I was once again very fortunate to be the guest of Aerospace Logistics at this year’s Festival of Speed. I opted to go down on my bike, with the aim of getting there early to beat the crowds and safe in the knowledge that I’d have somewhere to change so that I wasn’t baking in leathers all day.
The ride down was glorious, and I managed not to get lost, now that I have satnav on the bike. I even remembered not to go though Petworth which is always backed up with a traffic jam of overheating classics on the Goodwood weekend.
I arrived at 7:45 and things were already getting pretty busy. On my way to the hospitality suite, I stopped off to take a look at the Bloodhound SCC stand – Richard Noble’s latest landspeed record project.
The main theme of this year’s festival was ‘Racing Revolutions’ and this was split into sections of important innovations in racing – such as carbon fibre, streamlining, turbine engines and four-wheel drive. The Lotus 56 managed to combine two of these, being both turbine powered and four-wheel drive. I’m pretty sure I had a matchbox model of this when I was a kid – fascinating to see (and hear) the real thing!
Other themes for the weekend included a celebration of 50 years of the Jaguar E-type, which meant a large number of them were in action on the hill, as well as on display in the Cartier Style et Luxe exhibition. There was also a celebration of 100 years of the Indianapolis 500 race and 100 years of the Isle of Man TT races.
Other highlights included a helicopter-engined motorcycle (really!), seeing Sir Stirling Moss at the wheel of a number of cars, including his Porsche Spyder and a world record for driving on two wheels being set.
I had a really fabulous time, as always. You just don’t get to see some of these cars and bikes anywhere else – it’s a really wonderful event, and I’d recommend it to anyone! Thanks again to Adrian and Simon for their generous hospitality! As usual, I took hundreds of photos (about 700 this time), but have managed to whittle them down to a slightly more manageable 150 or so. If you’d like to see them, please click on the album below.