Welcome to Festival of Speed Review - Sunday 5th July 2009

Sunday morning on the hill with the celebs!
Supermodel Jodie Kidd was the first of many celebrities seen out on Goodwood Hill on Sunday morning. Guiding the sonorous Maserati GranTursimo S between the flint walls, the sometime racer was followed soon thereafter by Audi R8-driving chef James Martin and Land Speed Record holder Andy Green in Vauxhall’s new supercharged VXR8 Bathurst S. American racing legend Rusty Wallace, meanwhile, was a passenger in the sweet-sounding Ferrari California. The NASCAR ace and first-time Festival visitor had been spotted taking a closer look at the Maranello machine in the Supercar Paddock on Saturday evening and was subsequently offered the wingman seat. Which he gleefully accepted despite claiming that he’s usually a bad passenger…

Sunday Stateside

Fellow Stateside racing hero Al Unser Snr was reunited with the Lola-Cosworth ‘First National City Special’ for an early morning run up Goodwood Hill. The Festival regular took the third of his four Indianapolis 500 wins in this very car back in 1978. “I haven’t driven it since 1979 so it’s a wonderful deal for me,” said the multiple USAC champion.  “It means a lot to be able to get in the car and drive it again.” However, it was NASCAR’s latest hero, Landon Cassill, who impressed most among the many US visitors, performing a series of burnouts aboard a ’97 Chevy dubbed ‘T-Rex’ that engulfed the crowd in charred rubber. What’s more he did so while triumphantly waving the steering wheel out of the car!

Modern day champions in historic F1 machinery 

But it was the opening batch of historic Formula 1 machinery that everyone had been waiting for. World Champion elect Jenson Button was barred from driving his regular Brawn due to outside forces (the FIA dictates that there’s no driving contemporary cars between races…) so he took to the 1.18-mile course in the mighty 1934 Mercedes-Benz W25 instead! “I thought I’d give it a go,” said the runaway championship leader. “The brake and throttle are ’round the other way to what I’m used to [the accelerator being the middle pedal]. I keep thinking I’m damaging it but the mechanics say it’s OK. It’s crazy to think that it’s 75 years since it last raced. Mechanically the car is very sound and great to drive. It’s quite powerful for such an old car.” David Coulthard, meanwhile, was reunited with the Williams FW16B in which he made his Formula 1 debut in the 1994 Spanish Grand Prix. “It fits me like a glove,” claimed the 13-time Grand Prix winner. “Old guys driving cars from early on in their careers – I get it! You can’t fault it – this a great event.” His former team-mate, 1996 F1 World Champion Damon Hill, drove a Williams FW18, adding: “It’s a tremendous event. It’s great to see mechanics from the old days. There’s a lot to love here.”

And then there was Lewis Hamilton… The reigning Formula 1 champion was saddened that he was unable to realise a long-held ambition to drive the ex-Ayrton Senna McLaren MP4/4: the car expired with the Brazilian star’s nephew Bruno at the wheel on Saturday afternoon. Instead he was out in last year’s MP4/23. “It’s very special to be out in a winning car. I won at Silverstone last year [in it] and to come back here with number one on the car is very special. At Grands Prix, as racers, you need to prepare so people can’t get close. [The Festival] offers the chance for people to get an autograph, to shake your hand.” At which he was drowned out by the sound of a Toyota being revved to valve bounce by a pirouetting Timo Glock. Once the aural assault subsided, Hamilton added: “It’s a shame we’re not allowed to do donuts at races. You want to put on the best show possible.” Which he did later by giving lucky Goodwood prize winner Matthew Pike a donut-filled run in a Mercedes-McLaren SLR roadster.

Motorcycle mania!

Not lacking for drama were the many racing motorcycles, the two-wheel heroes providing plenty of wheel-standing action. “In the old days you could tell which bike was coming from the noise it made. That’s all changed now, but I suppose we live in the past here,” said Festival favourite Sammy Miller. A particular treat was seeing Chas Mortimer out on the ex-Giacomo Agostini Yamaha DM23. As the first man to ever win a 500cc GP for the Japanese make, Mortimer became only the second ever rider to steer this fabulous bike. “It still seems very quick for a 1973 machine,” he claimed. “It’s quite an honour to be asked to ride it.” Of the current crop of aces, two-time Superbike world champion Troy Corser endeared himself to the capacity crowd by pulling a series of improbably long wheelies, while Aprilia man Max Biaggi patently enjoyed his first-ever visit to Goodwood, adding: “It’s good to look back at the old bikes and the people [who rode them]. I’ll be here in 30 years time with white hair!”

Cartier Style et Luxe - Hispano-Suiza takes the honours

Bugatti’s centenary was honoured in the Cartier Style et Luxe concours d’élégance but, when the final tally came in, it was rival marque Hispano-Suiza that scooped overall honours. A jury of big names from the worlds of design, journalism and the arts, from model Yasmin Le Bon to Lord Linley, voted the sensational ‘Xenia’ coupé Best of Show while the 1968 Alfa Romeo Carabo scooped the Serious Wedge class. The Class of its Own category fell to the ex-Sophia Loren Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud III Drophead Coupé.

The Magnificent Seven - Ferraris
Equally mouth-watering was Chris Evans’ Magnificent Seven collection of Ferraris. The broadcasting colossus led away his cluster of Italian classics up Goodwood Hill aboard the ex-James Coburn 250GT SWB California Spider for which he paid a whopping £5.6 million last year. The rest of his cars upset purists but wowed punters with their white with blue upholstery colour combo. Asked why he’d chosen to have them repainted and retrimmed, Evans replied: “I’m very grateful to be able to do this. I got bitten by the bug and got the disease. It started when I was looking for a colour for my Dino, then how I could make the collection different; make them all beautiful. If I had to keep one it would be the 288GTO as my F40 scares the hell out of me. I’ve never been this nervous, though. Not since I did my driving test and I wasn’t even going that fast.”

A Rookie finish
One man who undoubtedly was very – very - quickly was historics ace Justin Law who aced the course during the new-for 2009 top ten shootout to take the Fastest Time of the Day award aboard a Jaguar XJR-12. He recorded a belief-beggaring time of 44.40-seconds. Winner of the driver of the weekend award, though, was 2008 NASCAR Rookie of the Year Landon Cassill for his crowd-pleasing burnouts. But it was Jesse James who won the fans’ hearts, and justifiably won the Goodwood Special Award for his antics. He also apologised for felling two trees – “We should hold a two minutes’ silence,” he quipped.