My top 40 pictures from the Goodwood Festival of Speed 2009

July 5, 2009 at 11:01 pm by Keith Collantine

Lewis Hamilton at the Goodwood Festival of Speed

I snapped over 3,600 photographs at the Goodwood Festival of Speed this weekend.

I managed to get some close-ups of the drivers and lots of pictures of weird and wonderful cars in action and on display. Here are my 40 favourites from the weekend in high resolution:

I was fortunate enough to get into the preparation area on Sunday afternoon:

The scene in the preparation area when I arrived

Aston Martin and Ferrari sports cars wait to hit the track

Here I was able to get some pictures of the drivers at close quarters – including the world champion himself, Lewis Hamilton:

Lewis Hamilton meets his fans

Lewis Hamilton before his final run

Hamilton arrived in the preparation area shortly after his car got there. The fans were lined up several rows deep behind his car, and beginning in the middle, he worked his way down the entire line, signing autographs and having his picture taken with all of them. Then he went to the opposite end of the line and repeated the process until he was back at his car.

Lewis Hamilton gets into his McLaren

Lewis Hamilton in his McLaren

This picture (above) was the 3,613th and last one I took at the Festival. Here are some more of my favourites.

Ferrari F300 up on jacks

Also in the preparation area, a 1998-specification Ferrari F300.

Timo Glock's Toyota TF108 is wheeled into the paddock

I was actually sitting on the ground fiddling with the camera settings when I looked up and saw I was about to be run over by a Toyota…

Marc Gene before his final run

Marc Gene heads out for his final run

As you can see from the earlier picture, Marc Gene had his Ferrari moved into an earlier batch on Sunday so the team could get home earlier. This was probably because the event was running slightly behind schedule. I was able to get some pictures of Marc before he got in the car for his last run.

It's alive! The Life L190 manages its first run up the hill

Arturo Merzario squeezes into the Life

On its fourth attempt the Life L190 with its strange W12 engine was finally coaxed up the hill. At the wheel is Lorenzo Prandina, the man who restored the car. As you can plainly see, he was rather too large for the cramped cockpit.

Arturo Merzario drove the car on Sunday – I was there on Friday when he squeezed into the car for the first time, which you can see in the second picture. Merzario, a veteran of 84 Grands Prix, was one of the men who helped pull Niki Lauda from his burning Ferrari at the Nurburgring in 1976.

Kazuki Nakajima back in the first Williams he raced - the FW27

Adrian Newey drives his own creation - and gets two wheels on the grass

Red Bull designer Adrian Newey drove two of his earlier creations over the weekend – Damon Hill’s championship-winning Williams-Renault FW18 and this FW16 from two years earlier.

The 1971 Tyrrell-Cosworth 002 climbs the hill

On Saturday morning there was light rainfall and I’d gone a bit further up the hill to get pictures of the car as they came towards me.

Timo Glock got the Toyota properly sideways

Opposite Glock

Timo Glock was at the Festival on all three days and was still entertaining the crowd with power slides and burnouts on Sunday. You can see the heat haze behind the car in the first picture.

The Shadow-Cosworth DN5 heads towards the imposing flint wall

Not a very sharp picture of the ex-Tom Pryce Shadow-Cosworth DN5, but I like the splashes of colour on an otherwise dark car.

David Coulthard drives the Mercedes-Benz W154 on Friday

I really like the incongruity of Coulthard’s modern Red Bull overalls and crash helmet within the plain silver 71-year-old Mercedes.

Stirling Moss gets reacquainted with his Mercedes-Benz W196

Sir Stirling Moss, on the other hand, went for a period look when he drove his Mercedes-Benz W196, wearing his old overalls.

Lewis Hamilton on the hill

Lewis Hamilton’s first run up the hill on Sunday morning, driving the same chassis he won last year’s British Grand Prix in.

The McLaren-Honda MP4/4 grinds to a halt

Hamilton didn’t get to drive the other car he wanted to, however. The McLaren-Honda MP4/4′s gearbox failed while Bruno Senna was driving it – as this very photograph was being taken.

The Lotus-Cosworth running on Saturday

I was worried when the Lotus 79 failed to appear on Friday, but happily the car that dominated the 1978 championship was running on Saturday.

Audi's display in front of Goodwood House

The Audi Streamliner on the centre display

It was Audi’s turn to construct a display in front of the mansion house, and they suspended an Auto Union Streamliner and a modern R8 V10 35 feet above the ground.

Sir Stirling Moss in the car named after him

Mercedes has produced a variant of its SLR McLaren supercar named after Stirling Moss – and the man himself took the car up the hill.

Lewis Hamilton drives a fan up the hill

Lewis Hamilton, meanwhile, gave a passenger ride to a fan who’d won a competition run by the event organisers.

B188 and B192 Benettons in the pits

For me, this is what makes the Goodwood Festival unmissable – getting so close to the cars you’re practically tripping over them.

Adrian Newey's Leyton House from 1990

I spent a long time poring over this Leyton-House CG901B from 1990, one of Adrian Newey’s earliest F1 car designs. It has classic Newey hallmarks of being incredibly tightly sculpted, to the point of imposing serious constraints on the driver. But it worked – the car came within a couple of laps of winning the French Grand Prix that year.

In the paddock, the car was presented with its various body parts removed, allowing a full appreciation of just how radically tiny and tightly-packaged this creation was.

Old-fashioned gear knob in a 1968 Ferrari 312/68

Michele Alboreto and Rene Arnoux didn't get much leg protection

A saucy up-skirt photograph

The Renault RE30B proved troublesome to get running and was hardly seen outside of the paddock. But I managed to get in to get a close look at its ‘skirts’ – the ground-hugging trim down either side of the chassis which served to suck the car to the ground at speed. They were banned after the final year the car ran, in 1982.

Alain Prost's Toyota Auris

The same man who drove that Renault – Alain Prost – has more recently been driving this car. It’s a Toyota Auris ice racer designed to compete in the Trophee Andros which takes place in France every winter. Prost won the title in 2007 and 2008 – but lost to Jean-Philippe Dayraut’s Skoda Fabia this year.

The arrow-like Williams-Cosworth FW0 from 1978

Not an F1 car, but one of my all-times favourites: a Jaguar XJR12

This one's for Tommy B - Lola-Aston Martin LMP1 beneath the trees

I didn’t just snap the F1-related stuff, of course – here’s two of my favourite Le Mans racers to prove it. Let me know if you would like me to post some more of the non-F1 racing cars.

Marc Gene passes the Mercedes stand in his Ferrari F2008

The championshp-leading Brawn was a big draw, even as a static dsiplay

The only thing I failed to get from the Festival which I particularly wanted was a picture of Jenson Button. I did get a shot of his car though, which wasn’t allowed up the hill due to the 2009 testing restrictions.

The camera

Finally, a few people have asked me what camera I’ve been using at these events. I’m very fortunate that my girlfriend is into graphics and imaging and has recent bought a decent camera and some lenses, which I’m allowed to borrow (if I do my share of the housework, of course!)

I took my Goodwood pictures with a Canon EOS 450D. Most of the ones on this page were done using a Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L USM lens. I also had a Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS for wider angle pictures, but it didn’t get much use. Sorry I didn’t get around to answering your questions sooner!

Loads more pictures

I’m still updating the original galleries with more pictures of the cars – there’s over 400 pictures in there already:

More pictures from other people

Share this with your friends:

70 comments on My top 40 pictures from the Goodwood Festival of Speed 2009

Rosso Corsa said on 6th July 2009, 15:21

Dear F1Fanatic,

congratulations for these wonderful pics!

Could you please provide us a downloadable archive containing all the shots you took at Goodwood?
It’d be great!

Thanks anyway! :-)

- Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) said on 6th July 2009, 19:14
  
  Not a bad idea – I’ll try to put one together this week.
  
Mouse Nightshirt said on 6th July 2009, 16:04

One thing you really appreciate in these pictures is how much more protection the drivers have. In the earliest cars, you can just about see the waist. In the late 80s – early 90s cars, you can see the shoulders, and then in the modern iterations, you can’t even see the whole helmet.

Amazing to think is the 50s the raced without seatbelts. Absolute madness!

Barry said on 6th July 2009, 16:43

Sorry guys, the Lotus 79′s beauty is in my opinion, unsurpassed.. I’ll take it over the aarvarks and worthogs of toady and the days recently passed any time.
Aero is one thing Beauty is another, and with the potential of ground effect to allow more passing potential, all other things being considered, I can only hope it’s in F1s future again, POST MOSLEY of course.
Barry

Maksutov said on 6th July 2009, 18:38

btw, that’s a nice shot of Hamilton.. :]

Wesley said on 6th July 2009, 19:00

Audi R8,Lotus 79,Jaguar XJR12,Shadow Cosworth……I am drooling!

Thanks for sharing Keith!….and please,by all means, post the non-F1 pics too,I believe all of us here have an appreciation for works of art….especially the LeMans cars.(got any Ford F40 pics?)

- Wesley said on 6th July 2009, 19:03
  
  *typo….I mean Ford GT40 of course.
  
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) said on 6th July 2009, 19:15

OK I will do a gallery of non-F1 pics later this week, promise :-)

Stoo said on 6th July 2009, 20:35

Great set of pics Keith… :D

pSynrg said on 6th July 2009, 21:42

Thanks for taking us there Keith – some of us couldn’t make it but your coverage has more than made up for it with fabulous shots and great ‘real’ write up (as in genuinely emotive, accessible and fun!)

Very much appreciated, cheers!

- pSynrg said on 6th July 2009, 21:46
  
  P.S. I’m glad you saw and mentioned Lewis in action, taking time to get closer to the fans like few other ~~drivers~~ superstars. Apart from his driving this is what impresses me most about him.
  
  - Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) said on 6th July 2009, 22:16
    
    He was the same when I saw him at Silverstone last year. Not that other drivers weren’t – Coulthard and Webber gave the fans a lot of time as well I remember.
    
    - pSynrg said on 7th July 2009, 7:38
      
      Agreed, I’m not saying this is unique. Just that Lewis always to get a lot of unwarranted & negative stick about his personality.
      
  - Shagrathian said on 11th July 2009, 20:40
    
    He was same at the Istanbul Park, too. I’m the lucky one who talked to him and get my flag signed.
    
JJ said on 7th July 2009, 0:06

Keith,, how did you get such close access , did you have to commit to publishing details of goodwood , and did they ask for your circulation and proof of this

dibble said on 7th July 2009, 0:19

great pics keith :)

Chris Yu Rhee said on 7th July 2009, 6:35

Keith, I have to commend you on such a wonderful job at Goodwood. NO other F1 site even comes close. I would really love to know if this is a full time venture for you, or if you have a ‘real’ job, too. I’ve seen the prices to F1 events, and they’ve made me give up my dream to ever go to a race. I’m wondering if the Korea race ever happens, will I be able to afford it, as I live in Incheon. At least I have you to keep me informed, but I wish that Bernie, et al, would just go away and have a couple of sane people replace them. Ain’t gonna happen, though. Way too much money…

Matt said on 7th July 2009, 12:49

Great Pics! am i the only one who looks at the say 2002-2008 cars and thinks they look cluttered. I fear i have gotten so use to the 2009 streamlined cars that the older ones, particularly 2008, look very odd and cluttered. all this despite 7-8 months ago thinking they looked normal……Alas the mental changes the 2009 regulations have caused.

MN said on 7th July 2009, 21:26

Does anyone know where they kept the Le Mans Peugeot?

Francesco from Italy said on 7th July 2009, 21:43

Beatiful pictures, and a very special surprise. the Life is still
alive….and try to climb the hill….:-)

remco said on 7th July 2009, 22:34

don’t you have bruno senna in the car of his uncle??

- pSynrg said on 8th July 2009, 0:47
  
  There have been several pics of Bruno in the MP4/4. And there is one above if you look.
  
  Unfortunately it seems the gearbox gave up when Bruno was (apparently) setting up for a burnout…