Goodwood is the closest you are going to get to motoring heaven. Music has Glastonbury, Football has the World Cup and cars have Goodwood.
The Journey
The journey to Goodwood was all about car spotting, for the first hour or so not much turned up but once we got within a few miles of Goodwood, some utter beauties were seen flying past. We were even lucky enough to catch a glimpse of Chris Evan’s Laferrari, Aston Martin DB4 Zagato and the FAB1 Rolls Royce.
The Laferrari as most of you already know, is the newest car to come out of Maranello sometimes referred to as the F70. Only 499 examples of this model have been built and we were lucky to catch a glimpse of three throughout the festival. The Aston Martin DB4 Zagato Sanction II is an even rarer breed with only four built and it was just parked up in a hotel car park with no security.
The Manufacturer’s stands
This is a petrol head’s dream. Manufacturers let you get up close and personal with their new cars and even show off some concepts. Nearly every manufacturer tried to outdo the other with lavish stands showcasing their best metal. On some occasions the simple stands were the ones that did it best like TWISTED and Ariel. There aren’t as many people around the cars which give you a better opportunity to examine the car and get some great shots. Out of all the stands I visited, I personally loved the McLaren stand. It could be that I have a soft spot for the British marque but they made the stand open more like a marquee with some historical machines as well as the P1 and new 650S GT3 race car.
The Hill
Goodwood Hill isn’t a ver long course, a mere 1.16 mile track. Shouldn’t be too hard for professional racing drivers, right? The track rises by over 300ft from the start to finish and drivers have to deal with tree-lined corners and changes in light and grip. A few drivers got caught out at Molecomb which saw a few exotics crashing through straw bales. This year Sebastien Loeb, in his Pikes Peak winning car tried his best to beat the record of 41.6 seconds set by Nick Heidfeld but only managed a 44.6 second run on Saturday. John Surtees and Kimi Raikkonen put on a show for the spectators on the last day cruising up the hill in their F1 cars.
The F1 Paddock
This where all the cars which have been lusted over on television for years sat all together. A mix of old and new. Formula 1, Le Mans to Pikes Peak. They were all there. At 11am on Sunday, the people were lucky to be in the paddock were treated to some great sounds when most of the cars were all started and revved hard for a minute. Unfortunately the Mazda 767B wasn’t started after blowing its engine at Le Mans.
The Super-car Paddock
This paddock was filled with a number of great super cars, namely the LaFerrari, Porsche 918 Spyder, Mclaren P1 and Koenigsegg Agera One:1 along with many others. There were also some crazy cars in the paddock too including the Aston Martin concept DC100 as well as the Ferrari F12 TRS. Jay-kay’s kermit green LaFerrari was also parked up.
Cartier Style-et-luxe concourse d’Eleganze
The Style-et-Luxe pavilion was where pretty cars in seven different classes were to be judged by a number of honourable guests. The beautiful Maserati A6GCS which the Alfieri concept took design cues from, won ‘best in show’ and you can see why. it is absolutely marvellous.
Maserati Centenary
Celebrating Maserati’s Centenary, Goodwood house set up a little area in the courtyard solely for the Maserati brand. Some of the top-selling cars were on show including the good-looking Maserati Alfieri concept. let’s hope that they put that stunning machine into production and we can wait for it start winning Concourse d’eleganze shows in years to come like its older siblings.
I didn’t manage to find time to head up to the Rally stage or go on any of the experiences that the manufacturers were offering, but that just gives me more of a reason to head there again next year. Take a look at the additional gallery below
additional gallery
SCDW 
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