The news keeps trickling in from West Sussex. The Goodwood Festival of Speed is going on right now, as we are simulataneously typing this and kicking ourselves for not scraping together the cashish we needed to go.
Autoblog has just posted a gallery of Thursday evening’s opening night ball and unveiling of the giant torii gate tribute to Toyota, this years’s honored marque. Apparently, underneath the five Toyota race cars suspended in mid-air, sat six more significant sleds from the Big T’s past, including the 800hp 1970 Toyota 7 turbo (pictured) and a replica of the 1957 Toyota Crown that ran the Australian Mobilgas Rally and ushered in 50 years of Toyotas in motorsport.
The centerpiece of the Festival is a 1.16 mile timed competition hillclimb on the grounds of the Earl’s estate. Thus far, Anthony Reid has driven two Nissans, a 350Z GT500 and a BTCC (British Touring Car Championship) Primera to their respective class wins.
Saturday kicked off with the Cartier Style et Luxe concours, where five of the world’s six Bugatti Type 41 Royales were gathered, totalling $60 million. At the “Green Goodwood” exhibit Nissan showed off its eco-friendly Pivo Concept, a car that could have doubled as a capsule from 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Next, F1 cars took to the stage, with the Toyota TF106 and Honda’s Earth-schemed RA107 driven by Ralf Schumacher and Jenson Button, but the highlight, and a sight worth the $80+ admission fees alone, must have been Mark Webber and Kazuki Nakajima drifting their F1 cars past the Goodwood House. Later in the afternoon, Rod Millen took his Pike’s Peak-winning 800hp AWD Toyota Tacoma (pictured) out for a spin.
Did we mention we were kicking ourselves yet?
Images courtesy of Autoblog and Goodwood.co.uk.
