Goodwood Festival of Speed
Written by:
Author: Mike G.
Goodwood Festival of Speed or FOS as most people referred to it, happens at the beginning of July annually at the Goodwood House in West Sussex, England. This is at the southern tip of England and usually provides very good weather. This event started in 1993 as a Hillclimb race. It has blossomed into so much more than that since then. Almost every major auto manufacturer that is involved in racing showcases their most recently developed hardware and rich heritage through their vintage cars. This event takes place over a four day period from Thursday to Sunday. Now, this isn’t only just a showcase of speed. The vehicles are setup into classes and the drivers are shooting for the best times up the hill for their class. So, if you can catch my drift these drivers are hauling the mail on ever run they get. This makes for a very exciting atmosphere, with echoing of race sounds and permeating the air with all their smells. An unbelievable fact is that you can walk around the race cars when they get back to their paddocks with no restrictions whatsoever is incredible. I was only there for the last day the Sunday. That is the shootout day where all the vehicles that qualified with the top times compete against each other at the end of the day. However, during the day you still get to see all the cars race up the hill. Giving an idea of speed fast cars can make it up the hill in 60 seconds or less. Most of the pre war race cars going over the 60 second mark. I was totally overwhelmed by the incredible setup of the grounds. I almost had access to everything on the grounds with just a general admission ticket. Including the race paddocks, the drifting area, the rally course, and the hillclimb I could access it all. Along with all the manufactures beautiful static displays. Such an incredible blend of old vintage and new race cars to see race and hear in person. I should have gone for an additional day just so I could have spent more time on certain aspects. I did feel a little hurried trying to get it all in one day. One day was better than no days though. This was a bucket list trip for me and I am sure many of you reading this it is for you as well. I am telling you right now my only regret is waiting as long as I did to go. You need to stop what you’re doing and book your trip to the next FOS right now! In all seriousness, I know many people including myself has seen footage of the race on YouTube and other media sources but that really doesn’t do the event any justice. The sounds your ears can pick up compared to the TV doesn’t even compare. So don’t be one of those people that says “I wanna do that someday” just do it and quit talking about it. I promise you it will blow your mind. Make sure you go for at least two days though because one day visit to a car guy’s paradise like this isn’t enough! Inclusion, I plan on attending this event every year I can now it’s that good. I am over just seeing vintage and new cars sitting on the grass or paved and not do anything. The spirit of the vehicle running and moving does something to our emotional depths. It gets the juices flowing as they say. I promise if you haven’t been to an event like Rennsport Reunion or Goodwood FOS it will change your entire perspective on how you look at static display car shows forever.
Just go! Stop putting it off!