The Goodwood Festival of Speed is almost upon us. Starting 2nd July, possibly the world's greatest celebration of motoring culture, will play host to many of the major manufacturers at what seems to be the natural successor to the traditional motor show format. DriveWire man, Paul Green is currently attending as a guest of Alfa Romeo so expect his story and photographs shortly.
> Formula 1
More than 90 stars drivers and riders and over 350 cars will be in action. A key attraction will be the contemporary Formula 1 teams and drivers, as well as a display of the greatest F1 cars from the past 60 years of the F1 World Championship.
Scuderia Ferrari – the Italian marque will be at the Festival once more, their cars forming a central part of this year’s ‘Viva Veloce!’ celebration.
McLaren-Mercedes – the MP4-23 will be in action all weekend, with 2008 and 2009 World Champions Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button at the wheel. They will also both be driving the ex-Alain Prost championship winning 1986 McLaren-TAG MP4/2C.
Mercedes GP – one the newest F1 teams will mark its return to full works competition after a 55-year absence with an appearance at the Festival of Speed, with Nico Rosberg in action, as well as Goodwood hillclimb speed record holder Nick Heidfeld.
Red Bull – after setting the pace through the early part of the 2010 F1 season, Red Bull are amongst the favourites this year, and their car is sure to be a Festival highlight, especially with Mark Webber at the wheel. Red Bull’s chief engineer Adrian Newey will also be appearing in the 2009 Red Bull-Renault RB5.
Lotus-Cosworth – after a long absence in F1, Lotus makes a welcome return and will be at Goodwood with drivers Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen.
Williams-Cosworth – the latest FW32, which will appear at the Festival, renews Williams’ relationship with Cosworth, with whom it won four World Titles in the 1980s.
The MX-5 is 20 years old this year
> Mazda
This year at Goodwood, Mazda will be focusing on celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the popular MX-5 and will have two MX-5 endurance race cars and the Superlight running in the hill-climb.
The main stand will be showcasing the MX-5 through it's various stages with a life-sized scalectrix track featuring a Mazda MX-5 MK1 Le Mans car, MX-5 MK2 10th Anniversary special edition, MX-5 California, MX-5 endurance car as well as current limited edition MX-5 Miyako.
Fabia S2000 rally car
> Skoda
Freddy Loix will make his Goodwood debut this year, driving the Skoda UK Motorsport Fabia S2000 on the Forest Rally Stage, while Guy Wilks will also make his first public appearance since his accident on the Rally d'Italia-Sardegna.
MINI E Race
> MINI
MINI will be displaying the full range of the current MINI models, the MINI brand will mix old and new. Monte Carlo Rallying legend and one of the original ’Flying Finns‘, Rauno Aaltonen will drive the MINI E Race up the hill at Goodwood.
The Festival will also host the appearance of the MINI E Race, a modified race-equipped version of the emissions-free MINI currently undergoing road trials in the UK, USA and Germany.
The MINI E Race made its public debut at the Nurburgring in May when it covered several laps of the 20.8 km Nordschleife circuit driven by Thomas Jäger, 2006 MINI Challenge Champion. Jaeger managed a lap in 9 minutes 51.4 seconds and achieved a top speed of 117mph.
Making its debut at a UK motoring event will be the new MINI Countryman that goes on sale at MINI dealers in September 2010. It is the largest MINI model ever made and it is also the first to offer four doors and the option of four wheel drive in the ALL4 models.
BMW Art Car
> BMW
Exactly 70 years later, the 1940 Mille Miglia-winning 328 Touring Coupé will climb Goodwood‘s hill fresh from competing in the 2010 Mille Miglia. Driven by Guiliano Cané, several times a winner of this regularity competition, the Touring Coupé won the event outright, covering the 1,000 miles without a hitch.
Straight from the Le Mans 24 Hours the latest Art Car, a BMW M3 GT2, will be driven up the Goodwood hill by Dirk Müller. Müller is a long time BMW works driver having raced in the FIA World Touring Car Championship and more recently in the American Le Mans Series driving a similar M3.
The M3 GT2 is the 17th in the series of BMW Art Cars and has been designed by American artist Jeff Koons. Koons follows in the footsteps of many of the greatest exponents of Pop and modern art including Andy Warhol and David Hockney.
Driving the BMW Z4 sDrive35is in the supercar runs will be Jake Humphreys, the BBC’s anchor-man for Formula 1 coverage. He’ll be accompanied in the Saturday afternoon run by legendary Formula 1 commentator, Murray Walker.
Vauxhall’s Ampera E-REV
> Vauxhall
While Vauxhall has yet to confirm its launch of the new VXR8, the latest HSV GTS E2 will give the clearest indication yet of its intention to sell the car in Britain. The new super-saloon will appear as part of the Festival‘s First Glance/Supercar group and its oldest Vauxhall predecessor, the 3.0-litre Prince Henry will be chasing it up Goodwood‘s hillclimb.
Also making its public show debut in the UK will be the first prototype of Vauxhall‘s Ampera E-REV (Extended-Range Electric Vehicle), which will complete a two-week promotional tour of the country at the Festival by following the GTS and Prince Henry up the hill.
Provisionally planned for launch in the near future, the new VXR8 will continue its giant-killing tradition, with a 6.2-litre V8 producing 431PS, rear-wheel drive and the potential to hit 60mph in just 4.9 seconds.
> Jaguar
An exclusive XKR; the XKR 75 will be unveiled at Goodwood on July 2nd.
New Jaguar CEO, Dr Ralf Speth, issued a challenge to the engineering team to "construct an XKR to celebrate Jaguar's 75th anniversary, which would deliver a combination of enhanced performance, superb chassis and steering control and grip levels to inspire the driving enthusiast to explore the true potential of the XKR's capabilities".
Jaguar engineers increased the power and torque of the monstrous 5.0-litre supercharged engine to 530PS. While the limited edition model's top speed is electronically limited to 174mph (280km/h), the XKR 75's 60mph acceleration time is reduced from 4.6 to 4.4 seconds..
Corvette ZR-1
Chevrolet will be showing two brand new cars at this year's event; the Camaro and the Corvette ZR-1.
Both of the US-built supercars will be running in the event’s Moving Motorshow on Thursday July 1 and in the supercar run up the hillclimb circuit on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
The presence of the ZR-1 marks a return for the long established Corvette name to the Chevrolet stable, as from this year onward it will be distributed in Europe and sold once again as the Chevrolet Corvette, rather than a standalone brand.
“These iconic cars, such as Corvette and Camaro, are clear indicators of how strong Chevrolet’s brand heritage is,” said Chevrolet UK Managing Director Mark Terry. “The fact that they are here, in Europe, being sold as Chevrolets is the clearest indication yet of the confidence that General Motors has in the Chevrolet brand, and the direction it is headed in Europe.”
In addition to the two latest performance models to join Chevrolet Europe’s product portfolio, both of the Silverline Chevrolet racing cars from the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship will be in attendance. One of the Cruzes will be run up the hill, with works drivers Jason Plato and Alex MacDowall behind the wheel on different days.
