Goodwood Festival of Speed 2013

By: Peter Burn, Photography by: Peter Burn

Date: 31.10.2013

Goodwood: Mercedes 300 SLR

Goodwood: 1983 Audi Quattro

Goodwood: Caterham 620R

Goodwood: Ferrari 712 Can-Am

Goodwood: Ford Escort Twin Cam

Goodwood Hillclimb: Jaguar C-X75

Goodwood: Jaguar D-Type

Goodwood Hillclimb: Jaguar 'Project 7 Concept'

Goodwood: Mk1 Lotus Cortina

Goodwood Hillclimb: McLaren P1 Hypercar

Goodwood hillclimb: Porsche 918 Spyder

Goodwood Hillclimb: Renault Twin'Run

Goodwood Hillclimb: Rolls Royce Wraith

Goodwood Hillclimb: Alfa Romeo 4C

Goodwood Hillclimb: Aston Martin CC 100 Concept

Goodwood: Austin Bantam 'Rat Trap' Dragster

Goodwood: BMW M1

Goodwood paddock

Goodwood: 50 years of Porsche

Goodwood: Mercedes 300 SLR

Goodwood: 1983 Audi Quattro

Goodwood: Caterham 620R

Goodwood: Ferrari 712 Can-Am

Goodwood: Ford Escort Twin Cam

Goodwood Hillclimb: Jaguar C-X75

Goodwood: Jaguar D-Type

Goodwood Hillclimb: Jaguar 'Project 7 Concept'

Goodwood: Mk1 Lotus Cortina

Goodwood Hillclimb: McLaren P1 Hypercar

Goodwood hillclimb: Porsche 918 Spyder

Goodwood Hillclimb: Renault Twin'Run

Goodwood Hillclimb: Rolls Royce Wraith

Goodwood Hillclimb: Alfa Romeo 4C

Goodwood Hillclimb: Aston Martin CC 100 Concept

Goodwood: Austin Bantam 'Rat Trap' Dragster

Goodwood: BMW M1

Goodwood paddock

Goodwood: 50 years of Porsche

The Goodwood Festival of Speed saw some of the greatest cars on the planet, at full noise!

Goodwood Festival of Speed 2013

Goodwood Festival of Speed

HORSEPOWER HEAVEN

This year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed represented its 21st running, and the record attendance of 196,000 spectators underpins the significance of the event for lovers of all things retro automotive.

No less than three 50th anniversaries were celebrated this year. How about this lot: There was Jim Clark’s first world championship in the iconic Lotus-Climax along with the birth of what was then Bruce McLaren Racing. That year (1963) also bore witness to one of the most important happenings in sports car history, with the introduction of the legendary Porsche 911.

This year’s central display featured Porsches from three generations of 911, cleverly placed atop Gerry Judah’s massive sculpture and pointing their noses at the blue skies over Goodwood.

The span of McLaren’s racing success was emphasised by the range of McLaren cars in attendance, including the original Can-Am M1A of 1965 to the classic orange M8D that so dominated the Can-Am series into the early ’70s. Formula One offerings included an M23, along with a swag of more recent models.

Johnny Rutherford’s Offenhauser-powered ’74 Indy McLaren M16C, which won the Indianapolis 500 in ’74 and ’76, was there, along with the F1 GTR which won Le Mans in 1995. In all, McLaren products represented four very diverse racing series as they shrieked and bellowed up the hill.

The Silver Arrows returned to Goodwood once more, with Jochen Mass driving a supercharged Mercedes-Benz W154 Grand Prix Car. Well-known car enthusiast and Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason took the wheel of a rear-engine, V16 Type C Auto Union, and his wife, Annette, drove Nick’s very own Ferrari 250 GTO to win ‘Fastest climb by a lady’.

Another famous Mercedes-Benz at Goodwood was the 1954 W196 F1 which was driven by none other than Sir Stirling Moss and Juan Manuel Fangio. Moss also drove the Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR ‘658’ that Fangio raced on the 1955 Mille Miglia, the year of Moss/Jenkinson’s famous win in a similar car.

Alfa Romeo, Aston Martin and Audi were represented by significant cars, all again ascending the hillclimb. A GTA M racing saloon and the Le Mans contender, the Tipo 33 TT12, represented Alfa, while Aston Martin brought along ‘Project 214’ from the 1963 Le Mans race.

Hannu Mikkola was there in the 1983 Audi quattro that so changed the face of rallying and the Audi 200 quattro Trams-Am of 1988 also showed a brisk turn of speed up the Goodwood Hill.

BMW’s star at the event was Nelson Piquet, who after 30 years was reacquainted with his 1983 World Championshipwinning turbocharged Brabham BMW BT52. Other BMWs on the hill included the 1999 Le Mans-winning V12 LMR, and a 464bhp BMW M1 Procar, plus the highly prized 3.0 CSL ‘Batmobile’. An Repco V8-powered Brabham 1967 BT24 waved the Aussie flag.

An ongoing favorite at the Festival of Speed is Jim Hall’s 1966 Chaparral 2E with its distinctive high rear wing. The 2E was the trendsetting car that brought aerodynamics to racing. With its tall rear wing being mounted directly onto the rear suspension uprights, the downforce was applied where it did the most good. In fact, motor racing is still learning from Jim Hall’s inventiveness in harnessing downforce.

Of course Ferraris were great in number. From the early ’70s, both the 312PB sports-racing prototype of 1971 and the thunderous Ferrari 712 Can-Am car, originally raced by Mario Andretti in the 1971 Can-Am series, were in attendance.

One of Australia’s favourite sons was surely Frank Gardner, and one of his most successful cars took centre stage at Goodwood. The famous Ford Escort Twin Cam in the Alan Mann Racing Team’s renowned red and gold colour scheme – XOO 349 F – was piloted by Gardner with great success in the late ’60s. Taking the Escort up Goodwood Hill was Alan Mann’s
son, Henry.

Among the several fast Jaguars at Goodwood was Andy Wallace in the 1988 Le Mans-winning XJR 9. Yet again, Justin Law took fastest time of the weekend in the Don Law Racing Jaguar XJR 8/9. Worth several million pounds, the original prototype Jaguar D-Type was also in action in its distinctive ‘short nose’ configuration.

Resplendent in its green and yellow was the Lotus-Climax 25 which took Jim Clark to the first of his two Formula One World Championships, a half-century ago. A Lotus-Ford 49 in the red, white and gold of Gold Leaf Team Lotus stirred the memories along with a clutch of F1 Lotus-Fords in iconic John Player Special livery. There was an original Mk 1 Lotus Cortina, as also raced by Jim Clark, when it would have spent much of its time in corners waving an inside-front wheel at the thronging spectators.

A couple of old Festival favourites crossed the Atlantic to rattle the windows of Goodwood house. The Austin Bantam ‘Rat Trap’ Dragster positively hurt the ears, as it filled the area with bursts of exhaust and clouds of tyre smoke.

Porsches at Goodwood this year were plentiful. As well as a plethora of 911s there were 917s aplenty, from the GuIf Racing 917K through to the awesome Can-Am 917-10. Other successful Le Mans cars from Porsche included the 1998- winning 911 GTl and, from the late ’70s, the 935-45 ‘Moby Dick’ and open 936 that succeeded it were also present.

Classic Renault brought along its original turbocharged Formula One car, the RS01, which debuted at the 1977 British Grand Prix in the hands of Jean-Pierre Jabouille. The 1983 RE40 Formula One car also climbed the Goodwood Hill as did the Renault-Alpine A442B which won Le Mans back in 1978.

Creeping into the 21st century, the Red Bull-sponsored NASCAR Toyota Camry generated plumes of red and blue smoke from its rear tyres. Clever.

So the curtain has closed on the Goodwood Festival of Speed for 2013, but the popularity of the event looks certain to make 2014 even bigger and better!

GOODWOOD HILLCLIMB: SUPERCAR RUN

The world's most exotic cars stretch their legs on the Goodwood Hillclimb...

For any motoring enthusiast fortunate enough to be in the market for a supercar, surely the Goodwood Festival of Speed is the ultimate shop window. As well as being able to browse the assembled exotica in the Supercar Paddock, there’s also the unique opportunity to watch the cars in action on the hillclimb.

A number of eagerly-awaited hypercars made their public debuts at Goodwood, led by the 918 Spyder from this year’s featured marque, Porsche. The German brand’s fastest and most powerful model ever, a race-derived 447kW 4.6-litre V8 is aided by three electric motors for a total of 653kW, enough to launch the 1640kg 918 to 100km/h in 2.8sec and 300km/h in 23 seconds.

Attendees were also blown away by McLaren’s new P1. Its 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8 is also aided by electric motors, but while the P1’s combined output of 673kW only just shades the Porsche’s, being 150kg lighter means its performance is in a different league, reaching 300km/h from rest in "under 17sec", according to McLaren.

Rounding out this trio of billionaire playthings was Jaguar’s C-X75, a car that will sadly never reach production due to the current economic climate. It’s arguably the most interesting of all, with a turbo- and supercharged 1.6-litre four-cylinder packed full of F1 technology that allows it to rev to 10,000rpm and produce a staggering 373kW. Two electric motors driving the front wheels boost this to 663kW, so it was little wonder Jag’s stillborn superstar really rocketed up the hill.

Also from Jaguar – and something a little closer to reality – was the ‘Project 7 Concept’, essentially a hardcore version of the new F-Type. With 404kW available from the 5.0-litre supercharged V8, Jaguar’s chief development driver, Mike Cross, had little problem showing off his peerless sideways skills.

Another British concept making an appearance was the Aston Martin CC100, a dramatically styled roadster built to celebrate Aston’s centenary this year. Inspired by the classic DBR1 that secured Aston’s only Le Mans win in 1959, just two will be built, destined for well-heeled Aston enthusiasts.

Unsurprisingly, British car makers are keen to make the most of this moving motor show on home soil and both the Range Rover Sport and Rolls-Royce Wraith defied their two-tonne-plus weighbridge tickets to tear up the course.

At the other end of the size scale, Caterham unveiled its utterly-mad 620R. With a 232kW supercharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder packed into the ultra-light Seven body, performance should be vivid, to say the least.

Mexico also provided some lightweight thrills with the world premiere of the VUHL 05, which was driven briskly up the hill by current Mexican Formula One driver Esteban Guiterrez. It also runs a 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine, mid-mounted and turbocharged to produce 213kW.

A turbocharged four-cylinder can also be found in the middle of Alfa Romeo’s new 4C sports car, a sign of these more ecologically conscious times. Due to arrive in Australia shortly, the 4C is expected to cost around $80,000; a bargain for a carbon-tubbed two-seater that can do 0-100km/h in 4.5sec.

Finally, from France came the Renault Twin’Run concept, a compact rear-wheel drive city car with a 235kW V6 shoved in the boot. Claimed to channel the spirit of the Renault 5 Turbo, the car has zero chance of production, but was driven quickly up the hill by Renault legends Mexico also provided some lightweight Jean Ragnotti and Rene Arnoux.

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