The theme for the Goodwood Festival of Speed 2016 will be “Full Throttle – The Endless Pursuit of Power”, honouring the most powerful competition cars and motorcycles from the history of motor sport, and the heroic drivers and riders who tamed them.
Scheduled for 23-26 June at Goodwood House and the 1.16-mile Goodwood hill climb in West Sussex, England, the 2016 Festival will celebrate the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500, mark 50 years since the inaugural Can-Am Series for sports prototypes and pay tribute to James Hunt on the 40th anniversary of his Formula 1 World Championship success with McLaren in 1976.
The event will again open with the Moving Motor Show, on Thursday, June 23, featuring many of the world’s largest manufacturers showcasing their latest models, alongside innovative concepts.
The Goodwood Revival 2016, scheduled for 9-11 September at the Goodwood Motor Circuit, will honour Sir Jack Brabham on the 50th anniversary of the legendary Australian becoming the only driver in history to win the Formula 1 World Championship in a car bearing his own name.
Brabham raced and tested at Goodwood extensively during his career, and developed a number of championship-winning cars at the Motor Circuit. A huge gathering of single-seater, saloon and sports cars encompassing his career as a driver and team owner will take part in a number of on-track demonstrations during the weekend.
Lord March commented, “The theme for the 2016 Festival of Speed is ‘Full Throttle – The Endless Pursuit of Power’, which enables us to gather together some of the most spectacular machines from his history of motor sport, many of which will never have been in this country before. From turbocharged Formula 1 cars and ‘unrideable’ grand prix bikes of the 1980s, to Can-Am specials of a generation earlier, and even dragsters and Land Speed Record cars, the Festival of Speed will be a very special event. And in dedicating the Revival driver tribute to Sir Jack Brabham, we will pay a fitting tribute to a man who forged strong links with Goodwood during the Motor Circuit’s active past and was an extremely popular guest at the Festival of Speed and Revival more latterly.”
Tickets and hospitality packages for both events are already on sale. More information is available at Goodwood.com/Tickets or via phone 01243 755055.
[Source: Goodwood; photo: Tim Scott / Fluid Images]
I’m the president of a classic car club in Orange, NSW, Australia, that’s keeping alive the history of the former Gnoo Blas road racing circuit here where Sir Jack Brabham started his road racing career in 1953. We hold an annual classic car show in the centre of the old track and have an enthusiasts’ dinner at night with special guests that have included Sir Jack. Our February 2016 show will commemorate the 50th anniversary of Sir Jack’s world championship win in a car of his own name. As you would know the car (BT19, Brabham Tauranac) was designed and built by Ron Tauranac and Ron will be a guest at the 2016 show. It’s a coup for us because he has mainly stayed in the background. Sir Jack held the lap record at Gnoo Blas until the last meeting there in 1960 and was a regular competitor.