Autoblog

While the auto show season is just beginning to ramp up, the Earl of March has announced the dates for next year's Goodwood Festival of Speed and Goodwood Revival. Those of you with extra frequent flyer miles or a very large couch collecting change can book your tickets now so you'll arrive in time for the festivities beginning on July 11th and running through the 13th. Although a theme hasn't been announced yet, feel free to create your own suggestions box in the comments below.

The Goodwood Revival, a trip back in time for both the vehicles and participants alike, will be held on September 19, 20 and 21, and marks the tenth anniversary of the retro-themed shindig. Expect the Earl to pull out all the stops.

Per usual, ticket sales are sold strictly in advance, so start snatching them up when they go on sale the 1st of November.

[Source: Goodwood Motor Sport]

Click above for gallery of Wacky Racers and other random sights from Goodwood

The last of the video clips from the Goodwood Festival of Speed, this is the parade of cars from the Hanna-Barbera cartoon, Wacky Races. Don't remember that great series? Here's a wiki link to bring you up to speed. (If you have Boomerang on your cable or satellite service, you can catch episodes there, too - Ed.) The cartoon only ran for two years (1968-1970) and revolved around a racing series featuring wacky vehicles piloted by even wackier drivers. It was loosely based on the cartoonish movie, "The Great Race."

The quintessential villains on the show were Dick Dastardly and his dog, Muttley. Even though their #00 Mean Machine was probably the fastest thing on the planet, they always managed to bungle things. Rather than keeping their eyes on the prize, they were constantly trying to stop the other racers from finishing and it always ended in them losing the race.

The other vehicles and characters from the series are listed below.

• 01 The Slag Brothers in the Bouldermobile
• 02 The Gruesome Twosome in the Creepy Coupe
• 03 Professor Pat Pending in the Convert-a-Car
• 04 Red Max in the Crimson Haybailer
• 05 Penelope Pitstop in the Compact Pussycat
• 06 Sergeant Blast and Private Meekly in the Army Surplus Special
• 07 The Ant Hill Mob in the Bulletproof Bomb
• 08 Luke and Blubber Bear in the Arkansas Chuggabug
• 09 Peter Perfect in the Turbo Terrific
• 10 Rufus Ruffcut and Sawtooth in the Buzz Wagon
  

Follow the jump for the YouTube clip produced and posted by our buddy over at SoCalSpeedZone. And if you haven't seen them yet, don't forget to check out our other posts from this year's Festival of Speed.

Better quality vid available by clicking here.

Thanks, Duane!

Click above for an endurance racing gallery from Goodwood

The longest of the video clips from the Goodwood Festival of Speed, this is a sort of catch-all for the other race cars that made it out to West Sussex this year. You'll see a sampling of endurance, open-wheel, rally and dragstrip cars in this 9-minute video. Fans of Porsche can see a 917/30, 935, 956, 962 and RS Spyder. Ferrari is represented by their largest-engined car ever, the 712 Can-Am racer, plus a Daytona Comp, F40 LM and the immortal 330 P3. Audis from the Quattro S1 to this year's LeMans-winning R10 can be seen tackling the hill. There are Jags and Astons, Benzes and BMWs, Peugeots and Allards, Toyotas and Mazdas, plus many, many more. Follow the jump for the YouTube clip produced and posted by our buddy over at SoCalSpeedZone. And if you haven't seen them yet, don't forget to check out our other posts from this year's Festival of Speed.

Better quality vid available by clicking here.

Thanks, Duane!

Click above for motorbike gallery from Goodwood

The video camera we had with us at Goodwood was put to good use. This clip shows a few of the motorbikes that made runs up the hill. Straight-long wheelies and a vintage Norton are then followed by some acrobatics. Chris Pfeiffer amazed everyone with his bike and body control all weekend. Here's a small sample. Follow the jump for the YouTube clip produced and posted by our buddy over at SoCalSpeedZone. And if you haven't seen them yet, don't forget to check out our galleries from this year's Festival of Speed.

Better quality vid available by clicking here.

Thanks, Duane!

Click above for supercar gallery from Goodwood

We had a video camera with us at Goodwood and captured some footage of the supercars in action. This clip shows them exiting the paddock on their way down to the start line. While the F1 cars are prohibited from doing full speed runs for safety reasons, no such limits are put on these things. So the Bugatti Veyron was allowed to go full tilt up the hill and took advantage of the opportunity. Unfortunately he came up on traffic well before the end and didn't get a full run on the timesheet. Most of what you'll see in the 7-minute clip is the parade from the paddock and back again, but there are a couple of passes in there as well, including James Glickenhaus testing the grip of the 330 P4/5 above. You'll also see a nose to tail profile of the new Nissan GT-R. Follow the jump for the YouTube clip produced and posted by our buddy over at SoCalSpeedZone. And if you haven't seen them yet, don't forget to check out our galleries from this year's Festival of Speed.

Better quality vid available by clicking here.

Thanks, Duane!

Click above for F1 gallery from Goodwood

While we're the first to admit that we are better with a DSLR than a camcorder, we did have a video camera with us at Goodwood and captured a few passes. This particular clip shows some of the current F1 cars doing their thing and the parade down to the start line. The F1 cars were prohibited from doing full speed runs a few years ago because their terminal velocity is far too great to keep the spectators safe at Goodwood. So rather than going for fast times, the cars and drivers are there to entertain the fans. Even in the rain, they managed to do just that. Follow the jump for the YouTube clip produced, which is also posted by our buddy over at SoCalSpeedZone. And if you haven't seen them yet, don't forget to check out our galleries from this year's Festival of Speed.

Better quality vid available by clicking here.

Thanks, Duane!

Group C racers were one of the featured classes at the Goodwood Festival of Speed this week. To show they appreciated it, those legendary Le Mans prototype racers made a pretty good showing. Mazda's 787B was on display, but didn't run, sadly. Being the only non-piston and only Japanese vehicle to ever win Le Mans, the 4-rotor Mazda was one of the most significant vehicles on hand. But there were plenty of other cars that did run up the hill to the delight of the crowd. There was the Rothman's Porsche 956 and 962, and the Skoal Bandit 956B, the Aston Martin Nimrod and AMR1, the Silk Cut Jaguar XJR9 and XJR12, the Peugeot 905B, Allard J2XC (heard one chap call it a Caparo), Sauber-Mercedes C11, and the Nissan R90 to name several. But it wasn't just Group C that represented the endurance racers.

Goodwood fans got to see a 'Batmobile' BMW 3.0 CSL, the 'Baby' Porsche 935, and Lancia's Beta Montecarlo Group 5, LC1 and LC2. Can Am cars like Mark Donohue's Sunoco 917/30, a twin-turbo Toyota 7 (like the one in the central Toyota display by the house), and an ex-Andretti Ferrari 712 ran alongside a Chaparral 2J sucker car (when they turned on the snowmobile sucker motors, the rooster tail was about 100 feet long in the rain!), Howmet TX (very similar to the Chaparral 2F turbine car), Ferrari 330 P3, and Gulf Porsche 917K. One of our favorite categories at the FoS this year, we also got to see some fairly modern iron here like the Toyota GT-1, Radical SR9, Porsche RS Spyder and Le Mans-winning Audi R10. These and many others were also there to make it an over-the-top experience for us. There was even a bit of unintended excitement when veteran racer Derek Bell put a wheel off into the rain-soaked grass and snapped off part of the Gulf Mirage-Ford GR7. Whoops.



All photos © 2007 Frank Filipponio / Weblogs, Inc.

click above image to view more pics of the Acabion GTO

The Goodwood Festival of Speed is right around the corner on the weekend of June 22-24, and guess what, we're going! Every year (here's last year) we've had to watch from across that transcontinental puddle we call the Atlantic Ocean as pics from this most mega of car events trickle into our RSS feeds. For those not in the know, the Goodwood Festival of Speed centers around the famed hill climb on the grounds of the Goodwood House in West Sussex, UK. Drivers of every imagineable type of vehicle tackle the 1.16-mile long hill, and if you've got a camera in hand it offers the best photo ops of the year. Barring any surprises, we'll have a long lens on hand to capture every car that climbs the hill.

Good thing too, as word from the Goodwood folk is that this year's event will have a record number of new car debuts, including the Acabion GTO shown above, the two-wheeled fuselage that's claimed to be the fastest production car in the world with a 342 mph top speed. Looks Even for those cars that don't make the climb, organizers allow visitors to get closer to these cars on display than any other auto show in the world. Below is a list of some of the more impressive vehicles that will be on site, as well as links to more pics and info.

• Acabion GTO (Technically the world's fastest production car at 342 mph)
• Bristol Fighter T (1,012 bhp)
• Maserati Gran TurismoBentley Brooklands Coupé
• Porsche 911 GT3RS
• Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera
• Tesla Roadster
• Artega GT

Check after the jump for the FoS press release that lists even more cars that will be on hand to ogle.

The star of the new British kids' show Roary the Racing Car will be making a public appearance at this year's Goodwood Festival of Speed on June 22-24. Roary and his mechanic, Big Chris, will be joined by Sir Stirling Moss (who lends his voice to Roary in the show) in the Junior Festival of Speed as they pose for photos with the kids. The show airs on Channel Five in Britain will be showing up on Nick Jr. stateside starting June 2.

The Junior Festival of Speed will have lots of stuff for the younger set like functional versions of the cars from the Wacky Races cartoon and Greenpower, where kids get to work on electric car projects. In addition, Team Extreme and the Mountainbike Aerial Display team will be putting on skateboard and bike demonstrations all weekend. If you're a car nut in Britain the weekend after the summer solstice, grab your kids and head out to Goodwood, there'll be fun for the whole family. And maybe you can get your picture taken with Stirling Moss, too.

[Source: Goodwood Festival of Speed]

This year's Goodwood Festival of Speed will take place June 22-24. We're excited to report that we will have people on hand for this amazing weekend of historic racing demonstrations and we're looking forward to getting lots of pics to share with all of you. With this year's theme being, 'Spark of Genius – Breaking Records, Pushing Boundaries', it should be an extra special year. And the Festival organizers have just released info about another special gathering being held on the adjacent cricket grounds this year. Instead of the usual manicured green lawn, visitors will find a field of white. White like the salt at the Bonneville Salt Flats. historic vehicles from the Bonneville Speed Week will be displayed on the lawn during the Festival weekend, some of them making it out of the States for the first time ever.

Cars will include the 1960 Challenger 1, The Blue Flame, early Ford Coupes, speed record MGs, and the JCB DieselMax that is still breaking records. A dozen or so of these famous Bonneville racers should be on hand for the gathering. Al Teague will be making his first visit to the Festival with his famous Spirit of 76 as well. The 1949 SoCal belly-tank, that was able to crank out a 198mph pass will also be there. Not bad for a car made from a modified P38 fighter plane fuel tank. We can hardly wait until June.

[Source: Goodwood]