Top ten non-F1 cars at the Goodwood Festival

Goodwood Festival of Speed

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It would be a waste to focus only on the F1 cars at the Goodwood Festival of Speed and overlook the hundreds of other fascinating machines on show.

So to round off this year’s coverage, here’s a collection of my favourite other cars (not including the huge collection of IndyCars) which appeared at this year’s Festival.

Mazda 787

Mazda 787, Goodwood Festival of Speed, 2011

Pictures can’t do justice to the peculiar wail of the rotary-engined Mazda 787. It won the Le Mans 24 Hours 20 years ago in the hands of F1 drivers Johnny Herbert, Volker Weidler and Bertrand Gachot.

McLaren MP4/12C GT3

McLaren MP4/12C GT3, Goodwood Festival of Speed, 2011

I’m very pleased to see McLaren will be racing their new road car.

Lotus T125

Lotus T125, Goodwood Festival of Speed, 2011

This one caused the commentators no end of trouble, as they persistently referred to it – incorrectly – as a Renault F1 car.

It is in fact a car built by Group Lotus last year to give customers the chance to experience an F1-style single seater, and painted in the colours of the Renault F1 team.

Here are pictures of Bruno Senna driving it.

Peugeot 405 T15 GR

Peugoet 405 T15 GR 'Pikes 'Peak', Goodwood Festival of Speed, 2011

I like racing cars to have this degree of subtlety – i.e., none. This aggressive version of Peugeot’s 405 rally car was built for the Pikes Peak hillclimb in America.

Auto Union Type C

Auto Union Type C, Goodwood Festival of Speed, 2011

Another hillclimb special from another era. Auto Union adapted their Grand Prix car for hillclimbing purposes by sticking an extra pair of rear wheels at the back.

Toyota TS020 GT-One

Toyota TS020 GT-One, Goodwood Festival of Speed, 2011

Toyota’s striking Le Mans racer which came within a flat tyre of winning the race. There are rumours Toyota are considering a return to the 24 Hours using thier old F1 car factory in Cologne as a base.

Chaparral-Chevrolet 2J

Chaparral-Chevrolet 2J, Goodwood Festival of Speed, 2011

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get the picture I wanted of the back of this highly unusual car.

With ground effect skirts (several years before they were seen in F1), a snowmobile engine was used to drive a pair of fans which sucked the car to the ground.

Audi Sport Quattro S1 E2

Audi Sport Quattro S1 E2, Goodwood Festival of Speed, 2011

It’s no exaggeration to say Audi’s development of four-wheel-drive changed the face of rallying. This 1985 example of their Quattro added a double-clutch gearbox, boosting the car’s accelerative force as up-changes could be made without lifting the throttle.

A few years ago I was supposed to be driven up the Goodwood hill in this car. But I regretted urging the driver to give it plenty of stick when he gunned the engine on the line, dropped the clutch – and broke it.

Jaguar XJR12

Jaguar XJR12, Goodwood Festival of Speed, 2011

An iconic car of my youth resplendent in its glorious purple livery. Martin Brundle, John Nielsen and Price Cobb won Le Mans with it the year before the Mazda did.

Audi R18 TDi

Audi R18 TDi, Goodwood Festival of Speed, 2011

Goodwood maintain their tradition of bringing the latest Le Mans winner to the race. This R18 was the only one of three Audis to survive the race, the others being destroyed in gigantic crashes.

More non-F1 cars at the Goodwood Festival of Speed

More of my favourites below.

Goodwood Festival of Speed

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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34 comments on “Top ten non-F1 cars at the Goodwood Festival”

  1. So jealous Keith. I care little for anything other than F1 cars, but I’d have given an arm and a leg to be at Goodwood! :P Seriously, it must be the single greatest weekend for a motorsports fan each year. I promise myself I’ll get there one day.

    Were there any other Le Mans prototypes there? I would’ve thought they’d have the Sauber Mercedes C9 there if they have the Silk Cut Jaguar. Also, the R18 TDi has grown on me significantly since its launch.

    Fantastic coverage of the weekend Keith!

    1. Thanks very much!

      No Sauber Mercedes this year I’m afraid.

      1. Thanks for all the stunning pics Keith.

        Good choice of top 10 – you got 7 of my faves.

  2. SennaNmbr1 (@)
    4th July 2011, 10:01

    That Leaf Nismo is amazing!! :D

    1. *drools all over keyboard* So many awesome cars, I wish I could go to Goodwood. What’s with that Nissan, is it supposed to be on two wheels or did he roll it?

  3. “I like racing cars to have this degree of subtlety – i.e., none. ”

    That made my day, Keith. :D

  4. So so so many beautiful cars… I’m gonna have to go to this next year!

    The Mazda looks brillaint in that livery, and I bet the engine sounds very special. Great to see the Sumo Power Nissan GT1 too. Lve that car, and have been lucky enough to see it race twice so far.

    As a Fiesta owner, I also like the Gymkhana version, even in the scary livery. Weird to think the car I drive looks like that when given a steriod injection.

    Can’t wait to see the McLaren MP4/12C racing in GT3. When is it due to start competing? Next season?

    1. I think the McLaren should be run next year, yes i am also looking forward to that!

  5. A Porsche 917-30! Something funny just happened to all the hairs down my spine! One of these days I’ll get to Goodwood….

    1. ahh, its a beauty and the personification of a ‘Mad’ car. I wonder how many of the current or past drivers would have been brave enough to have done an aggresive (timed) hillclimb in that this weekend?

  6. I think the Rothmans Porsches have one of the most iconic liveries of all time. It actually makes blue and white look good!

    Also, that Auto Union Type C looks kinda restrained considering what it’s capable of.

  7. my new screen saver slideshow has been chosen!

  8. My favourites are the two McLarens and the Audi R10. Brilliant!

  9. That Toyota is exactly what I imagine Le Mans cars to be, lovely. I think I used to have a toy model of the XJR12!

    Oh and MP4-12C > 458 Italia ;) Similar shape, but without that ugly face.

    1. Ooh, controversial! *remains seated on fence*

    2. The 458 is the girl you’d gawp at on a night out with the lads. The MP4-12C is the one you’d go home to.

    3. Agree very much Icthyes.

  10. Do they make a DVD of the festival each year?

  11. Right, that’s it. I can’t take it any more… next year I am going to the FOS and that’s the end of it. The Porsche 917 and 962, the McF1 GTR, the Mazda 787 (a particular favourite – see Gareth Jones On Speed a few weeks back for the story of that one) and the Jag XJR12… amazing.

    Incidentally the XJR12 has another F1 link – it was one of Ross Brawn’s first projects…

  12. Alfa Romeo 155 Touring Car… phwooooaaar!

  13. The Jaguar XJR12 and the Porsche 956… Together, they are my classic old Le Mans scalextric track in the loft.

    Its actually weird seeing them full size, I am so used to them being 1/32 scale!

  14. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get the picture I wanted of the back of this highly unusual car.

    Keith: http://automotive.speedtv.com/article/vintage-1970-chaparral-sucker-car/

    1. That looks really nice!

  15. Sorry being a bit pedantic here but it’s a Mazda 787B not a 787.

  16. Ah … the Porsche 917-30, aka “CanAm killer”. What a machine. I got to see the first year’s version of that car race up in Edmonton many moons ago. I had also previously seen the iconic Gulf liveried 917s at the 6 hr race at Watkin’s Glen, and was mesmerized by their amazing sound. When I arrived in Edmonton, I naively expected to have my socks blown off by the noises emitted from Penske’s turbo version, and was taken aback by their relative quietness. The Porsche 917 is my all time favorite race car.

  17. The Turbine bike was quite something to see until it got put down on its second run on the friday. Does anyone now if it ran again?
    Also watching the gymkhana master himself, Ken Block, fail his donuts was a good laugh.
    Great day.

  18. Great pics Keith, awesome coverage!

    The rear wing on that Peugoet is huge… That Chaparral-Chevrolet is some box-car, whats its story?

    Loved the Porsches and the Audis…

  19. My heart skipped a beat at the picture of the Auto Union.

  20. Did you see the 787B rolling back to its home behind the Windows 7 Supercar display yesterday evening? I did and got about a foot away from it. It was amazing.

  21. wow, the fantastic parade of cars continues! thanks!

    i find the presence of the lotus t125 unsavory, however. its only distinction is the stupid and annoying war between the loti. if it comes to it, i’d much rather see cars that were cheaters, stolen tech, hitler’s cars, whatever.

  22. The MP4-12C is stunning in the most subtle of ways. It’s like my perfect supercar in my head!

  23. Keith, did you follow this year’s Pikes Peak Hill Climb. The winner was a completely extreme more than 850bhp Suzuki engined special made to look like an outgrown Suzuki SX4 and driven by Nobuhiro ‘Monster’ Tajima. There was also a Hyundai powered Red Bull sponsored protoype developed and driven by Rhys Millen. It truly is a spectacular. It would be great if there is a “Why You Should Watch” feature on it as I think the race doesn’t get the covergage it deserves (in Asia particulalry).

    1. Sounds great – if you (or anyone else) are interested in doing one take a look here:

      Write an article

      1. Thanks for the invitation, Keith.

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