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.

[Goodwood Festival of Speed]

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 galleries galore 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.

Images courtesy of Autoblog. GT-R tip courtesy of Jalopnik.

The second day of the Festival that keeps on giving has drawn to a close. Autoblog actually has men on the estate, snapping photos and broadcasting them across the pond. The one that will probably be of most interest to us nostalgic lovers is the Mazda Cosmo 110S that was part of Cartier Style et Luxe, the Goodwood concours that literally translates to “You Can’t Afford These.” As far as we can tell, this is not part of the Mazda 40th Anniversary of the Rotary exhibit that is one of 800 plus anniversaries being celebrated this year at the Festival of Speed, which means that Japanese cars are finally being recognized in concours events!

Other birthdays include Brooklands Circuit’s 100th, the Isle of Man Tourist Trophy’s 100th (which gave Honda motorcycles much of their early fame), the Bugatti Royale’s 80th, 75 years of the Ford flathead V8, Monoposto’s 75th, 25 years of Group C racing, 50 years of Scalextric slot cars, 60 years for both Ferrari’s and Saab, and 70 years since Toyota Motor Corp’s founding (although an automobile division of Toyoda Automatic Loom Works, Ltd. in 1933).

Jalopnik has managed to dig up a Flickr pool of Goodwood photos that stretches back to previous years’ events too. Take a look. It is truly the most spectacular car party on Earth.

Image courtesy of Autoblog.

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.

Each year, the Goodwood Festival of Speed pays tribute to the featured marque by suspending an assortment of its million-dollar race cars several stories above ground on a huge piece of outdoor art. With Toyota taking the honors this year, we’ve been graced with something that resembles either a suspension bridge or the world’s most expensive Newton’s Cradle. From this puny pic, we can only tell that a.) the mixed media consist of an F1 car, some other open-wheel racer (Indy?), a TS020 GT-One, a Group C prototype, and a Celica rally car; and b.) it looks like rain.

We seriously considered jumping on a redeye to attend this event, but logic prevailed. Scientists of the world, get cracking on the transporter!

Image courtesy of Goodwood.co.uk.

If you were an Earl with an impossibly big plot of land near the southern coast of of England, what would you do with it? Why, invite the world’s most famous drivers and gather the planet’s fastest racing machines to throw a colossal celebration of motorsport on your front lawn, natch.

Thus, since 1993, top automakers have brought their most prized examples of rolling history to West Sussex, whether for flat-out hill climbing, romping through a forest rally stage, display, auction, or simply suspension from a giant piece of modern art. Race cars of every stripe – F1, rally, drag, land speed record, vintage – are let loose on the grounds of the Goodwood House, usually at the hands of a world-renowned driver.

This year, the Festival’s Honoured Manufacturer title goes to Toyota, which is observing its 50th year in motorsport. As you can see, the program(me) cover honors Toyota with a gorgeous rendition of the 1999 Le Mans runner up TS020 driven by Ukyo Katayama, Toshio Suzuki and Keiichi Tsuchiya.

With 2007 being the 40th anniversary of the rotary engine, Mazda will also be present with a display of great pistonless cars. A tentative list of Japanese cars slated to appear include the following:

Toyota
1957 Toyota Crown Mobilgas rally
1970 Toyota 7
Pike’s Peak Celica
Pike’s Peak Tacoma
Toyota Celica ST165 GT-Four rally
Toyota Celica ST185 GT-Four rally
1997 TOM’S Castrol Supra JGTC
Toyota TF106 F1
Toyota TF107 F1
unspecified Group C racer
Toyota FT-HS Concept
Toyota I-Swing Concept

Honda
1967 Honda RA300 F1
Honda RA107 F1
Williams-Honda FW11 F1
Williams-Honda FW11B F1
Honda Civic Type-R
Honda Small Hybrid Sports Concept
a small army of racing motorcycles
ASIMO

Nissan
1973 Datsun 240Z rally
Nissan 240RS Group B rally
Nissan R90 Group C
Nissan 350Z GT500
Nissan Primera
Nissan Pivo Concept

Mazda
1967 Cosmo Sport 110S
1991 Mazda 787B Le Mans
Mazda FD RX-7
Mazda RX-8 Hydrogen Concept
Mazda RX-8 40 th Anniversary Concept
Mazda 2
Mazda Hakaze concept

Subaru
Subaru Impreza WRC rally

Suzuki
Pikes Peak Escudo

Sadly, because human society is still largely based on a monetary system, we will not be able to attend the Festival in person. We will, however, glue ourselves to the news and keep you updated as news filters in throughout the weekend.

Click here for an article about Toyota’s involvement as 2007’s featured marque.
Click here to instantly tempt yourself into buying plane tickets to England.