Goodwood Festival 2008

The biggest stars of the road and racetrack were celebrated at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed.

The event, which ran from July 11 to 13, was motorsport themed, and saw action from current F1 drivers, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button.

Hamilton's starring role was the highlight for many visitors. Crowds gathered to watch DJ Chris Evans interview him on the balcony of Goodwood House, before the current F1 Championship leader took his turn in climbing the famous hill in the 2007 season McLaren-Mercedes MP4/22.

Hamilton pleased the crowd with some tyre-smoking antics, and was followed by an over-enthusiastic Jenson Button, who managed to break the Honda RA107 F1 car he was driving! He lost both second and third gear, resulting in a fourth gear crawl up the hill.

Formula One wasn’t the only motorsport wowing the visitors - a celebration of 50 years of BTCC touring cars took place, as well as some sideways action by a crop of rally stars and a celebration of rally driver Colin McRae’s life, 10 months after his fatal helicopter crash.

A selection of the cars he raced over the years lined up, ranging from a Talbot Sunbeam from McRae’s teenage rally days, right up to the 2004 Ferrari 550 Maranello GTS he piloted at the Le Mans 24 hour race.

There were plenty of supercars making their way up the hill, including the Alfa Romeo 8C, Bugatti Veyron, Lamborghini LP560-4, and the new Aston Martin V12 Vantage. The Mazda Furai concept car even made an
appearance. A bigger surprise for those attending was a low flyover of the new Airbus A380 passenger jet.

There was also a green car section, although in Goodwood fashion, these weren’t typical environmentally-friendly vehicles. Morgan’s revolutionary LIFEcar and the Peugeot 908 Le Mans car, which runs on diesel, were highlights.

The quickest time for climbing the hill was posted by festival regular Justin Law, clearing the course in 44.19 seconds. Touring car star Anthony Reid wasn’t far behind, with a time of 44.58 seconds achieved
driving a 1980 Williams FW07 F1 car. Another impressive figure was £2.2million – the amount paid for a Jaguar D-Type racer at the Bonhams car auction. That makes it the most expensive Jaguar ever sold.