The Goodwood Festival of Speed 2015 was held June 25-28 at Goodwood House and the 9-turn, 1.16-mile Goodwood hill climb in West Sussex, England.
The central theme for the 2015 running of the Goodwood Festival of Speed was ‘Flat-out and Fearless: Racing on the Edge’, honoring some of the most spectacular drivers and moments from motorsport’s past and present. Alongside the overall theme, the 2015 Festival celebrated the 90th anniversary of the motor racing’s inaugural World Championship, won by Alfa Romeo, and marked 50 years since Honda’s maiden grand prix victory. The event also paid tribute to the 60th anniversary of two sensational victories; Sir Stirling Moss and Denis Jenkinson’s triumph on the 1955 Mille Miglia and the first post-war grand prix win for an all-British line-up; Tony Brooks in a Connaught at Syracuse. Sports car legend Derek Bell was honoured as 2015 marked the 40th anniversary of the first of his five Le Mans 24 Hours wins, which came behind the wheel of a Mirage-Ford.
The ‘Derek Bell Celebration’ featured machines such as the Porsche 962C that Bell took his last victory at Le Mans in 1987. Bell drove both the 962C as well as the Surtees TS7 in which he scored his only F1 point.
Central Feature marque, Mazda, showcased its spirit both on and off the track with the iconic 787B. An example of the 1991 Le Mans winner features racing out of the sky on the 37-meter high sculpture outside Goodwood House, whilst the real racer took part in the Group C hill run.
Alpine celebrated 60 years of French road and race cars with a class featuring eight of its most iconic models, including the Le Mans-winning Alpine-Renault A442B, driven by Rene Arnoux.
Taking a step back in time, a fleet of Mercedes-Benz 300 SLRs paraded up the hill climb course led by Sir Stirling Moss in the famous number 722, the same car in which he won the Mille Miglia 60 years ago. Following in the cavalcade of SLRs were Susie Wolff, and Le Mans winners, Hans Herrmann and Klaus Ludwig.
All genres of motorsport were presented; the Godfather of drag racing, Don Garlits, took his 1959 dragster, the Swap Rat 1B, up the hill, while ‘ballistic’ BJ Baldwin and Baja legend Robby Gordon made their UK debuts in, respectively, their Trophy Truck and Stadium SuperTrucks on the Hill and in the Activities Field.
The hill climb is the Festival of Speed’s principal attraction. Taking place throughout the weekend, this challenging white-knuckled course starts as a tree-lined run through the southern corner of the Goodwood Estate which then turns to sweep past the front of Goodwood House before climbing a steep and narrow Estate road bordered by flint walls and dense woodland groves towards Goodwood’s equine racecourse on top of the South Downs. Each day, no fewer than 300 cars and motorcycles sprinted their way up the iconic hill climb in an breathtaking display of performance, power, pace and precision. The vehicles were grouped thematically into classes of comparable machinery, with the oldest running first.
The 2015 edition of the ‘Festival of Speed Sunday Shootout’ was declared open by seven-time MotoGP World Champion Valentino Rossi as he paraded up the Hillclimb in an ex-Jacky Ickx/Jochen Mass Porsche 962C. Following his run, the clocks were set and 35 cars ascended the 1.16-mile course in a bid for this year’s fastest time.
British Time Attack Champion, Olly Clark, claimed victory in his Subaru Impreza ‘Gobstopper II’ with a time of 44.91 seconds. The son of twice-RAC Rally winner, Roger Clark, defeated the Mitjet Mini Pikes Peak of ice racing king Jean-Philippe Dayraut and the Toyota Celica ‘Pikes Peak’ of New Zealander Rod Millen.
Similar to 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014, Senior Photographer Tim Scott also documented the 2015 Goodwood Festival of Speed, bringing a great selection of images that capture the spirit of the “largest motoring garden party in the world”. We split up Tim’s pictures into two galleries. The first gallery starting below features our favorite images, all displayed in the full-width view of Sports Car Digest, while the second gallery can be found on the last page of the article and gives a comprehensive view of all the photographs. To see more from Tim, visit fluidimages.co.uk.
Goodwood Festival of Speed 2015 – Featured Photo Gallery
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[Source: Goodwood; photos: Tim Scott / Fluid Images]
