Hundreds and Hundreds of cars to choose from at the Goodwood Festival of Speed…………what was your top 12 asked the Sainted Editor?

Well ask the question tomorrow and you might get a different answer but this morning my whims lead me this way………in no particular order.

Accentuate the Positive, Eliminate the Negative

Cadillac Series 61 Fastback – in some ways this is an odd choice given the amazing machinery displayed on the lawns but something in the car reflects the spirit of America in the immediate post World War 2 period.  It evokes Philip Marlowe’s California, a time when oil was cheap and cars were big.

In the imposing profile there is a sense of opportunity and purpose, that given the horrors of the recent past that mankind might just redeem itself. It’s a car that doesn’t give a damn about anything in the world, or maybe I’m a sucker for chrome and a good paint job.

Those Glory, Glory Days……..

The Silk Cut Jaguar XJR12 from 1990 will always be one of my choices, the song of the 7 litre V12 as it accelerated away from Mulsanne Corner still lives with me twenty years on. The Group C era produced many inspirational cars and perhaps as Jaguar, Dunlop and Castrol were the first major brands that I shot for that tips the balance in favour of the TWR machine.

The Festival of Speed example was driven at 10/10ths by Justin Law, who posted the fastest time of the event on the hill climb not too shabby for an old endurance special.

Bad Craziness

What were they smoking? The AVS Shadow Mk1 gives a new meaning to the word radical, it’s like something that Cheech and Chong might have come up with while waiting for Dave. In 1969 Don Nichols commissioned Trevor Harris to design a CanAm car with low drag, frontal area and size as the guiding principles. This go kart approach was perhaps inspired by theory that if everyone used Chevy power that would be more or less equal in output the car that could generate the least drag would be fastest……..it’s a theory.

In reality the car was undrivable, ask Vic Elford, and unreliable to boot but the lateral thinking behind the project is what we need now with the looming energy crisis.

Excellence was Expected

Porsche, being Porsche, approached the CanAm horsepower war with logic and technology as the answer. The Porsche 917/30 pushing up to a rumoured 1500 hp from the turbocharged 5.4 litre flat 12 engine frankly drove straight over the opposition and killed the series, TurboPanzer indeed.

Mark Donohue took the outright closed course speed record in the 917/30 recording 221mph over a lap at Talledega Superspeedway. Insane.

Bruce and Denny Show

Before the TurboPanzer arrived the factory McLaren team ruled the roost in CanAm with five consecutive titles. At Goodwood there was an example of the final development the M8F.

The orange cars always fascinated me, at the time I was really getting into racing and the stories penned in Autosport by the master craftsman, Pete Lyons, fired the imagination. They remain for me one of the peaks of the sport.

Sound of the Wind

Concept cars usually leave me indifferent, most don’t really work but the Mazda Furai is a bit different. Based on a Courage C65 tub and having a glorious sounding 3 rotor Wankel engine it had style, speed and pure class.

The futuristic looks really stood out even in the Festival of Speed….will this one make it to production?

24 Hour Grand Prix Cars

The final set of rules for the golden era of sportscar racing, Group C, had the engine formula sharing the same specification as Formula One. This was to herald a time when everyone would compete in Grand Prix, Endurance and something called ProCar. Of course it did no such thing, sportscar budgets rocketed to the level that even big spenders like Mercedes Benz blinked and withdrew. The last season 1992 had just two factory teams, Peugeot and Toyota but the cars were amazing.

Imagine a 3.5 litre V10s in chassis that had more downforce than a Black Hole. When the cars raced on the same circuits as Formula One the sportscars would have qualified in the third row.  The Toyota TS010 remains a thing of beauty and rarer than hen’s teeth.

Italian Style

Wot no Ferrari you say? Ok, in salute to the first British Grand Prix Driver to take the title I include the elegant and stylish Ferrari 246 Dino.

Mike Hawthorn was the 1958 Champion and in a similar car Phil Hill scored the last front engined win two years later at Monza, the end of an era.

Dry Martini

More Italian flair….the Lancia Beta Monte Carlo was an outrageous Group 5 racer that challenged Porsche’s supremacy and proved to be a real winner for Lancia.

Martini sponsorship and livery only added to the cool image. Anytime, Anyplace, Anywhere……..

Give me Goodwood on a Summer’s Day….and You Can Forget the Rest of the World………

It is inconceivable that an event could be held at Goodwood without the National Treasure known as Sir Stirling Moss displaying his talent, even at the age of nearly 79.

It was then appropriate that he was reunited with another great from that era, the Aston Martin DB3S whose elegant lines and classic profile are unmistakable.

The Right Stuff

The Cosworth era of Grand Prix racing was a very democratic time……all you needed was the engine, a Hewland gearbox and a bloke to design you a chassis. Lord Hesketh’s team were the last of the true privateers and with the late, great James Hunt aboard there was never a dull moment – and yet while on the track the team performed miracles with such small resources.

The Hesketh 308B even won the 1975 Dutch Grand Prix in their final season, going out on top. Owner of the car Frank Sytner had James’ son Freddie drive at Goodwood.

British Racing Green?

In 2001 Bentley returned to the 24 Hours of Le Mans, not entirely sure what the rationale was behind this as the cost could never be recouped from car sales but hey money was cheap and egos were big.

Two years later and Tom Kristensen, Dindo Capello and Guy Smith drove their Bentley Speed 8 to a stunning victory, here is the actual car that won at La Sarthe

And In the End………

We have Dastardly and Muttley……

…yes, the Wacky Races.

-John Brooks