Goodwood, July 13: Large crowds of spectators attended the opening day of the Goodwood Festival of Speed and saw racing cars of all descriptions take part in a hillclimb. The Festival is an annual event organised by Lord March at his country estate in Goodwood. Now in its 10th year, the Festival takes the form of a static display of racing cars and timed runs up the 1.16 mile (1.86 km) hillclimb course. Another annual meeting in September features races on the full Goodwood racing circuit for vintage cars. This year the festival marks 100 years of Ford which was founded in 1903. Ford has a large display at the three day festival with classic racing cars from Ford Capris to Mustangs, Lotus-Ford Formula Ones to Ford GT40 endurance sports cars. The GT40s were being especially featured as Ford is introducing a new road car based on the classic racer. After two years of failure the GT40s achieved four years of wins in the Le Mans 24 hour sportscar races in 1966, 1967, 1968 and 1969. In 1969 the Ford, driven by Belgium's Jacky Ickx and Britain's Jackie Oliver narrowly beat Hans Hermann's Porsche in one of the most thrilling finishes to the race.


Among the visitors on Friday were Stirling Moss, veteran racing driver, and Ralph Firman, currently driving for Jordan-Ford in Grands Prix.

The crowd were also entertained by a race for home-made soap-box cars which sped down the hill, powered only by gravity.


Bureau Report