Goodwood Festival of Speed 2019 – Report and Photos

The Goodwood Festival of Speed 2019 was held July 4-7 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 Duke of Richmond family’s driveway, the theme for the 27th annual Festival was “Speed Kings, Motorsports Record Breakers”, celebrating human endeavor at the very limit from the 1900s through into the future.

Among the earliest runners at the 2019 Festival of Speed was the straight-eight-engined 1919 Ballot race car which René Thomas qualified on pole at 104.7 mph in the Indianapolis 500. In contrast, Volkswagen’s ID.R all-electric prototype highlighted some of the speed that has already set a new fastest-ever time at the Pikes Peak hill climb in America and shattered the electric car record at the Nürburgring.

The iconic Central Feature that presides over the Hill celebrated Aston Martin’s racing history at Goodwood. The 31-metre sculpture was crowned by an Aston Martin DBR1, 60 years after Stirling Moss dramatically claimed the World Sportscar Championship at the Tourist Trophy by snatching victory from Ferrari and Porsche. A fleet of Aston’s greatest racing cars also made its way up the Hill each day to celebrate the marque’s enduring success.

For racing aficionados there was the opportunity to savour no fewer than 15 of the 25 Porsche 917s that were ever built in a special display marking their 50th anniversary. Immortalised in Steve McQueen’s 1970 movie Le Mans, these mighty Porsches, which were created by future VW supremo Ferdinand Piëch, dominated the World Sportscar Championship and America’s Can-Am series, reaching speeds as high as 241 mph.

Other landmark celebrations at the Goodwood Festival of Speed 2019 included Mercedes-Benz celebrating 125 years in competition, Bentley in its centennial year, 60 years of the Mini, 50 years since Sir Jackie Stewart’s first Formula 1 world championship title, 40 years of the World Rally Championship drivers’ title and 25 years since the first of Michael Schumacher’s record of seven F1 drivers’ titles.

The all-electric Volkswagen ID.R broke the outright Goodwood Hillclimb record, 20 years after it was set by ex-F1 star Nick Heidfeld in a McLaren MP4/13. By stopping the clock in a time of 41.18 seconds the ID.R averaged 101.4mph along the 1.16-mile course. Driven by two-time Le Mans 24 Hours-winner Romain Dumas, the Hillclimb record is the third landmark for the all-electric machine. The ID.R established a new electric vehicle lap record around the Nürburgring Nordschleife, with a time of 06:05.33 minutes in June, to add to its outright record on the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in Colorado, USA, (07.57.15 minutes) set in June 2018.

Similar to 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018, Sports Car Digest also documented the Goodwood Festival of Speed 2019, with the following images that capture the spirit of the “largest motoring garden party in the world”.

Goodwood Festival of Speed 2019 – Photo Gallery (photos: Goodwood, as credited)

The unauthorized use and/or duplication of any editorial or photographic content from sportscardigest.com without express and written permission from the publisher is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to sportscardigest.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.