This year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed took place over the weekend of 23rd to 26th June and was one of the largest gatherings at Goodwood. The theme for 2022 was ‘The innovators – Masterminds of Motorsport’. It was also the weekend in which the McMurtry Spéirling, driven by ex-Formula 1 driver Max Chilton, took the outright FoS hillclimb record in a time of 39.08sec, knocking the Volkswagen ID R off the top slot, a position it achieved just last year in a time of 39.14sec.
The design of the centre feature for this year’s festival marks BMW M’s 50 year anniversary, showing the marque’s most iconic models along with some exciting new ones, such as the new M3 Touring.
It is also the year in which the Festival of Speed celebrated the engineers, designers and drivers that broke through barriers achieving significant milestones in development and engineering through the decades.
For many of the people who visit Goodwood over the weekend, it is the chance to get up close and personal with unrestricted access to many of the new cars that is the draw. There was plenty of exotic machinery on display and the opportunity to 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, making 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 three times Formula 1 world champion Jackie Stewart, who was promoting his charity Race Against Dementia, Formula 1 driver and six times winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans Jackie Ickx, five times Le Mans winner Derek Bell and Formula 1 and Indy Car Champion Nigel Mansell who was at Goodwood to celebrate the 30th anniversary of his legendary 1992 Formula 1 championship win, driving his Ferrari F1 car in the hillclimb.
As has become customary, this year’s Festival of Speed showcased plenty of historic as well as new sports and supercars, including five McLaren F1s, some Ferrari 250s, classic and racing Porsches as well as a Porsche 911 Turbo reimagined by Singer, which was making its debut.
First seen at last year’s festival, the Festival of Speed’s ‘Electric Avenue’ returned this year showcasing the latest all-electric models, such as the innovative Rimac Nevera all-electric supercar, as sales and interest in EVs continues to grow globally.
Summing up this year’s event, the Duke of Richmond commented:
“This year’s Festival theme – ‘The Innovators – Masterminds of Motorsport’ – allows us to celebrate some of the greatest achievements in history, while also highlighting the event’s evolving focus on future technology.
Just as race-inspired innovations such as four-valve engines, monocoque chassis and turbocharging have shaped the past and present of the cars we drive in the real world, so electrification, autonomy and other new technologies – the development of which is accelerated by the white heat of competition – will have a profound effect on the future of personal mobility.”
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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