Goodwood Festival of Speed 2012 - In Pictures

[DrDan]

So Lord March said, "Hey pop down to my place, and check out my front lawn and the car-park..." (or something like that).
 

 

 
I\'m sure you all know what the Goodwood Festival of Speed is all about. I went down on Thursday - which is the "preview" & Moving Motorshow day. The upside is that it is a little quieter than the main weekend days, the downside is that not all of the cars and exhibits are ready for prime-time (but I\'d say it was 90%+ "open"); and the celebrity drivers don\'t show up until the weekend... :rolleyes:
 
As I had no one telling me they were: bored/tired/hungry/want to go home, etc. I spent most of the day there and got a little carried away with the camera, so it may take a while to get the pictures up; I\'ll try and be selective!
 
This year\'s main theme is "Young guns - born to win", so expect to see a lot of young F1 drivers (aren\'t they all?); alongside this there is a sub-theme of "Lotus: Past, Present and Future".
 
The central display (outside the front of Lord March\'s house) reflecting the Lotus theme is pretty amazing... I could have used up all of my memory cards just taking pictures of that
 

 



 
Lotus also had a large pavillion that was somewhat sparesly populated - I presume that this was designed to accommodate far larger numbers of people than were there on Thursday, as it felt somewhat empty.




 
It did have this interesting spinning display:
 

[DrDan]

Also on show a great collection of other Lotus racing cars and F1 cars past and present...
 
Cortina FTW:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Typically a Lotus had wee\'d itself all over the floor:
 

 
DrDan.
[More to follow ]

[DrDan]

So I popped over to the Supercar Paddock...
 

 
...where the Lotus theme continued...
 

 

 
For me, the details of some of the cars are as interesting as the whole itself:
 

 
And if you are going to have a BGW, you may as well make it out of carbon:
 

 
What better to go with your BGCW, but a carbon diffuser with a nice titanium trinket:
 

 
In case you were wondering, there were cars from manufacturers other than Lotus too.
 
Generally triangular signs are a warning, we all know what this means:
 

 

 
belonged to this wonderful beast...
 

 
And we all know that Zagato can be relied on to make bonkers things that are somehow lovely
 

 
All about the details:
 

 

 

 
All the best cars have a double bubble roof!
 

[DrDan]

Plenty of Italians hanging around this part of the show... did I mention what kind of cars these were supposed to be:
 

 
I think I have a thing for vents
 

 
Now frankly, the designer really needs to have a good chat with himself... to say this looks like an after-thought is an understatement:
 

 
All about the details baby:
 

 

 

 

[DrDan]

This outfit had a few cars there too:
 

 

 
A face only a mother could love...
 

 
...this is *SO* much better
 

 
but the way the badge is attached couldn\'t be any more shonky if they tried...
 

 
Apparantly these are deflected when the car is travelling at speed to improve aerodynamic efficiency, gotta love that
 

 
Clearly the guy at the factory accidentally left his dinner plate behind the wheel here
 

 
How much do those bad boys weigh?
 

 
Vents and grills, vents and grills:
 

 

 

 

 
in the top of the wheel arch (to vent pressure I assume)
 

 

 
and badges:
 

 
In case you somehow went to your garage got in the car and forgot what it was you were driving, there\'s a helpful reminder on the dashboard:
 

[DrDan]

Yet more Italians (and I didn\'t even get a picture of the Maserati Gran Turismo Cabriolet or whatever it is called... too busy trying to catch the drool... )
 
These guys:
 

 

 

 
Bit cheap - didn\'t even bother putting a cover on the engine
 

 
Honestly you turn your back, and another one shows up... getting quite common nowadays
 

 
And again, a reminder if you pull up at a petrol station and forget what it was you were driving:
 

 
Now these particular examples weren\'t in the supercar paddock, but I suspect would qualify...
 

 

 

 

 
Can I just say there is NO SUCH THING as TOO MUCH carbon-fibre
 

 
Back in the supercar paddock, I spotted this... clearly it\'s a "GTA", but a GTA-what?
 

 
Ahhh... a SPANO, of course :confused:
 

 
Nice detail though
 

[DrDan]

Bit of a break from the supercars for a moment (promise I\'ll be back with some more later )
 
Aviaton exhibition, definitely worth a visit, some cool photo opportunities if nothing else...
 

 
Screamer pipe anyone?
 

 
Danger! Danger! Will Robinson.
 

 

 
This bad boy even has a tow-hook
 

 
Bi-planes FTW!
 

 

 
Not quite a rotary engine, but a radial one (as has been pointed out to me)
 

 
PAN-AM stand seemed popular for some reason... can\'t figure out why?
 

 

 
Angry bird!
 

[DrDan]

OK folks, back to the cars... something not Italian for a change, and electric at that
 
From the sublime:
Infiniti Emerg-E
 

 

 
more details:
 

 

 

 
through the delicious (I know it\'s a Porker, but I so would)
 

 

 

 
Put your electricity in here:
 

 
Love all the swoopy details
 

 

 
and the wing "mirrors"
 

 
and the ducts (have I mentioned that already?)
 

 

 
All the best cars have a bright orange tow hook, it\'s not just a good idea, it\'s THE LAW!
 

 
To the downright ridiculous, actually a bit bonkers... but I kinda like it
 

 
Two-seater!
 

[DrDan]

And there were some old cars too... Cartier Style & Lux, not my thing really, but I quite liked this:
 

 

 
again, it\'s all in the details... bonnet vent:
 

 
This is how the \'mericans roll:
 

 

 
Something for the children sir?
 

 

 
James Bond spec\' Aston Martin:
 

 
for those Jaaaaaaag lovers out there:
 

 
and even one for the Haaaaaahnda-files:
 

 

 
There were also some of these strange two-wheeled vehicles:
 

 
I know very little about them, so I didn\'t take so many pictures.

[DrDan]

Ahhh nearly done now...
 
There were one or two modern (current-ish) Formula 1 cars, must confess I didn\'t take too many pictures...
 
Last (?) season\'s \'Bull:
 

 

 
In case you weren\'t quite sure of the branding:
 

 

 
Diffuser artistry from Mr Newey:
 

 
The front wings of all F1 cars fascinate me (I know - it\'s wrong...)
 

 

 
Just some lovely shapes going on:
 

 

 
Slightly more modern \'bull in a state of undress (I like the stands they are using to hold the car up )
 

 

 

 
More artistry right here:
 

[DrDan]

So a few more F1 cars were lurking about...
 
Caterham F1 were there with last year\'s car (Team Lotus as was)...
 

 
I have a replica (not lifesize) of this nose-cone/front-wing on my desk (too sad for words, I know )
 

 
Last year\'s Lotus F1 car (whatever team name they were using... Renault-Lotus?)
 

 
And a McLaren for good measure
 

 
Loving Ross Brawn\'s Mercedes work
 

 

 
And some old-schoolers:
 

 
Including the mad Williams-Saudia car which is the answer, if the question is "How do we get even MORE power down to the tarmac?" and the rules didn\'t exclude it.
 

 
The Tyrell with the two pairs of front wheels was also there but under cover (on Thursday), so I declined to take a picture
 
And one last RedBull I found lurking...
 

[DrDan]

I also swung by the somewhat dissapointing Mazda stand, although it did have this nice little number on show:
 
MX-5 GT Concept:
 

 

 
That "paint-job" is actually an orange and black vinyl-wrap.
 

 
Tasty centre-exit exhaust, and carbon diffuser, what\'s not to like
 

 
Two of these were also "doing laps" up the hill-climb for the Moving Motor-show... I didn\'t have the patience to wait in line for a ride up the hill... perhaps I should have - but I don\'t think they let you drive. Probably with good reason!
 

 
I must have been pretty jaded by this point, as I hardly bothered taking any pictures of the Takeri concept:
 

 
Head lights
 

 
and similarly styled tail lights:
 

 
I must confess that I didn\'t even visit the Toyota pavillion, but did see a few of these heading up the hill:
 

 

 
Love the pistons logo, just to remind themselves that they didn\'t quite choose the right type of engine
 

 
But when you look under the bonnet, you have to wonder if there is an engine in there at all
 

[DrDan]

Audi had a fleet of these doing laps up the hill:
 

 

 

 
And with the air-brake up.
 

 
The Audi pavillion was, as you would expect, a model of Germanic precision, quite beautifully abstract
 

 
Mercedes also had some nice passanger rides on offer if you had the right contacts...
 

 

 
Mercedes were also reminding people of where the SL "family" started:
 

 

 
Ferrari on the other hand were trying to win the family crowd by bringing along a practical estate car
 

 
But to even things up a bit they brought some of its younger siblings
 

 

[DrDan]

A few things that didn\'t really fit anywhere else:
 
The 80s called, they would like their styling cues back...
 

 

 

 
The 80s also want their Bling back
 

 
New Corvette; if you have to have a piston engine, one of these will probably do it...
 

 
...and the are always going to win me over with carbon-fibre
 

 
...in case you are in any doubt about what just ran you over:
 

 
NASCAR RedBull gives you...
 

 
...vents!
 

 
Why fix body work with Duct Tape? Because Race Car!
 

 
More Porscheness
 

 
Fun for all the family from Skoda
 

 
And Mini
 

 
A great big Honda sign:
 

 
To remind you of their fine racing heritage!
 

 
I lied about there being no rotary engined cars at the show (filthy, but there )
 

 
That\'s all folks!
DrDan.

[clive]

Excellent variety of pictures, well done,

Shame Mazda feel there\'s no value in promoting their history or currant racers from America there :confused: