Goodwood Festival of Speed 2017 – Report and Photos

The Goodwood Festival of Speed 2017 was held June 29th to July 2nd at Goodwood House and the 9-turn, 1.16-mile Goodwood hill climb in West Sussex, England. Staged since 1993 on the same stretch of the March family’s driveway, the theme for this year’s event, “Peaks of Performance — Motorsport’s Game-Changers”, paid tribute to racing machines that were so fast, powerful, expensive or complicated that the rules had to be changed to rein them in. These were the high-watermarks of motorsport; cars and motorcycles that left an indelible mark on the history of the sport.

The 2017 Goodwood Festival of Speed honoured the 70th anniversary of Ferrari with an array of more than 35 significant competition cars from the legendary Maranello marque, including grand prix and sports car endurance racers, in addition to a number of Ferrari road-going models. Entries included the 1947 125 S, the first Ferrari ever to win a race, to the latest 488 Challenge. Other highlights included Lawrence Stroll’s Sunoco-liveried 512 M and Sir Paul Vestey’s ex-Maranello Concessionaires 275 GTB/C. The latter upheld Ferrari’s honour at Le Mans in 1966 as all the works entries dropped out one by one.

For the first time, the Central Feature at the Festival of Speed celebrated an individual rather than an honoured marque. This year’s giant sculpture sweeping the sky in front of Goodwood House marked the joint Goodwood and Formula 1 celebration of Bernie Ecclestone’s life and career. Artist Gerry Judah’s display recognised ‘The Five Ages of Ecclestone’; five defining eras of Bernie’s career, as a driver, manager, team owner, impresario and as ‘legend of the sport’. Each age was portrayed by a different car, glinting high up on five arms, shooting out of a white circle.

The Goodwood Festival of Speed 2017 also featured 110 years since the opening of Brooklands, the birthplace of British motorsport, as well as Tom Kristensen’s 50th birthday and the 20th anniversary of his first Le Mans win.

Justin Law beat the cream of driving talent to win an epic Shootout which brought the curtain down on the 2017 Goodwood Festival of Speed. The Jaguar driver narrowly shaded Penske man Jeremy Smith to claim honours after setting a blistering time of 46.13 seconds. Former record holder Anthony Reid was the first man to break the 50 second barrier aboard the Polish Arrinera Hussarya supercar, and he appeared set for outright victory until rally ace turned stunt driver Mark Higgins bested him by the narrowest of margins in a Subaru Impreza. Law and Smith then bundled him further down the order with only a few minutes left to run.

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Similar to 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016, Sports Car Digest also documented the Goodwood Festival of Speed 2017, with the following great selection of images that capture the spirit of the “largest motoring garden party in the world”.

Goodwood Festival of Speed 2017 – Photo Gallery (photos: Goodwood)

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