Hi guys, Well, after my automotive-themed road trip to France and rural England last=20 week, I was pretty tuckered out. But as luck would have it, there was anoth= er=20 event that was literally propped up right in front of me, so there was no wa= y=20 I could possibly choose to miss it. I=92m talking, of course, about the=20 legendary Goodwood Festival of Speed. Originally scheduled to take place in July, the event was moved to the=20 weekend immediately following Le Mans, making it especially convenient for m= e to=20 attend. My =91home=92 in England is Geoff Peters=92 house in Surrey, which is only a= bout a=20 40 minute drive north of Goodwood. Geoff was planning on attending and also= =20 purchasing tickets for clients as a gesture of corporate hospitality, and I=20 knew several other friends were planning on going as well. The event lasts=20= three=20 days, but most people were choosing to go but a single day--other=20 commitments, etc. What is the Goodwood Festival of Speed? Well, there=92s this rather well-of= f=20 fellow named Lord March, who has a hunk of land that=92s something like 1600= =20 acres, complete with a rather big house. And he=92s a serious car guy. His= =20 property has a long, winding driveway that passes in between huge trees and=20= stone=20 walls. A dozen years or so ago, he got the idea that it might be nice to ha= ve a=20 little car and motorcycle show on his property, and maybe run some of the ca= rs=20 up his driveway. He decided to call it a Festival of Speed, for it was intended to celebrate=20 speed in all its forms. It has since grown to be the single largest motorin= g=20 event in England--bigger by far than the British F-1 Grand Prix. On Friday morning I got up and zoomed down the A-3, soon following the signs= =20 that led onto the little roads. His estate is very much in the countryside,= =20 and thus there are dozens of small roads that lead to it from all sides, so=20= the=20 directions were kind of confusing at first--it was not unusual to come to an= =20 intersection and find two signs: Festival of Speed, this way, and Festival=20= of=20 Speed, that way. In fact, both ways led there ultimately. Unlike the Goodwood Revival, which attempts to capture the flavor of an=20 old-time event by replicating history with period costume and historic parki= ng lots=20 for spectators, the Festival of Speed makes no such efforts, and thus all=20 spectator cars, be they lowly shopping cars or high-priced exotics, are park= ed=20 together in huge grass fields surrounding the event on all sides. After trooping to the entrance, I was treated to the sound of freedom--jet=20 noise! An RAF Tornado zoomed low overhead (perhaps 200-300 feet) at high sp= eed=20 before pulling up into a slow roll. It then performed an aerial demonstrati= on=20 lasting some ten minutes or so, making the long walk into the event itself=20 quite enjoyable. As he zoomed off over the horizon, my first stop was the Cathedral Paddock.=20= =20 This secondary paddock was used to house sports and sports racing cars, whil= e=20 the main paddock was nominally reserved for Grand Prix cars and motorcycles=20 (although there were a few sports cars in the latter one). Virtually the entire history of the sports car was laid bare before me, with= =20 representative examples from virtually every facet of the sport, from the da= wn=20 of the automotive age. In fact, the earliest car present, and one that woul= d=20 in fact make competitive demonstration runs up the hill, was an 1899 Panhard= =20 et Levassor 16hp Paris-Bordeaux race car! There were early chain-driven Grand Prix cars, land speed record cars, sport= s=20 cars, NASCAR racers, Trans Am cars, and on and on. There was a strong=20 contingent from France with a group of 1970=92s Matras that raced at Le Mans= , and had=20 the most beautiful-sounding V-12 engines. The yellow JCB GT40 Mk I was ther= e,=20 along with a genuine Shelby 427 S/C Cobra, CSX 3032 driven by Bill Murray,=20 one of the principals of the Shelby museum in Colorado. I wandered through the paddock and out the other side. In front of me was a= =20 fenced-off area filled with spectacular road and racing cars. This was the=20 Cartier Style et Luxe (Style and Luxury) display. This year there were seve= ral=20 themes featured, among them a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the=20 small-block Chevrolet V-8, and a celebration of the Etceterinis, the small I= talian=20 marques that sprang up in the =9150s and =9160s with a variety of delightful= =20 sports cars. Imagine my surprise at finding a spectacular white/blue De Tomaso Vallelunga= =20 in this mix! Not only that, it was one of the three prototype aluminum-bodi= ed=20 coupes built by Fissore (the remaining 50-odd cars wore fiberglass bodies=20 built by Ghia). The car is owned by Peter Rae, who has a tidy little car=20 collection of some 40-odd cars, and in his spare time owns the BAR Formula O= ne team! Alongside the Cartier exhibit was a collection of cars for the=20 kids--full-size replicas of the Wacky Racers, from the long-running Hannah-B= arbera cartoons,=20 complete with appropriately costumed drivers--Penelope Pitstop, etc. Continuing around the corner to the front side of Goodwood House, I was=20 knocked out by a stunning display. Each year the event has a featured marqu= e, and=20 a huge sculpture is erected on the lawn in front of the house. This year wa= s=20 celebrating 40 years of Honda=92s racing success, and six original Honda or=20 Honda-powered F-1 racers were suspended on giant teeter-totters high above t= he=20 ground. Each had a rotating counterweight located underneath the car, and a= s the=20 weight revolved, each car would bob up and down five or six feet, while=20 flashing lights marked the opposite end of the teeter-totter. Quite a strik= ing and=20 quietly relaxing thing to contemplate. This display was ringed by a collection of historic Honda motorcycles, with=20 perhaps 50 significant examples displaying the company=92s production histor= y. This whole time, I could hear the sound of vehicles racing up the hill, so=20 soon I left to pursue a suitable vantage point. Avoiding the crowds near th= e=20 bottom of the hill, I elected to hike towards the top, and soon found myself= in=20 a position close to the course. The driveway is just that, a driveway, and thus it=92s almost impossibly nar= row=20 for any sort of serious motorsport activity. It was lined with a wall of ha= y=20 bales, but as the trees encroached fairly tightly against the road in some=20 places, runoff room was reduced to zero. Historic motorcycles, almost 50 of them, were blatting up the hill, roughly=20 in chronological order, starting with bikes from the 1910s and 20s, and goin= g=20 all the way through the mid =9190s. The later bikes included competition bi= kes=20 which were being ridden by their period champions, including Freddie Spencer= =20 and Mick Doohan aboard full-on Grand Prix bikes. New this year was a separate Forest Rally stage, celebrating the World Rally= =20 Championship. At the top of the hill was a separate paddock filled with abo= ut=20 50 historic rally cars, including several of the awesome Group B cars that=20 had upwards of 800 horsepower! A single dirt track had been cut through the= =20 forest, and as pavement machines would race up the driveway, just a few feet= away=20 these rally machines would blast past in the dirt. Wonderful! A Paris/Dakar rally team was demonstrating their vehicles and offering rides= ,=20 including rides in their awesome 4x4 support truck on a special course that=20 featured bumps and jumps. As I walked down to the bottom of the hill, I found myself in a huge arcade=20 of tents filled with vendors selling all sorts of automobilia, including boo= ks,=20 models, signs, parts, tools, etc. etc. etc. Most of the major vehicle=20 manufactures had large, elaborate pavilions set up, with their latest wares=20= on=20 display, and flashy videos showing them being driven to the limit. A large expanse of grass was ringed with luxury four-door cars, in a special= =20 display celebrating post-war luxury four-door cars. Among them was to be a=20= De=20 Tomaso Deauville, but sadly the paint shop butchered its paint job, and thus= =20 it had to be withdrawn at the last moment. The weather had been hot and sunny, and with my memories of Le Mans fresh in= =20 my mind, I had worn shorts and a T-shirt. But by mid-afternoon the skies ha= d=20 clouded up, and soon a torrential downpour and lightning storm erupted! Thi= s=20 didn=92t prevent any of the participants from running up the hill however, a= nd=20 thus I stood out in the rain and got soaked to the bone while enjoying the=20 sight of these vintage cars splashing up the hill. At the end of the day, I was standing in the Cathedral Paddock talking with=20 the owner of the 427 Cobra; just beyond us was the sole Scarab mid-engined=20 single seat race car. The owner of that car was talking with somebody, and=20= I=20 heard him introduce himself and say, =93My name is Bill Cotter.=94 Bill Cotter??? I interrupted and said, =93Hey, Bill! I=92m Mike Drew!=94 =20= We both=20 busted out laughing and shook hands. For Bill Cotter is (or rather, was) th= e=20 owner of the Candy Gr4 race Pantera, and he and I had been corresponding via= =20 e-mail for almost a year, as I helped to broker its sale to a buyer in=20 Belgium. For all our back-and-forthing via e-mail, we=92d never actually me= t. So that=20 led to a nice 45-minute conversation about his Pantera (which is on its way=20 to Belgium now), and his unique Scarab, and his other vintage race Ferraris,= =20 etc. etc. What a small world! As usual, I elected to remain behind for a couple of hours after the event=20 ended, to avoid sitting in traffic. The rain had stopped and thankfully it=20 wasn=92t too cold, so I had almost dried out by the time I got to my car, wh= ere I=20 was able to put on dry clothes for the drive home. The next morning I filled up the gas tank again (it cost me about $50-60 in=20 gas each day to make the drive down and back) and then scooted back down to=20 Goodwood. Thankfully the skies had cleared, and we enjoyed excellent weathe= r for=20 the remainder of the weekend. On the first day I had missed the F-1 paddock which was actually quite a bit= =20 larger than the sports car paddock. It featured historic and modern Grand=20 Prix and open wheel race cars, as well as a whole slew of motorcycles. =20 The Festival of Speed is unique in that the major F-1 racing teams all come=20 together in a non-competitive way, and hang out together, showing off their=20 cars to an admiring public. Current and former F-1 drivers then demonstrate= them=20 on the hill, normally forgoing a top speed run in lieu of hooliganistic=20 antics such as burnouts, donuts and even wheelies! =20 The F-1 teams also set up tents and have backup cars on display, and the=20 drivers meet with the public and sign autographs. It was almost impossible=20= to see=20 into these tents due to the throngs of fans with programs, hats and pens in=20 their hands, eagerly waiting to meet their heroes. Believe me, the sound of the Renault F-1 car bouncing off its rev limiter=20 while the current points champion stands on the brakes and performs a smoky=20 burnout is something to behold! Geoff Peters and I sat in the grandstands=20 immediately adjacent to the starting line and watched the F-1 cars launch up= the hill;=20 truly amazing. While sitting there, we met up with Phil Stebbings, founder and club=20 secretary for the De Tomaso Driver=92s Club of the United Kingdom. We walke= d back to=20 the Cartier display to admire the Vallelunga, when suddenly Gavin Hutton (wh= o=20 owns two GT5-S Panteras and a Pantera Si) walked up, accompanied by Franz Kr= ump=20 of Austria (who has a Pantera Si and a Guara). We were having a nice little= =20 reunion when I spotted John Braithwaite, who had driven his beautiful Mangus= ta=20 to the International De Tomaso meeting the summer before. As we were all=20 laughing at the coincidence, somebody tapped my shoulder, and there was Gabb= y=20 Eggimann from Zurich, who along with Rene Killer was also at that meeting in= their=20 yellow Vallelunga. So suddenly it was a reunion, with owners from four=20 countries represented! We all laughed at the coincidence, and then received= a=20 guided tour of the Vallelunga from the fellow who had restored it. Phil managed to borrow the VIP passes from the Vallelunga=92s steward, and h= e=20 and I waltzed into the Cartier hospitality area and totally chowed on the=20 outstanding buffet therein. Inside this area were a few cars that were so s= pecial=20 they were being restricted from public viewing, including a 1939 Bugatti Typ= e=20 57S Atlantique, one of three made, and virtually priceless. Appetites sated, we returned to the show and then split up and went our=20 separate ways. One of the really great things about this event is that celebrity drivers ar= e=20 given the opportunity to sample historic cars. Damon Hill got to drive a=20 single-seat race car that had been designed and built (but never raced) by h= is=20 late father. Jenson Button drove an older Formula car, and so on and so for= th. =20 They were obviously having a lot of fun! I spent most of the third day by myself, looking for things I had missed the= =20 previous two days. One of the most amazing cars present was BABS, a=20 land-speed-record car from the 30=92s, powered by a 27-liter V-12 aero engin= e. This=20 monster is driven by two chains; during a record attempt on Pendine Beach, o= ne of=20 the chains had broken, causing the car to flip and killing its builder/drive= r.=20 His family had a pit dug and the car was buried on the spot. 42 years=20 later, it was unearthed by a team of archeologists wondering if there would=20= be=20 anything left; surprisingly the car was almost completely intact, and while=20= the=20 aluminum bits had suffered corrosion, there was no rust at all. So it was=20 relatively straightforward to restore it and now it is running again. The thing is, this car is absolutely lethal--so much so, in fact, that the=20 owner/driver dons a bulletproof vest before he starts it up!!! And the soun= d=20 that a 27-liter V-12 makes with exhaust pipes that are only four inches long= is=20 ear-splitting! It was fun to watch the car sitting and idling, as all the=20 valvetrain is exposed, so you can watch the valves opening and closing as it= =20 huffs and chuffs and spits oil and smoke and drips water and whatnot. Hidden out of sight behind Goodwood House was the supercar paddock. Here=20 were gathered about 50 brand new supercars, many of which are familiar to=20 Americans, but others the likes of which we=92ve never seen. England has a=20= healthy=20 bespoke car industry, and if you have a couple of hundred thousand dollars,=20= there=20 are any number of manufacturers willing to put you behind the wheel of their= =20 latest 200-mph missile. Among the Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Nobles, Porsches,= =20 Maseratis, Aston Martins, Ascaris, etc. etc. the Roush Mustang GT seemed odd= ly=20 out of place. The Ford GT alongside fit right in though. These cars were demonstrated on the hill, and the only incident of the event= =20 took place when a fellow behind the wheel of a brand-new Jaguar prototype lo= st=20 it in a big way and comprehensively demolished a wall of hay bales,=20 presumably doing extensive damage to the car, and his career as well! Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason (who has a terrific car collection of his own,= =20 and was running a Ferrari 512BBLM racer) was allowed to drive the Pininfarin= a=20 Maserati Birdcage 75 concept car, which was=20 I spent the day moving from one place to another, spending a few minutes in=20 the paddocks, then watching the action on the hill, then going through the=20 shops, then visiting the Cartier stand, and so on and so forth. I got to se= e=20 Derek Bell as he literally leapt out of some car, and ran through the crowd,= to=20 then hop into Ayrton Senna=92s McLaren (into which he barely fit) to make an= other=20 run up the hill. Brian Redmon was driving the Ferrari 312PB that he raced=20 extensively in 1972, and Stirling Moss even drove old number 722, the Merced= es=20 300 SLR in which he and Denis Jenkinson made their awesome run to win the 19= 55=20 Mille Miglia. Mid-afternoon I linked up with Colin Bradshaw, who I=92d seen only briefly a= t=20 Le Mans the week prior, and with his wife Kim hiked up to the rally paddock,= =20 where we bumped into DTDCUK president Ric Lee and his wife. The Bradshaws a= nd I=20 spent the rest of the afternoon together, and were amazed to see the last=20 aerial demonstration--a South African Airways 747 put on an air show right=20 overhead! Now, I=92ve been to many airshows, but I=92ve never seen a 747 pe= rform before! It was with a sense of regret that I finally pulled myself away around 7:30=20 p.m. on Sunday. This was my first time going to the Festival of Speed, and=20= I=20 found that it completely lived up to its billing. From the cars to the=20 motorcycles to the planes to the exhibits to the aerial demonstrations to th= e star=20 drivers to the manufacturing tents to the F1 exhibits and on and on and on,=20 there was something new and different to see every time you turned around. Although I suffered numerous digital camera misfires, I did managed to get=20 some good shots (and a few truly great ones, blind squirrels and nuts and so= =20 forth), some of which can be found here: http://members.aol.com/mikeldrew/festivalofspeed.jpg I composed this while sitting in the first class section of a 777 flying to=20 Chicago; by the time you read this I will actually be (gasp) at my own home=20= for=20 a change! Ah, but how long do you think I can last before my wanderlust strikes and I=20 feel compelled to take another automotive-related vacation? Not long, as it= =20 turns out! I'm doing laundry and going through the mail now; tomorrow I'll be packing m= y=20 bags and hitting the road yet again, bound for the SAAC convention at=20 Fontana. Look for me working the hot pits at the track; I'll be easily reco= gnizable=20 wearing my totally goofy-looking Oakley Eyeshade sunglasses, circa 1988 (the= y=20 look like ski goggles!) Mike
