Festival of Speed - Event News 2002 Review - Saturday

18:56 BST - 13/7/2002

On reflection...

As the sun settles in the west, and the park falls eerily silent after the roar of engines, it would be fair to say that the 10th Festival of Speed is more than living up to its reputation.

Stars from past and present have been out in force, the Park a happy hunting ground for those in search of autographs. The glitterati now ditch their racing overalls in favour of Dinner Suits, as they make their way towards the house for a celebratory gala dinner.

See you all in the morning.

18:49 BST - 13/7/2002

John Surtees back behind the wheel

John Surtees, the only man to win World Championships on both two and four wheels, was back at the controls of a racing machine this afternoon.

In 1968 Team Surtees helped Honda to develop the RA301, an evolution of the overweight RA300, but tricky Anglo-Japanese communication and engine delays prevented the car from ever developing its full potential.

"It's so good to be here, though," said Surtees, "especially when the weather is as kind to us as it has been today."

18:38 BST - 13/7/2002

Senna's car stars in celebration of 50 years of Lotus engineering

The 1986 John Player Special Lotus-Renault 98T which carried the late, great Ayrton Senna to eight poles and two wins was among the 20 fantastic Lotus cars running up the hill here this afternoon.

Driven by current owner Peter Ratcliffe, the 98T joined other Lotus greats such as the Lotus MG MkVII (Colin Chapman's first successfull racer), the Lotus-Climax 18 (as raced to such good effect in Monaco in 1960 and '61), the ground-breaking ex-Jo Siffert Lotus 49B with its all-new Ford DFV, and the terrific 1987 active-suspension Lotus-Honda 99T.

18:15 BST - 13/7/2002

Alan McNish sets unofficial fastest time ever

Storming up the hill in determined mood this afternoon in his Toyota F1 car, and even though only on a demo run, Allan McNish has set what is believed to be the fastest ever time up the hill... unofficially.

The modern F1 cars are not being timed this year, so the official record set by Nick Heidfeld in the F1 McLaren two years ago of 41.6 seconds still stands. Officially.

17:48 BST - 13/7/2002

Endurance Racers take short burst

Cars historically more used to undertaking lengthy European endurancing racing have been in action this afternoon, in celebration of the type of races run between 1945 and 1965.

Notable among them was this ex-Briggs Cunningham lightweight Jaguar E-type belonging to, and raced by, John Mayston-Taylor of Lynx Motors.

"I love coming to this event," said John. "It's so friendly, and even the modern cars here are making history."
The all-aluminium bodied lightweight E-type was Jaguar's answer to Ferrari's mighty GTO in 1963; valiant though its efforts were in the hands of drivers such as Walt Hansgen and Augie Pabst, it wsa usually always beaten by the Itallian rivals.

15:11 BST - 13/7/2002

Jenson sets the pace in Renault R202

Star of the Renault F1 team, Jenson Button has been mobbed everywhere he's gone this weekend, but solitude came, as it does every two weeks, when he slid behind the wheel of his Renault R202.

Fighting fit, and in relaxed mood this weekend, Jenson has obliged hundreds of fans, all keen to get his autograph. Behind the wheel, though, is when he is at his best. Yesterday, even in damp conditions he set an impressive time up the hill, but today he was in determined mood, keen to put on a good show, and stormed the hill to considerable applause. Rarely can the public get this close to a moving Formula One car, so the clicking of camera shutters was almost audible above the scream of his wide-angle Renault V10.

14:57 BST - 13/7/2002

Ralf Schumacher demos BMW-Williams FW23

Ralf Schumacher, current star of the BMW Williams F1 team along with Columbian Juan Pablo Montoya, is at Goodwood for the first time this weekend, and showed just what a powerful performer this year's Williams is running last of the modern F1 cars, and resisting the urge to stop in front of the house for a session of burnouts like some of his contemporaries, Ralf stormed the hill, his traction control audibly working overtime as he worked hard to put all the BMW power down cleanly.

"This is my first visit to Goodwood," he said afterwards. "I've heard about it before, obviously, but never seen it for myself. It is clearly a very special event."

Here's hoping he can persuade big brother Michael to come next year. Now that would be special.

14:20 BST - 13/7/2002

Pike's Peak re-enactment wows the crowd

The Goodwood hillclimb proved easy meat this afternoon for Rod Millen in his phenomenal 850hp Pike's Peak Toyota Celica.
With commentator Marcus Pye at the start getting as revved up as the twin-cam turbo engine, Rod roared off the line in determined fashion, the huge venturis under the car sucking it down and spewing out dust and grass behind it.

Built to take on the fearsome 156-corner Pike's Peak mountain climb in America, Rod holds the all-time record for that daunting course, having taken a staggering 40 seconds off the previous record in 1994, and went about proving his skill here at Goodwood too. Flashing over the finish line at 133mph, and stopping the clock at just 49.6 seconds, this is the fastest time we've seen so far today.

14:11 BST - 13/7/2002

Gerry Marshall shows the way in Baby Bertha

Legendary touring car racer Gerry Marshall took to the hill this after in Baby Bertha, the Bill Blydenstein-design Vauxhall Firenza with which he won more than 40 races in 1975/76.

To considerable applause from the sun-soaked crowd here, Gerry proved that he has lost none of his extraordinary car control as he wrestled the 500hp Repco-Holden V8 monster up the track, matching Hannu Mikkola's 62-second time into the bargain. "That was just fantastic," he said afterwards of his run in the 'Street Fighters' class. "I really should do this more often!"

13:55 BST - 13/7/2002

Renault F1 Technical Boss Mike Gascoyne storms the track in Renault 5 Turbo

Putting the embarassment of his Jordan F1 debut drive crash here two years ago behind him, Mike Gascoyne, Technical Director at the resurgent Renault F1 team, came out to play toady in the ex-Jean Ragnotti 1985 Tour de Corse rally winning Renault 5 Turbo.

"I'm glad I got up the hill safely this time," he said, memories flooding back from two years ago when, as he admitted at the time, his talent ran out at the same time as the track when driving the Jordan 197 he designed. "I thoroughly enjoy this event, though," he admits. "I'm not competitive at all, but it's hard to ignore the red mist once the visor goes down."

13:37 BST - 13/7/2002

Rally Legend Rocks in Revolutionary Audi Quattro

The original Flying Finn, Hannu Mikkola, winner of the London-Mexico Rally in 1970 with navigator Gunnar Palm, took to the hill this afternoon in the very first rally Audi Quattro to hit the scene back in 1982.

Driving a pretty quick 62-second climb, Hannu stormed the hill in the car originally built for him by David Sutton, who still owns and maintains the car to this day.

"It's great to be back behind the wheel of this Audi," he said. "It brings back so many memories of the great rallies I did back in 1982 in the UK. If I remember rightly I won the Welsh and Scottish Rallies in this very car, but today I wasn't trying very hard!". He does indeed remember rightly, he did win those rallies in '82, but he was certainly trying hard today, judging by the way he ditch-hooked the four-wheel drive monster through the corners.

13:26 BST - 13/7/2002

Tornado shatters the air above Goodwood

The all-pervading rumble, bark and scream of highly-tuned racing engines swamping Goodwood Park today have all just been drowned out by an RAF Tornado.

Shattering the air with a mix of full-power slow and fast fly-bys, the Tornado came screaming in low overhead for a five-minute display that was hard to ignore, shaking the ground and rattling the tiles atop Goodwood House.

12:46 BST - 13/7/2002

Jackie Stewart pays tribute to the late, great Ken Tyrrell

In an emotional reunion with one of his World Championship-winning Tyrrells, Sir Jackie Stewart has helped honour the brilliance of the man who spent more than 30 years in Formula One.

After being reunited with the Tyrrell-Cosworth 002 driven by his understudy Francois Cevert in 1971 (and in which Cevert took his only victory, at the US GP), and sedately demonstrating the revolutionary machine up the hill this afternoon, Sir Jackie Stewart paid a remarkable tribute to Ken Tyrrell. "He was a lovely man," said Sir Jackie, "a real gentleman, and really forward looking. I loved racing for him, and we remember him so fondly. I think if he's looking down on us here at Goodwood today, he'd be really pleased to see all his cars still running. Two weeks before he died he told me never to drive any of his cars fast again, and that's why I took it gently up the hill today.

"But this is a marvelous event, there's nothing to rival it in the world. I'm here with all myfamily, children and grand-children, and I must say how pleased I was to help Lord March pay homage to Ken."

12:22 BST - 13/7/2002

UK's most powerful road car smokes up the Hill

In a spectacular, tyre-smoking demonstration run, Colin Lazenby showed what real power is all about.

In his totally road-legal Chevrolet Belair, Colin laid rubber like no other car today, the bone dry and sunshine-laden track helping him to turn 1315hp of nitrous oxide fuelled 10-litre muscle in to an acrid cloud of smoke, to rapturous applause from the crowd.

"This car is totally road-legal," he said. "I run it in the Custom Cars magazine timed trials, which they operate in to find the fastest street-legal car in Britain. I guess they've found it!"

12:07 BST - 13/7/2002

Days of Thunder meets Party in the Park

In true Days of Thunder style, the Nascars took to the hill this morning in a fine demonstration of true American grunt.
Ron Huber, an amateur Nascar racer from the States brought over his ex-Dale Jarret 2000 Winston Cup NASCAR winning Ford Taurus, which he now owns and runs in the amateur series in America. "This car started out in 1990 to compete in road races," he said, "but over the years its morphed into the 2001 body shape you see today. I race it back in the States; we have a Winston Cup for 'retired racers - cars not drivers'. I wish I could do it for real though."

9:52 BST - 13/7/2002

Polystyrene scultpure stands out

Some innovative motoring sculpture is to be found in the Art Show from Frenchman Didier Becet, who comes to the Festival because of its unique atmosphere.

"These sculptures are made from polystyrene, cut with a hot knife or sharp paper," he said, "and they'll take anywhere up to two months to complete."

Didier exhibits at Retromobile, the great Parisian historic automotive show, at at galleries in Japan, France and Canada. "This visulisation of the 1976 Monaco Grand Prix depicts Niki Lauda out in front. I use a bit of artisitic licence, but the cars' and drivers' colour are authentic," enthused the Frenchman, who has been crafting polystyrene for 15 years.

9:40 BST - 13/7/2002

Best Motoring Art Show yet at Festival

If you can tear yourself away from the intoxicating sights, sounds and smells of the paddocks here at the Festival, then the Art Show is a good bet for a fresh discovery or two.

Organised by the respected art historian and collector Andrew Marriott and officially openned yesterday by FoS patron John Surtees, the exhibition is housed in a huge marquee (provided free by Owen Brown) to the right of the main house, just next to the Formula One paddock.

"We've been very busy so far," said Andrew this morning, "and several of the artists have sold pictures, which is marvellous. Lord March has even bought one, a modern interpretation of the Monaco Grand Prix by a lesser-known artist called Helen Taylor, and BAR boss David Richards is rumoured to be interested in one of Didier Becet's polystyrene sculptures."

There's a wide variety of motoring art on show, including oils, etchings and sculptures from well-known names such as Michael Turner, Dexter Brown, Craig Warwick, Jim Bamber and Peter Hearsey to lesser-known artists such as Dutchman Rob Ljbema, Helen Taylor, Sheridon Davies and Richard Wade.

8:33 BST - 13/7/2002

Lord March reflects on a wet Day One

Lord March would like to thank all the enthusiasts who braved the weather yesterday to help get the 10th Festival of Speed off to a flying start.

"I'd like to thank everone who came yesterday," he said this morning, "and send out my personal apologies to all those of you who got stuck in the soggy car parks on your way out. We've always managed the traffic here very well, but the deluge of rain towards the end of the day gave no chance for the fields to drain. I know some of you had two-hour waits to be rescued, but I trust you then had safe homeward journeys."

8:21 BST - 13/7/2002

Sunshine returns to Goodwood

The Goodwood Festival of Speed is known for its contrasts, but perhaps no more so than the difference between the weather here yesterday and today.

With glorious sunshine and an azure-blue sky, the crowds of enthusiasts are already flocking in. If you're thinking of coming today, then you won't be disappointed. Wear some stout footwear as it's still a bit soggy underfoot, and don't forget your camera - the Renault central display is worth the entry fee alone. Don't forget though, that tomorrow (Sunday) is pre-booked tickets only. To book call the ticket hotline 01243 755055; hurry though, because they'll probably run out this morning.