is the curving sculpture with made with 720 metal beams with two Mazda race cars mounted face down at its peak. Three rotary engine Mazda LeMans race cars – including the iconic 787B racer that won the 1991 Le Mans – shriek with their piercing engine sound as they pull out of the paddock to take their places at the start of the hill climb. The supercar paddock has a lineup of neck snapping rockets ready to roll onto the track from Ferrari, Lamborghini, Aston Martin and McLaren.
Lotus chose this venue to unveil its 3-Eleven – the manufacturer’s quickest and most expensive production car to date. Featuring a lightweight body and a 450-horsepower V6, it is capable of sprinting from zero to 100 km/h in three seconds.
This 1937 Delahaye Type 135 cabriolet with body by Fagoni et Faschini was a feature car at the Goodwood Concours d’Elegance.
Alyn Edwards, Driving
The concours d’elegance is held on the lawn in front of the stables. This year’s show celebrates the 80th anniversary of the famous Franco/Italian coachbuilders Figoni et Falaschi with their swoopy, art-deco designs of the 1930s. Front and centre on the lawn is a 1937 Delahaye Type 135M Cabriolet, one of 11 designed by Figoni et Falschi with only three known to still exist. It was originally purchased by well-known explorer Casimir Jourde and shipped to Bombay in 1939. Sitting low in the grass is a 1934 Voisin Type C27 Grand Sport Cabriolet – originally sold to the Shah of Persia after its debut at the 1934 Madrid Auto Show.
Also celebrated on this ‘field of dreams’ is the 60-year anniversary of Citroen’s introduction of its distinctive DS series. Several examples of the seldom-seen Decapotable models were displayed alongside the more common sedan. These included a ‘shark nose’ chartreuse Citroen DS21 Usine (factory built) Citroen convertible and a 1964 Citroen DS19M originally built for sale in Switzerland with an extremely rare four speed manual gear box.
The classic sports car on display that seemed to tie the weekend all together was a 1948 Talbot Lago T26 Grand Sport Coupe with its streamlined teardrop shape. This car competed five consecutive times at the 24 hours of Le Mans from 1949 through 1953. This is where style meets racing fury and it can’t be any better than that.
A 1948 Talbot Lago T26 Grand Sport Coupe with its streamlined teardrop shape competed five consecutive times at the 24 hours of Le Mans from 1949 through 1953.
Alyn Edwards, Driving
