Festival Of Speed: ‘the Biggest Car Culture Event In The World’

Next week, a motorsport event The Telegraph once dubbed ‘the greatest show on Earth’ returns for a very special year.

As the Goodwood Motor Circuit celebrates its 75^th anniversary, the Festival of Speed reaches it’s 30^th birthday, and Goodwood Revival and Goodwood Road Racing Club both boast 25 years of action.

To delve into the history and heritage of the home of British motor racing we caught up with Charles Richmond, The Duke of Richmond and Gordon, Chairman of the Goodwood Group of Companies and the founder of the Goodwood Festival of Speed and the Goodwood Revival.

This is a special year for Goodwood celebrating 75 years of the Motor Circuit, how did it all begin and what are the greatest highlights?

My grandfather created the Motor Circuit in 1948, using perimeter roads around what had been RAF Westhampnett during the Second World War – it was the first track to open after the war.

When new Formula One regulations brought more powerful 3-litre cars in 1966 he decided to close the Circuit, concerned about increasing speeds and he didn’t much like the wings on the cars. I always wanted to revive the Circuit, but it was a huge task, so we brought motorsport back to Goodwood with the Festival of Speed in 1993.

I think we realised we had something special when we saw people crying as the BRM V16 took to the Hill at the very first Festival of Speed in 1993. Among so many great highlights are having the current Formula 1 teams at the Festival every Summer, re-uniting Stirling Moss and Denis Jenkinson with their 1955 Mille Miglia-winning Mercedes Benz 300 SLR number 722 and simply seeing all the world’s greatest drivers, cars, bikes and riders in action.

By ’98 we were ready to re-open the Circuit and we held the first Goodwood Revival in September, 50 years to the day since my grandfather held the first meeting there.

Revival, too, has brought so many joyous moments with Stirling Moss racing again at the Circuit where he won his first and last ever races, the great Barry Sheene in his last ever motorcycle race, and Jenson Button showing us why he is a World Champion, when he made his historic racing debut with us in an AC Cobra in the RAC TT Celebration race.

We have been blessed with too many wonderful highlights to mention here.

With both the Festival of Speed and Revival celebrating anniversaries this year, can you tell us a little about each event, what they offer to motorsport fans, how they have grown over the years and how they will be celebrated?

The Festival of Speed is the biggest car culture event in the world.

The event enables the fans to get close to these legendary cars, the paddocks are open to everyone, and there’s a wonderful ‘garden party’ atmosphere. We also have Future Lab, Electric Avenue, the Cartier Style et Luxe concours d’elegance and the Forest Rally Stage, as well as many other exciting exhibits alongside the cars and bikes running on the track.

The Revival is the biggest historic race meeting in the world and the only major sporting event to take place entirely in period theme, from the years 1948 to ’66. The Revival is very much about sustainability too, our theme of ‘Revive and Thrive’ reflects not only the great historic racing cars, which have been restored and re-cycled, but also the need for all of us to live more sustainably by repairing and re-using.

What do you feel has made the events so successful and what are the biggest achievements?

The events have grown organically over the last 30 years, supported not only by fans from across the world, but also by our partners who bring so much to the Members’ Meeting, Festival of Speed and the Revival. We have always made it our mission to give the fans a truly memorable day out and an opportunity to get up close to the cars and the drivers.

The setting is a significant part of what makes the event so special – seeing cars streak up the hill climb in front of Goodwood House, through the parkland. Early on, I remember The Telegraph called it ‘the greatest show on Earth’.

The Revival is unique, the only pure historic racing to be held on a true classic circuit that poses the same challenges faced by drivers throughout its history.

What makes Goodwood attractive to sponsors/partners? And what are the examples of brands activating at the events?

We create experiences that you won’t find anywhere else – people come to Goodwood to take part, to be entertained by incredible content and authentic stories. We have a very loyal community of fans.

Partners become part of this exciting experience; they can tell purpose-driven stories and make memorable connections with that engaged and global audience. We’re very fortunate to have full ownership of all we do – venue, content, licencing – which means we can create rights to suit each partner’s requirements.

Our audience continues to grow year-on-year, whether that’s those who can come to the events in person or the millions watching online through our digital and live TV coverage. Last year we doubled our international visibility, with the Festival of Speed broadcast in 156 territories, 5.59 million views of our livestream and a cumulative UK TV reach of 2.85 million.

The hillclimb offers our automotive partners the opportunity to demonstrate their cars dynamically; which has typically set us apart from motor shows elsewhere. This year alone, we’re set to welcome an incredible number of global debuts and unveils.

We have over 70 partners and some of them have been with us from the very beginning. It’s quite unique to have such a fantastic group of luxury, automotive and technology companies all together. Mastercard is Presenting Partner of Festival of Speed where a great number of partners activate each year – Aston Martin, Bentley, BMW, Ferrari, Ford, Genesis, Jaguar Land Rover, Lamborghini, Lotus, McLaren, Porsche, Polestar, Roger Dubuis, Rolls-Royce, Sky, Toyota, Veuve Clicquot, to name just a few.

You’ll find Randox and bp pulse exploring tech and mobility stories at the event in Future Lab and Electric Avenue respectively, and Cartier has been a long-time partner of our Style et Luxe concours d’elegance, while Bonhams|Cars hold sales at each of our motorsport events. Outside of Festival of Speed, Sky Cinema create an entire immersive film set at Revival and Mars Petcare are headline partner of our dog event Goodwoof. 

What is Goodwood doing differently to attract the next generation of motorsport fans?

Perhaps the best example of the way we have embraced the future, and the expectations of the next generation, is the incredibly popular Future Lab presented by Randox at the Festival of Speed.

Here, we showcase the innovations and technologies that will shape the future of the automotive industry and mobility in general. There is also Electric Avenue presented by bp pulse where our partners exhibit their electric cars and involve visitors in this new chapter of mobility. The outright record on the Festival of Speed’s hillclimb is held by an electric car – a feat none of us could have imagined when we created this event 30 years ago.

In a digital age, is Goodwood adjusting to ensure those that do not attend the events, can engage with it too?

Yes, very much so. The live streaming of both events reaches millions of fans right around the world. We have invested a huge amount into our digital presence, our social media channels and the live streaming of all the action at the Festival and all the thrilling racing at the Revival.

Alongside this our Goodwood Road & Racing website is constantly updating our fans and our Goodwood Road Racing Club members with videos, interviews and news of everything that’s happening day-to-day at Goodwood.

What’s next for Goodwood?

The future is a moving target and we are all aware that in the decades ahead motorsport will have to be sustained in a more responsible way. Goodwood is already committed to using alternative fuels and energy right across all our businesses.

My son Lord March will, when the time comes, steer our events through the challenges of a rapidly changing business environment. He too, has a passion for cars and racing, and I believe that as long as there are cars, there will be people who want to race them. As I have described with ‘Revive and Thrive’ at the Revival, it will be incumbent upon us to ensure that we align what we do with the need for greater sustainability and responsibility.

The Duke of Richmond