The Historic Times - Historic Racing South Africa

GOODWOOD FESTIVAL OF SPEED 2009
Note: All the photos from this article, and many many more are shown in a larger format on the
HRCR website www.historicracing.co.za
Michelle and I had the privilege of attending the Goodwood Festival of Speed
during July this year. We set out from our B&B in Essex at round 4:45am in order
to get to Goodwood as the gates opened at 7:00am. Just as well, because even
though we arrived early, there was just too much to do in one day. Michelle says
I was behaving like a schoolboy, rushing from place to place, and she
commented that I wore a broad grin the whole day.
Run on the estate of Lord March, The Goodwood Festival of Speed is billed as a
Hill Climb, although most cars run the hill more in exhibition mode than at full
race pace. In addition to the hill climb, there is also a forest rally stage, and a
section for the off-road cars (such as the Paris-Dakar).
A wide variety of cars tackle the hill, the oldest being a 1909 Buick, right up to the
2009 Le Mans winning Peugot.
40 th Anniversary of the Porsche 917
Other than the expected
groupings of classic cars,
each year Goodwood
has special themes. For
example, 2009 is the 40 th
anniversary of the
Porsche 917, and
Goodwood responded by
having 12 of these
classics on the day.
These included several
1970 Porsche 917K
917K’s dating back to 1969,
through to the 1500hp CanAm
racer of 1973. This was the
last of the Porsche 917’s, with
the car being so far ahead of
the rest that the rules were
changed to exclude it, ending
the 917’s race career.
The Porsche 917 dates right
1500hp 1973 Porsche 917/30