5 good reasons to head for Goodwood this weekend

Filed under: Latest News, Consumer

The Goodwood Festival of Speed kicked off yesterday in West Sussex, and will run until Sunday. And with glorious sunshine and some of the most spectacular sports and racing machines from every era in attendance, any petrolhead worth his or her salt will be making a bee-line for the South Coast.

So if you're not, why not? Alex Robbins runs down what you've got to look forward to!
1. Race and rally cars in action

The hillclimb and rally courses have long been at the heart of proceedings at the Festival of Speed, and both offer an unparalleled way to see a vast pantheon of historic and current competition cars being driven in anger. Whether your particular preference is for rally cars or full-blown single seaters, or even for NASCARs or drag racers, there'll be something for you to get excited about hurling itself up the hill.



2. Up close & personal with famous faces

Some of the most famous modern racing drivers in the world will be in attendance, as well as plenty of racing legends from bygone eras. And the beauty of Goodwood is the access it provides - they're not fenced off from the crowds. Instead they spend time signing autographs and even chatting with the fans.




3. New cars and supercars

With the event having such a high profile and no real British motorshow currently happening, it's perhaps no surprise that more and more manufacturers are choosing to launch new models at Goodwood - and this year sees the debut of the Caterham 620R, the Peugeot RCZ R and the McLaren 12C GT Sprint, as well as the Jaguar Project 7 concept car. They'll all join a host of established supercars, which will be stretching their legs up the legendary hillclimb course.




4. Anniversaries & Celebrations

This year's official theme at Goodwood is the 50^th birthday celebration of the Porsche 911, so expect a huge wealth of examples of the iconic sports car on display, in all its myriad forms. But Porsche won't have the party all to itself - Aston Martin, Lamborghini and McLaren are all celebrating anniversaries this year, too, so expect plenty of pomp and circumstance and some cracking stands and demonstration runs from them too.




5. Bike racing legends

With all the excitement about the cars, many people often forget that bikes play a huge part at the Festival of Speed. This year, every major bike racing discipline will be represented, and there'll be a huge number of classic and modern racing legends in attendance too. It's a very rare chance to see classic superbikes in action, as well as to get a glimpse of the blistering turn of speed of some more modern two-wheeled racers.