GEARHEAD HEAVEN
Rows and rows of iconic race cars
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.
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, and in doing so became the first to break the 150 miles per hour barrier. Alongside it is a red 28.35-litre 1911 Fiat S76 nicknamed ‘the Beast’. It was an early Grand Prix winner, and this year is 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 Bang car, it is 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 this year 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.
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 in the strategically placed grandstands and manufacturers’ viewing galleries. Overhead is an air show with jet fighters roaring over the grounds and doing barrel rolls.
Sir Stirling Moss is in the postwar section with the alloy-bodied Mercedes-Benz SLR — one of the greatest sports cars ever built. This year 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 the start of the Second World War.
The theme of the 2015 Festival of Speed is Flat out and Fearless: Racing on the Edge. It is 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 40 metres skyward over the front lawn of Goodwood House is a curving sculpture. It is made with 720 metal beams and has two Mazda race cars mounted face down at its peak. Three rotaryengine Mazda Le Mans 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.
The concours d’elegance is held on the lawn in front of the stables. This year’s show celebrates the 80th anniversary of famous Franco/Italian coachbuilders Figoni et Falaschi, with their swoopy, artdeco designs of the 1930s.
Front and centre on the lawn is a 1937 Delahaye Type 135M Cabriolet, one of 11 designed by Figoni et Falaschi 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 race, from 1949 through 1953.
This is where style meets racing fury and it can’t be any better than that.