Goodwood Festival of Speed 2012 – Top 20 Cars of Interest
Ferrari 250 GTO of Nick Mason, driven by Marino Franchitti
The 2012 running of the Goodwood Festival of Speed featured hundreds of great cars, motorcycles, drivers and riders taking to the 1.16-mile Goodwood hillclimb during the Festival weekend. The record crowd of 185,000 spectators at this year’s event were treated to many exceptional sights and moments.
Goodwood Festival of Speed 2012 highlights included the homage to Lotus, in the form of a massive sculpture outside Goodwood House, plus a great selection of more than 40 significant racing examples of the marque taking to the Festival hillclimb.
Choosing our Top 20 “Cars of Interest” among the hundreds of spectacular entrants is a difficult task, but we gave it our best effort. Lotus was the featured marque at the Festival of Speed, as the British company celebrates 60 years of innovation and motor sport success. Given the focus on Colin Chapman’s automobiles, we gave extra attention to the sporting Loti that powered up the hillclimb at Goodwood. We welcome your comments below if we missed your favorite.
Goodwood Festival of Speed 2012 – Top 20 Cars of Interest
The revolutionary Colin Chapman-designed 1962 Lotus 25 was the first fully stressed monocoque chassis to appear in Formula One. Many of its design principles are still followed in today’s F1 machines.Ex-Dan Gurney Thompson-Buick Special in which ‘Handsome Dan’ finished twentieth in the 1962 Indy 500.Ex-Klaus Ludwig Zakspeed Ford Capri. This 1.5-litre turbo beast captured the 1981 DRM title and multiple Le Mans winner Ludwig was reunited with the car over the Festival weekend.1976 March 2-4-0 – Though never raced in period, this Robin Herd-designed machine was hillclimbed with some success by Roy Lane in 1979.1952 Jaguar C-Type (XKC 005) piloted by Sir Stirling Moss and Norman Dewis. Moss drove this C-Type to victory in the 1952 Reims Grand Prix for sports cars.1903 Mercedes 60HP won that year’s Gordon Bennett Cup when driven by Belgian ‘Red Devil’, Camille Jenatzy.George Wingard took to the hill aboard his mighty 1911 Fiat S74. This 14.2-litre, four-cylinder-engined monster was raced new by aviation and speedboat pioneer Caleb Bragg. He led the 1911 US Grand Prix only to drop out after the car developed an oil leak. He claimed honours the following season.The Festival’s founder Lord March was generously offered the rare privilege of driving the ex-Jochen Rindt 1970 Lotus 72 Gold Leaf, and he is still grinning from ear-to-ear after this unique experience.Lukas Huni raced his 1961 Ferrari 250 GT Bertinetta Competition SEFAC, which is a short wheelbase car that is technically one evolution earlier than the 250 GTO but it utilizes the same engine. It was raced by brothers Pedro and Ricardo Rodriguez and won the 1000 kilometers of Paris in 1961.The ex-Carrera Panamericana 1952 Mercedes-Benz W194 was driven by Jackie and Paul Stewart.1972 McLaren M20 Can-Am was driven by Richard Attwood at Goodwood. Chassis M20-3 served up the final Team McLaren win in Can-Am at the hands of Denny Hulme.1972 Lola T310 was the last original Can-Am series car built by Lola. It was to be the longest, lowest, and widest Can-Am car of all time. Powered by a big block Chevrolet V8 mated to a Hewland gearbox, it was driven by then-reigning F5000 champion David Hobbs in the 1972 Can-Am series. It was entered by Lola importer Carl Haas and was sponsored by Steed and Goodyear. Just two T310s were constructed, but only this car (chassis HU-01) was ever raced in period.The rear-steering Peugeot 405 Turbo 16 GR set a record at its debut race at Pikes Peak in 1988, driven expertly by Ari Vatanen. Also starred in the award-winning film titled, “Climb Dance”.Rod Millen’s blisteringly quick 1998 Toyota Tacoma Pikes Peak won the Unlimited Class at Pikes Peak in 1998 and 1999. The 1,000 hp+ 2.1 liter engine enables the ‘truck’ to hit 60 mph in 1.6 seconds. (Watch 2009 FoS Video).Bruce Canepa muscled the gigantic 16-liter, 1,500 hp and 4000 ft/lbs torque Kenworth T2000 Pikes Peak race truck up Goodwill Hill.
Jackie Oliver driving the 1967 Lotus 49 that Jim Clark piloted to victory at the 1967 Dutch Grand Prix.From the Louwman Collection, this 1935 Lagonda M45R won the 1935 24 Hours of Le Mans driven by John Hindmarsh and Luis Fontes.Shelby Daytona Cobra Coupe CSX2300, ex-Tour de France. Driver Kenny Brack was interviewed after going up the hill in the Daytona Cobra, he likened the car to, “a Formula Ford with 800 horsepower!”Ex-Rob Walker Lotus-Climax 18 single-seater in which Sir Stirling Moss scored the marque’s first Grand Prix win at Monaco in 1961.Nick Mason’s 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO (s/n 3757GT) was piloted by his son-in-law, Marino Franchitti. In period, the GTO finished 2nd overall at the 1962 24 Hours of Le Mans.
For my dollars, I don’t think you can go wrong with the C-Type, especially in that color combo and with that race history.
Can’t argue with these choices. WANT them all. And the Rod Millen video was insane. That is chaos if I’ve ever seen it. Love it.
Which races is the TVR Griffith 400 of the McInerney brothers entered in in the Continent? I would like to see that car in action. I am in California, USA.