The Goodwood Festival of Speed is always one of the highlights of the summer automotive event calendar. With all kinds of cars from every conceivable autosport event and every era, the three-day long Festival entertains enthusiasts from all walks of life. The 2017 Goodwood Festival of Speed was no different.
The Festival of Speed has grown considerably since I first started attending the event over a decade ago. It now plays host to new car displays from an array of automakers as well as racing classics from F1 to GTs and vintage rally cars tearing up Lord March’s hill route and forest rally stage. There’s even some off-roading courses set up in the fields so you can watch kitted out creations from assorted niche manufacturers catch air over the jumps while terrifying event goers scream from the passenger seats. It’s vast.
Car designers — mostly automotive buffs themselves — come from all over Europe and even as far out as Japan and the US to catch a glimpse of the action. We caught FCA’s European brands’ design director Klaus Busse and designer Daniel Simon soaking up the ambiance and caught up with Volvo’s exterior design chief Maximillian Missoni, as well as many others. It’s always a great place to run into people you know in a casual environment, free from the dreary motor show circuit and (hopefully) in the sun — we got lucky this year.
But perhaps my favorite part of the entire sprawling venue is the Cartier Style et Luxe Concours, a scaled down version of BMW Group’s Villa D’Este and the stuffy Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. Sure, there aren’t as many cars as either of those events, but the quality and rarity of the automotive memorabilia on show never fails to disappoint.
This year celebrated the 70th anniversary of the fabled Ferrari marque as well as Aston Martin’s 104th anniversary, with a range of bespoke models created in collaboration with famed Italian coachbuilders, some of which are long gone. There was also an interesting 1972 Aston Martin DBS ‘Sotheby Special’ created by UK firm Ogle Design. Featuring 22 rear lamps and a sideways rear seat, it was dripping with ’70s charm.
Below is a 50-strong photo gallery from the 2017 Goodwood Festival of Speed for your viewing pleasure.
