Mazda will be the featured marque at the Goodwood Festival of Speed this year. It will have been eight years since a Japanese marque has taken center stage. One of the world’s premiere automotive events, the FoS takes place on the estate of an English Duke about two hours outside of London. It’s a car show, race, and celebration of the automobile as art.
It is an honor to be selected as the Honored Manufacturer at Goodwood. It means the automaker will have a massive display on the Goodwood grounds and have their cars featured on the official poster and literature. The last time a Japanese manufacturer was the featured marque was Toyota in 2007, celebrating 50 years in racing. Before that it was Honda in 2005, celebrating the 40th anniversary of their first F1 win.
The featured marque also gets a gorgeous Central Feature in front of the estate showcasing its motorsports history. The 2007 Toyota sculpture was inspired by the Torii gates of ancient Japanese temples. Expect to see a some orange and green this year.
One of the showcases at the FoS is the estate’s winding uphill driveway, which becomes a hillclimb stage for automakers and legendary drivers to compete for the best time to the top. You’ll see everything from John Surtees piloting a 1967 Honda RA300 to Rod Millen’s shoving his 1,000-hp Pikes Peak Tacoma up the drive.
So get ready to book your trips to London. The Goodwood Festival of Speed will be held June 25-28.
Photos: Central Features courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
Shame they won’t be able to display the Furai.
What? No, I’m not crying. It’s just…onions. Someone’s chopping onions.
Haha. But seriously: 🙁
I hope they invite Rod Millen and his 4WD RX-7 that he battled Buffum and the Quattro in the SCCA Pro Rally series in the early 80’s. Love to see and hear that car run in anger again.