Classic & Sports Car UK – September 2019

14 Classic & Sports Car September 2019

WHERE THE

STARS MEET

GOODWOOD FESTIVAL OF SPEED

T

he Goodwood Festi-

val of Speed, taking

over the Duke of

Richmond’s expan-

sive garden from 4-

July, had just about everything: sun,

supercars, stars and showers.

Gone was the Moving Motor

Show of Thursday, organisers

preferring instead to stretch out the

main event for four full days. And as

ever with the Festival of Speed,

such is its sheer size, it’s impossible

to see everything and all too easy to

get lost in searching for that car

you’ve glimpsed and not remem-

bered where. It’s best to focus out

and absorb the sights, sounds and

smells almost by osmosis.

The hillclimb has become a

reined-in, safety-first jaunt for

many, more show than speed, but

this year things were different – for

one car at least. Romain Dumas and

the Volkswagen ID.R electric

prototype toppled from the throne

Nick Heidfeld and the McLaren

MP4/13 by 1.6 secs with a time of

39.9 secs. It’s almost as though,

exactly 20 years since Quick Nick’s

hair-raising F1 run, it was planned.

Heidfeld’s time remains the fastest

set in the Supercar Shootout, the

final of sorts, thanks to Sunday’s rain.

More important than the timing

screen was the celebration of Sir

Jackie Stewart, for recently turning

80 and becoming World Champion

for the first time 50 years ago. If the

sight of his tartan-banded white

helmet poking from his title-

winning Matra – being followed by

the similar ones of his two sons in

similarly title-winning Tyrrells 003

and 006 – wasn’t emotional enough,

his pause for an affectionate

moment with his wife capped it.

Standing waiting for the rarest

machinery to power up the hill is

the best way to miss the best of the

event – better to wander among the

huge crowds of people and cars of

the main paddock to get up close to

the special offerings.

And it was quite a welcome to the

tent-filled Tarmac, with Porsche

917s lined up including all manner

of variants to celebrate the model’s

50th anniversary. Among them was

an ex-Vic Elford and Gérard

Larousse Martini-liveried Lang-

heck, a trio of Gulf cars, and even

the open-top Audi-engined 917-PA

from Can-Am and the roadgoing

ex-Count Rossi car.

Just as special was the 908/03,

while the mad one-off 909 Bergspy-

der hillclimber was afforded its UK

debut. Meanwhile, the sight of

Richard Attwood contorting his

The centrepiece of the motoring

summer for many – fans, cars and

famous racing faces alike

WORDS JACK PHILLIPS PHOTOGRAPHY JAMES MANN