Goodwood Festival of Speed 2011

The largest motoring garden party in the world, once again, brought together a heady mix of cars, stars, and motorsport ‘royalty.’ This year, the Goodwood Festival of Speed had a rather interesting theme, which was, ‘Racing Revolution – Quantum leaps that shaped motorsport.’ And the essence of this theme was suitably celebrated at this years event, right from the 1909 ‘Blitzen Benz,’ with an influential aerodynamic design to help it become the fastest car in the world with a record of 228.1km/h in 1911, to the 1981 McLaren-Honda MP4/1 that introduced the use of carbon fibre materials in F1 racing.

The reason behind the theme was to celebrate some of the important anniversaries of historical innovative engineering brilliance, as the year 2011 marks 75 years since Auto Union won the European Championship with a ground-breaking rear-engined car; 30 years since the Audi Quattro heralded rallying’s four-wheel-drive age, and the McLaren MP4/1 introduced the carbon fibre chassis to F1; 25 years since turbocharged engines ruled the roost in F1; and 20 years since a rotary-engined Mazda took the chequered flag at Le Mans.

This year’s festival attracted a record 181,000 motorsport and car enthusiasts, as well as more than 100 star racing drivers and riders. Celebrated drivers tackling the Festival hill climb included Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button, Mark Webber, Nico Rosberg, Nigel Mansell, John Surtees, and Sir Stirling Moss – making his first public appearance behind the wheel since announcing his retirement from competitive motor racing a few weeks ago.

Goodwood also staged a tribute to the centenary of the Indy 500, with 42 significant Indianapolis cars present – 33 of them lining up and running up the hill, driven by a host of famous Indy drivers, while guitarist Jeff Kollman played the American national anthem from atop the roof of Goodwood House.

Another main highlight of the festival was the 50th anniversary of the Jaguar E-type. A large selection of Jaguars also took to the hill as Goodwood celebrated 60 years since the British carmaker’s first victory at Le Mans.

Other attractions included the Goodwood Action Sports arena, which was home to some of the world’s greatest riders performing a series of gravity-defying tricks and stunts on everything from mountain bikes to motorcross machines. On a calmer note, David Cottingham’s sublime Touring-bodied 1951 Ferrari 340 America claimed overall honours in the Cartier ‘Style et Luxe’ concours d’elegance.

The festival was once again a huge success, and another win for all things automotive.