After over a year of lockdowns, it was good to see the return of the Goodwood Festival of Speed this year, which took place between 8th and 11th July as part of the government’s Events Research Programme, meaning that the public were thankfully allowed to attend. In fact, all three of Goodwood’s biggest gatherings are going to be taking place this year.
The Festival of Speed is for many car lovers, the UK’s if not the world’s greatest celebration of motorsport and car culture with car enthusiasts and drivers from all over the world descending on the beautiful parkland surrounding Goodwood House for motorsport’s ultimate summer garden party to celebrate the world’s most glamorous sport.
The chance to get up close and personal with unrestricted access to the many new cars that were in display and watch racing and performance cars of today and yesteryear, with many of them being driven by the drivers who made them famous, power their way up the Hillclimb track, makes for an exhilarating day out.
Our photographer Gary Harman was there to capture all the action as well as meet with some of the legends of motorsport, including Jackie Stewart, Mario Andretti and Mr. Le Mans himself, Tom Kristensen. He also captured the brand-new Glickenhaus SCG007 Hypercar, which made its debut at the Festival and will be competing at this year’s Le Mans 24 Hours.
Pink Floyd drummer and car enthusiast Nick Mason was diving his 1970 5.0-litre V12 Ferrari 512S, which in its day was fast but was not very reliable and seldom managed to reach the end of the endurance events. It did however manage to make third place in the 1970 Daytona 24 Hours, driven by Mario Andretti, Arturo Merzario and Jacky Ickx. That same year, Andretti drove the car to victory at the Sebring 12 Hours, famously passing the Porsche 908 of Peter Revson and Steve McQueen.
Jackie Stewart and son Paul both drove the 1971 3.0-litre Tyrrell-Cosworth 003 with its redesigned nose and longer wheelbase, which proved to be a winning car from the outset, with Jackie Stewart winning its debut race at the 1971 Spanish Grand Prix at Montjuic. Stewart went on to dominate the season, winning his second World Championship.
Tom Kristensen was driving the 1974 5.0-litre V8 Lola-Chevrolet T332, which Mario Andretti raced in the 1974 Formula 5000 Championship in the US, winning three Formula 5000 races in the car that year. Kristensen was also driving a 1982 Lancia LC1, photographed here.
Mario Andretti was driving the 1978 3.0-litre V8 Lotus-Cosworth 97 which had an innovative ground-effect that was hard to beat in 1978, and Andretti won both the Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championships in that year.
Being such an important fixture in the motoring calendar, particularly after a year’s absence, many car manufacturers used this year’s Festival of Speed to launch new models and show off their new cars to the world.
One such manufacturer was Aston Martin, who had a big presence at this year’s Festival of Speed. Maserati was another, showing off their exciting new MC20, the marque’s first mid-engined sportscar for many decades. Maserati also displayed their updated range of Trofeo models, including the new Ghibli Trofeo with its Ferrari derived V8 engine.
Lotus was the ‘Featured Marque’ this year and brought along a number of cars including their brand new Emira sports car, which they are hoping will revitalise the company under the new ownership of Geely, as well as the all-electric Evija hypercar.
Next year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed will be taking place between 23rd and 26th June 2022, with tickets going on sale from Monday 8th November 2021. For more information, please visit: www.goodwood.com
Author Bio:
Simon Burrell is Editor of Our Man Behind The Wheel, a member of The Guild of Motoring Writers, professional photographer and former saloon car racing driver.
Photographs by Gary Harman
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