Exclusive look at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed
This weekend saw the exciting Festival of Speed return to Goodwood House in West Sussex where the Chichester estate was transformed into an automotive paradise, and this year was one of cutting edge technology. Electric cars, autonomous marvels and even a jetpack! We’ve put together a list of some of our highlights…
Move over fossil fuels, electricity is here to stay
For the first time in the 25-year history of the festival an electric car came out on top in the hill climb. Romain Dumas, a winner of multiple Le Mans titles, achieved a staggering time of 43.86 seconds in the Volkswagen I.D. R. — achieving the third fastest ascent ever!
Second place went to Peter Dumbrek in a NIO EP9 hypercar, another electric marvel that finished just half a second behind the Volkswagen. If you ever doubted what electric cars were capable of then you certainly shouldn’t be now.
Do autonomous cars dream of electric sheep?
Friday saw the first ever fully autonomous vehicle complete Goodwood’s famous hill climb. 55,000 spectators gathered to witness the driverless “Robocar” use its 500 horsepower to race up the 1.16 mile course.
Roborace, the company behind the revolutionary vehicle, hopes that this is just the beginning. As the algorithms behind the hood get better and better, so too will the performance of the cars. Look forward to some records being set by driverless cars in future.
Automotive art takes pride of place
The centrepiece of this year’s festival was an impressive installation by British artist Gerry Judah, an impressively tall 52m sculpture designed as a tribute to Porsche.
The sculpture was erected in front of Goodwood House, and could be seen from all over the event — a tribute to the feats of engineering celebrated at the festival every year.
Did somebody say jetpacks?!
Move over driverless cars, we’re on to jetpacks now. The impressive JB11 looks like something straight out of a film, with its expert pilot David Mayman assuming the role of a real-life James Bond.
The festival was the first ever European appearance of the 200 mph oddity, and it certainly put on a show, even attempting the hill climb itself. At this rate we’ll all be soaring through the skies in no time — I’ll just go get my tuxedo.
After another hugely successful Festival of Speed, Goodwood now looks forward to the Revival Meeting on 7-9 September.
See below for more shots from the glamorous weekender.
For more information on upcoming events visit the website or follow Goodwood Motor Sport on social media:
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