One of the greatest gearhead events on the planet will commence this Friday. The Goodwood Festival of Speed is exactly what all of us would be doing if we were so stinking rich that we could invite manufacturers, car collectors and the world’s top drivers to our huge estate, complete with its own hillclimb course, forest rally stage and concours lawn. It’s al going down July 11 through 13 somewhere in England. And once again, we’ll be staying on this side of the Atlantic, envying the limey bastards from afar. Exactly which cars Japanese will emerge from their slumbers in museums and warehouses to make an appearance are not yet fully known.
Last year Goodwood celebrated Toyota’s 50 years in motorsports and Mazda’s 40th anniversary of the rotary. This year the flavor taste more like Europe as both Land Rover and Porsche celebrate their 60th birthdays. In the meantime, go to the Festival of Speed’s official website and watch the mind-blowing movie to get an idea of what this event is all about.
Sigh. We wish we had the budget to head over to Switzerland. We’d love to attend the glitzy shindig known as the Geneva Motor Show (which is going on right now), sample some Swiss chocolate, and visit the Swiss Toyota Museum while we’re at it.
Alas, we have neither the time nor the funds, so we’re living vicariously through our buddies at Autoblog, who snapped some cool photos of Honda F1 racers, old and new. In the sixties, Honda had a knack for coming out of nowhere to take checkered flags, and this RA300, driven by John Surtees in its inaugural race at the 1967 Italian Grand Prix, was no exception. Not bad for an automaker who had only debuted their first car four years prior. Unfortunately, Honda hasn’t been quite as successful in recent years, but the company hopes the new RA108 will change its fortunes for the upcoming year. Maybe by placing the two machines side by side, they’re hoping the RA300’s aura will rub off.
The Geneva Motor Show continues until March 16, 2008.
While we’re on the subject of the UK and adverts, here’s one of the best, Honda’s “Impossible Dream”. In fact, we can safely say that all artists can just retire now, because never will anything so beautiful be created again. The soaring music, the cinematography, the exhaust note of a 1965 Honda RA272 - it’s all an epic symphony of internal combustion. Seriously, turn up the volume and get your tissues ready because if this doesn’t stir your soul, we’ve got some bad news - you don’t have one. In fact, we like it so much we’re adding it our permanent Video section. Watch the hi-res version here and visit the corresponding website here.
On Sunday, the Goodwood Festival of Speed of 2007 drew to a close. We’ve been waiting for pictures to filter in, and Autoblog, which has made no secret of how badly they’ve wanted to go after missing last year’s (sort of the position we find ourselves in right now), has posted galleriesgalore since their triumphant return to the States. Our favorite car in the recent photo batch has to be the 1968 Honda RA301. The F1 machine, piloted by John Surtees during the ‘68 season, was notable for its water-cooled V12 and monocoque body, made ultra-light due to liberal application of magnesium. Sadly, gremlins and crash avoidance manuvers conspired to rob Surtees of several podium finishes and at least one first-place victory.
Goodwood isn’t just some fancy lawn party for jodhpur-wearing, pinky-lifting tea-sippers. To give you an idea of its significance, Nissan even brought out the clear winner of the “Most Chased by Spy Photographers, 2005-2007″ award, the Skyline GT-R prototype, for the hillclimb, complete with black camouflage disguising the nose!
Jolly good, then. I think that just about does it for West Sussex. Oh, what the hell, here’s one more shot of the Toyotas up in the air.
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.
A couple of weeks ago Toyota launched a motorsports history section on their Japanese site to mark 50 years in motorsport. It’s all in Japanese and there are only a handful of photos ranging from a racing S30 Toyota Crown to the Toyota 7 all the way up to the current F1 cars.
Surely they could have included more, but the classic video of the FIA speed record setting 2000GT at full roar makes up for it!
Sigh. We wish we had the budget to head over to Switzerland. We’d love to attend the glitzy shindig known as the Geneva Motor Show (which is going on right now), sample some Swiss chocolate, and visit the 
