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.

Goodwood Festival of Speed 2011

158 Photos

Amazingly, I managed to lever myself out of bed at 7:45 on a Sunday morning. I was going to do something that I hadn’t done since I was a kid with my dad – go and watch the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run. For those that aren’t familiar with this event, it’s a pleasingly eccentric event that commemorates the Locomotives on Highways act 1896, when the 4 mph (2mph in towns!) speed limit was removed, as was the requirement for an escort to walk 20 yards in front of vehicles in town.  The event has been run every year since, and starts at sunrise in Hyde Park London and finishes in Preston Park, Brighton. In order to be eligible, the cars must be built before 1905 – these are seriously old machines.

Since the route pretty much follows the A23, which is really close to where we live, I thought I should make the effort go and watch. It was a cold but thankfully dry day. I found a spot and it wasn’t long before the first cars chugged into sight. I was lucky to get there in time to see a Darracq named “Genevieve” and a Spyker that were the stars of the 1953 movie Genevieve (images 3 and 4).

It was fantastic to see some really beautifully cared for old cars being used. Some of the passengers looked to be enjoying things rather less than I was – they must have been freezing! Many of the drivers and passengers managed a wave as they went past – some looked to be rather too busy operating some rather complicated control mechanisms!

Below are a few of the photos I took: