The handover from Moving Motor Show to the official start of the Festival of Speed took place last night with the official unveiling of the Mercedes centrepiece sculpture amid fireworks and various classic racers roaring up and down outside Goodwood House. Tux'd up I was there too, a guest of Merc meaning I got a chance to chat with sculptor Gerry Judah, whose incredible structures have always provided a focal point for the FoS. Oddly stories about the sculpture were meant to be embargoed until this morning; given that it was very obviously on show to everyone who attended the Moving Motor Show yesterday I'm not sure how that worked but there we go.
Goodwood sculptor Gerry Judah
Impishly mischievous, Judah's an interesting guy to talk to and when I asked whether he has an engineering background to inform what could and couldn't be possible he said no, if he did it'd hold him back. He designs it, clever people who understand physics and structural engineering build it, the final 160-tonne, 90-metre long design fabricated locally by Littlehampton Welding and trucked to Goodwood in sections for assembly. Appearing to erupt from the house itself, the structure pairs Lewis Hamilton's winning W04 from Hungary last year and a replica of a 1934 W25, the car that (legend has it) was stripped of its white paint to the bare aluminium to save weight and become the first of the silver arrows. And what happens to the sculptures after the event? They're scrapped and turned into cutlery. Does he mind? Seemingly not - three days in the sun and hundreds of thousands of eyes on his work is a short but intense moment in the spotlight and he clearly relishes the challenge of outdoing himself each year.
I chatted with Judah in the Bonhams auction hall we were guided through en route to dinner. Frankly I could've stayed in there all night quite happily. There was a very nice Lotus Cortina that caught my eye after my drive in one the other day - estimated at £65K if anyone wants to lend me some cash for this afternoon's auction. No? Oh well. There's also a 1993 ex-works Toyota Celica Group A rally car in Safari Rally spec (£80,000-£120,000) and another ex-works competition car in the shape of a 1987 Calsonic Nissan R87E Group C that was upgraded and ran at Le Mans in 1988. Absolute favourite? I'll have the race prepped Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GTA ta. Estimate? A mere £200K...
To return to the latest blog and comments page click here.