Monday 4th July 2011

Record Turnout For Goodwood FoS

As the doors close for another year we pick out some of our highlights from the 2011 FoS

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It's over now, folks. That annual feast of motoring, the Goodwood Festival of Speed, is done for another year. But not before an estimated crowd of more than 180,000 (an FoS record) poured into the grounds of the Goodwood estate for the four-day event.

And the crowds gathered for the 19th edition of the FoS certainly weren't disappointed by the breadth and scope of automotive goodness (although many went away unimpressed with the quality of Garlick's hat, we're told).

Whether it was Jay Kay's stunning Pietro Frua-styled 1954 Maserati A6G-54 in the Cartier concours, Kris Meeke 'out-Ken Blocking' Ken Block with a spectacular show in his Mini WRC car, Terry Grant driving a Nissan on two wheels all the way up the hill, or Button heading up the hill in the MP4-12C road car (Quick, but quiet, reckoned Garlick), there was surely something there for everyone.

And the manufacturer stands took things to another level once again. This is now an event, we reckon, that is almost as good as a motor show for a chance to pore over new metal. And motor shows don't generally have a hill climb in the middle of them (now with added bricks from Indianapolis Motor Speedway - how cool is that?)...

Of course, picking out the tastiest morsels from such a banquet is always going to be an exercise in working out what to leave out, but we thought we'd share a few photos that reflect our personal highlights... and do feel free to let us know what we've missed out by posting up your own pics...

And we don't even have to wait another year to drool over some properly nice motor cars either, because the Cholmondeley Pageant of Power will be along in a few weeks...

^{Thanks to Nick Williams for the vast majority of the photos}

[rampageturke]

Why do they have to be in such a low resolution

[Mermaid]

rampageturke said:

Why do they have to be in such a low resolution

Agree.

Also do we have a high res pic of "many went away unimpressed with the quality of Garlick's hat"

[Jonara]

Anyone know whether the driver of the Alpina was OK?

[Bahnstormer]

Where was the Pistonheads stand BTW ?

[the fury]

Went on Saturday (first time since a rain-lashed 1998) and had a great time. Would camp and make a weekend of it next time as there was way too much to see in one day!

[AyBee]

Jonara said:

Anyone know whether the driver of the Alpina was OK?

Think it was the passenger that was the longer of the two to get out the car! Hope they're both ok though, totally missed the braking point!

Went yesterday and had an awesome day, my face is suffering today though; just off to fry some eggs on it

[greeneggsnsam]

A brilliant event. Definitely the best event I have ever been to, and I didn't even see everything!

[Thomo97]

Great to see what I missed when I got stuck on the Veuve Clicquot stand for 5 hours. Will return next year and give myself a target of seeing at least 6 cars in motion ...

[P-Jay]

"Button heading up the hill in the MP4-12C road car (Quick, but quiet, reckoned Garlick)"

BBC Says:

"Hamilton's team-mate Jenson Button will be fully fit for this weekend's British Grand Prix despite a minor jet-ski injury forcing him to abandon plans to run in a 2008 Formula 1 McLaren at Goodwood on Saturday."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula...

Do they mean Hamilton, or perhaps they wrote it before the event and 'banked' it to have monday off to recover

Gutted to have missed it, I was thinking of going, but my pals were all taking Motorbikes and I didn't want to be the only non-cool guy going in a car.

[marktul]

We went on the Thursday and had one of the best days of my life. A passenger run up the hill in a V10 R8 was the perfect start and I rounded out the day thrashing a Leon Cupra R up the course. Awesome day and definitely something we will be doing again.

Camping is gonna be a must though, because even in 2 days I think you would struggle to see the whole venue.

[fatboy69]

I did Moving Motors on Thursday & then the FoS on Friday. All i can say is what a great time i had on both days.

So much to see & do & so many great cars - i didnt get anywhere near the rally stage so maybe next year.

Got to drive some good cars up the hill on Thursday so a big thank you to MG, Alfa Romeo, Skoda (yes really!!!!) Volvo & BMW.

A big 'up yours' though to Audi who were extremely rude, stuffy & arrogant when they were approached.

Even Rolls Royce were accomodating & whilst they wouldnt let me take one of their cars up the hill i was at least allowed to have a good look around the cars, get behind the wheel & have a couple of photo's taken in anticipation of me taking home the £145 million on offer tomorrow night...

Audi? Just a bunch of cocks!!!

What happened with the Alpina? I know that someone stuffed a Volvo into the straw bales on Thursday & set off 7 (seven) air-bags!!!

As for the Festival itself it was my second visit & it was just awesome. The highlight's for me?

Easy.

Mazda 787B shrieking up the hill on Friday.

The Red Arrows & the thirty three indy cars all being fired up at the same time on Friday afternoon.

Magnificent as was the whole event.

Next year i plan to do all three days so hopefully i will get to see everything.

One final point - were any of the Chris Evans 'white collection' cars on display as i couldnt find them anywhere.

Looking forward to next year - i wonder when the tickets for 2012 go on sale.....

[MattDell]

AyBee said:

my face is suffering today though

As are the faces of the entire PH Staff.

[matg]

fatboy69 said:

I did Moving Motors on Thursday & then the FoS on Friday. All i can say is what a great time i had on both days.

So much to see & do & so many great cars - i didnt get anywhere near the rally stage so maybe next year.

Got to drive some good cars up the hill on Thursday so a big thank you to MG, Alfa Romeo, Skoda (yes really!!!!) Volvo & BMW.

A big 'up yours' though to Audi who were extremely rude, stuffy & arrogant when they were approached.

Even Rolls Royce were accomodating & whilst they wouldnt let me take one of their cars up the hill i was at least allowed to have a good look around the cars, get behind the wheel & have a couple of photo's taken in anticipation of me taking home the £145 million on offer tomorrow night...

Audi? Just a bunch of cocks!!!

What happened with the Alpina? I know that someone stuffed a Volvo into the straw bales on Thursday & set off 7 (seven) air-bags!!!

As for the Festival itself it was my second visit & it was just awesome. The highlight's for me?

Easy.

Mazda 787B shrieking up the hill on Friday.

The Red Arrows & the thirty three indy cars all being fired up at the same time on Friday afternoon.

Magnificent as was the whole event.

Next year i plan to do all three days so hopefully i will get to see everything.

One final point - were any of the Chris Evans 'white collection' cars on display as i couldnt find them anywhere.

Looking forward to next year - i wonder when the tickets for 2012 go on sale.....

Evans Magnificent 7 cars arrived on Sunday I think.

[Garlick]

P-Jay said:

Do they mean Hamilton, or perhaps they wrote it before the event and 'banked' it to have monday off to recover

I think they may have swapped, but the run I witnessed (Saturday) was definitely Button.....unless the commentator was wrong of course!

PH stand notable by it's absence, apologies for that but for various reasons we couldn't secure a patch of Lord March turf this year meaning we had to relax and enjoy the show instead.

[Garlick]

matg said:

Evans Magnificent 7 cars arrived on Sunday I think.

I heard him say Sunday on the radio, but we saw them lined up on Saturday afternoon in the Cartier enclosure.

[Vantagefan]

"Even Rolls Royce were accomodating & whilst they wouldnt let me take one of their cars up the hill i was at least allowed to have a good look around the cars, get behind the wheel & have a couple of photo's taken in anticipation of me taking home the £145 million on offer tomorrow night..."


Got to admit I've never been a massive supporter of Rolls but they were so great in taking the time to talk over every aspect of the cars, asnwering some challenging questions and really giving a taste of the Rolls experience that I am now a bit of a fan. If I do win the Euromillions this Friday they can have the FoS team to thank for securing another sale!

[Vantagefan]

P-Jay said:

"Button heading up the hill in the MP4-12C road car (Quick, but quiet, reckoned Garlick)"

BBC Says:

"Hamilton's team-mate Jenson Button will be fully fit for this weekend's British Grand Prix despite a minor jet-ski injury forcing him to abandon plans to run in a 2008 Formula 1 McLaren at Goodwood on Saturday."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula...

Do they mean Hamilton, or perhaps they wrote it before the event and 'banked' it to have monday off to recover

Gutted to have missed it, I was thinking of going, but my pals were all taking Motorbikes and I didn't want to be the only non-cool guy going in a car.

I know Button was watching the men's final on Sunday whilst Hamilton was running the car.

[Foggy748]

My son & I went on Sunday; first time visitors. Lots to see apart from the track. We just couldn't get anywhere near it to see anything due to the number of people so in that respect it was dissapointing. I think next time it will have to be a day watching the track and a day walking around.

Would anyone recommend the Thurs/Fri as a good alternative to the weekend?

[PlaneFan]

Went yesterday for brother's stag weekend....had a fantastic time, though hardly saw much of the static displays. Was at the Johnny Walker stand much of the time...couldn't believe it was all free access, with no VIP only restrictions. Tables with parasols, bottled water constantly, lots of samples to taste with strawberries and black pepper (very interesting combo), a fantastic sample tasting session with a JW expert guiding us through the flavours, ending with the Blue label. Then up the viewing tower to arguably the best view of the track, much higher than the grandstand seats and an amazing view.

Well done to JW for this.

Can't wait for next year....will try to see more :-)

[Riggers]

Garlick said:

P-Jay said:

Do they mean Hamilton, or perhaps they wrote it before the event and 'banked' it to have monday off to recover

I think they may have swapped, but the run I witnessed (Saturday) was definitely Button.....unless the commentator was wrong of course!

PH stand notable by it's absence, apologies for that but for various reasons we couldn't secure a patch of Lord March turf this year meaning we had to relax and enjoy the show instead.

Autosport article that BBC article that P-Jay Linked to linked to said:

A McLaren spokesman told AUTOSPORT: "Jenson drove a McLaren MP4-12C road car and a McLaren MP4-12C GT3 race car at Goodwood yesterday.

If you catch what i'm saying...