Goodwood Festival of Speed: What a spectacle!

England Day 2:  On the advice of the locals, none of whom had been to Festival of Speed, we decided to head out around 9am.  Full English breakfast was included in our room rate and it was delicious and very filling.  We plugged in Boxgrove, our shortcut town, into the GPS and off we went.  This was a very good tip because we avoided major traffic back-ups along A27.  We were parked and walking along the Goodwood Golf Course by 945am.

Husband has long read about the Festival of Speed (FoS) in his car magazines.  He was very excited to be seeing the action in person.  It is a huge event—I believe Saturday and Sunday were sell-outs.  Each and every car manufacturer in the world (probably not really) has a presence at FoS.  From Bently to Tesla, everyone is represented.  They all had displays with their latest models and a lot of the cars also ran on the hill climb.  We gawked at the Ferraris and Bentleys and Mercedes.  We climbed to the top of the Ford pavilion to look over the race course and had a photo op.  We got our bag at Audi.  We did not wait in the long queues  for the Land Rover,  Jaguar or Porsche experiences which all looked like fun. 

One of the many priceless cars on display

The view from the Ford Pavillion

We walked through the mostly empty paddocks and saw Richard Petty driving out in his blue Plymouth Belvedere  for his turn on the track.  Husband got to shake hands with Derek Bell.  We saw Sir Stirling Moss walking to his car in the crowds.  We oohed and ahhed at the gorgeous old cars and listened to the end of singer Mahalia’s set in the Mazda music garden.  We danced to a group that could have been from New Orleans;  got some kettle corn at Infiniti; grabbed a burger and fries; and made our way back to the track.  We secured a nice spot by the hay bales where the cars were all coming out to go to the starting point.  We could then see them race by so fast I couldn’t capture it on video.  I asked husband where the hill climb was and he just laughted  and said the whole track was a gradual hill.  Okay then. 

Derek Bell

Chillin' in a 300,000GBP McLaren 

Mazda's cool display

Beautiful day

Ferrari

Citroen colored Citroen

Like Patrick Jane drove in the Mentalist

Jaguar

Look at those cool art deco wheel covers!

Art deco on wheels

Really expensive Porsche

Mahalia was really good

The amount of stuff to see and do was overwhelming, really.  We had a very full but fun day.  We got (delicious) Pimms cups for the walk back to the car.  I didn’t enjoy FoS as much as the Goodwood Revival (reviewed here www.herewegoagain-london.blogspot.com) but it was a fantastic experience.

Crossing the track as we left

Racing was done for the day

GPS on, we made it back to The Elmer quickly.  Same pattern as last night, husband and I settled ourselves down in the bar, chatted with the Arundel Castle couple, got hugs from the bartender Rachel who was celebrating her birthday with her friends, chatted with the other locals and had a great time.  Nephew emerged in time for dinner which was very good again.  

Trish and Eddie at the Elmer

Afterwards, husband and I went for a walk trying to find the other beach access route.  We gave up after it got dark and cold around 1030pm and went into The Beresford for a nightcap.  It was a nice bar but not quite “our” Elmer.   

Blue skies at 1030pm

Upon return to The Elmer, Rachel and her friends were winding down but the music was going strong.  I asked the bartender (Shelley) how much longer the music would be on and she said she’d get it turned down soon.  By time we were ready for bed, the music was off.  The Elmer staff were really lovely!

Next:  Jane Austen, Stonehenge and Bath