Goodwood Festival of Speed 2014

Paddock42 arrived at Goodwood Festival of Speed Saturday morning early doors expecting big queues and plenty of rain, pulling into gate 4 to park on basically the front lawn of the Kennels it was all sunshine and expensive toys…

Slotting the trusty P42 stead next to John McGuinnes’s motorhome, which had all hallmarks of a good party the previous night, we parked amongst an array of team trucks, vans and the odd supercar. It is not quite 7am and with only one coffee down its was time to find some hospitality and a barista and get ready for the day.

Early it may have been, but plenty of people were already milling around so the call of the paddocks beckoned to try and get some decent snaps while the we could. Team mechanics were already at work in the Cathedral Paddock, applying the Autogylm and giving the immense collection of racers the once over. Rules had clearly been set regarding when cars could be started but the Quaker State ‘Group 44’ E-Type boys donned their ear defenders and fired up their V12 much to the delight of the public and irritation of the organisers.

Next stop was the bike paddock, sponsored by bike gear legends Belstaff it did not disappoint, with a stunning collection of race bikes old and new from Stoners GP10 to King Kenny’s wild YZR500. Sammy Miller had filled his van and turned up with a nice few racers from his collection including a rare Konig 500 from 1970. Suzuki Classic Race Team were there in force, I don’t think I have seen so many different generation RG500’s all in one place, the model celebrates its 40th anniversary this year.

Popping into the F1 paddock, it was great to see Williams had people 10 deep by their garage, Massa was there having a chat with fans – got to love that Martini Racing paint job. I have to say, the Scuderia Ferrari boys looked a little lonely…..

Walking around it was interesting to take a close look at the NASCAR’s, beautifully prepared racers with team members who had flown over especially to run them for the event. King Richard Petty was in town with his Plymouth Belvedere GTX, the car that helped him win 27 of 48 races in 1967 – now thats what I call a season. Elsewhere in the paddock, various GT’s and WEC cars fresh back from Le Mans, still with French flies, brake dust and fair bit of oil spattered all over them, got plenty of attention but the real real stars were the sportscars of yesteryear including the legendary 1971 Gulf Porsche 917K.

But even with all this powerful and extremely expensive kit parked in the paddock and with some of the worlds most talented pedalers lurking around, the big question was how fast is Loeb really going to be up the hill in that ballistic Pikes Peak T16…..

For times set on the hill click here.

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