Good fun at Goodwood

The 2010 Goodwood Festival of Speed started with a bang--and a bent Jaguar E-Type. But by the end of the weekend, the festival was being acclaimed by both fans and participants as one of the most successful runnings of the annual event so far.

As always, the festival took place at the house and grounds of Lord March's sizeable estate in West Sussex, England, being extended to four days this year by the addition of a new “Moving Motorshow.” This is clearly intended to become a regular fixture and a replacement for Britain's cancelled “International” motor show. It gave the weekend its only major drama when a driver piloting a Honda Civic Type R into the motorshow paddock blacked out, crashing into an immaculate early E-Type on the Jaguar stand and then out of a window. Four people were injured, none seriously, but the incident raised questions about allowing cars and spectators to mix quite so freely.

By contrast, the festival itself passed without serious incident. These days, the timed runs over the 1.1-mile hillclimb route that runs through the grounds are only a relatively small part of proceedings, but the introduction of a top-10 shootout of the fastest runners this year created some extra interest on the Sunday afternoon. Safety concerns mean that only certain classes of car are now timed, with the eventual winner being the 47.15-second run put in by Roger Wills in a 1976 Wolf-Williams FW-05--nearly six seconds shy of the 41.6-second course record set by Nick Heidfeld in 1999, the last year modern Formula One cars competed against the clock.

But what Goodwood continues to do best is create unique moments with the combination of celebrity drivers and some of the world's rarest and most exotic road and racing cars. Among the highlights this year was a return by Stirling Moss, just months after he broke both his ankles after falling down an elevator shaft in his home. Although he had to walk with crutches, Sir Stirling blasted the immaculate 1955 Mercedes 300 SLR Uhlenhaut up the hill in fine style. And Jackie Stewart won a standing ovation as he took the freshly restored Lotus-Ford 38 that won the 1965 Indianapolis 500 for Jim Clark past the crowds. Stewart's choice of a black open-faced helmet very similar to that worn by his great friend Clark--who was killed racing at Hockenheim in 1968--gave the run an added poignancy.

American stars included Ken Block, who made several spectacularly sideways runs on the Hill in his Monster WRC Focus, and Kerry Earnhardt driving his father's 1995 Chevrolet Monte Carlo stock car. Canadian NASCAR veteran Mike Skinner also made one of the most impressive runs up the hill in the 2007 Red Bull Toyota Camry, keeping his rear wheels spinning all the way from the start to within 200 yards of the finish line, where one of his tires finally exploded.

By MIKE DUFF