The past week has been Brexiting. It’s this word we use when the British make quick exits. Through tight corners. On a racetrack. Sights like that are abundant at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, the world’s best “automotive garden party” – that’s succinctly British for a motor show that’s anything but garden variety.
March madness
The festival takes its name from the historic venue, the Goodwood Estate belonging to racing enthusiast, acclaimed motoring writer and honorary member of the British Racing Drivers Club, Charles Gordon-Lennox, Earl of March and Kinrara – or Lord March, as he was formerly known. The attractions include the famous hill climb, a timed car race through a sloped 1.86km course spanning an elevation of 92.7 metres. There’s also a supercar run, a forest rally stage and a soapbox challenge (a race to stock the Goodwood House with Palmolive? No. Google it). The showstoppers weren’t just of the dynamic kind though. The static exhibits are very much a tradition at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. At least since 1997.
High art
We’re car nerds and we might not know much about art. But the annual automotive installations at Goodwood for the last 20 years strike a chord with us petrolheads. This year the sculpture commemorated BMW’s hundredth anniversary with three iconic racecars from the brand, hoisted atop giant three-dimensional metallic racing strips plunging right into the sky.
Placed closest to the ground is a Gordon Murray designed Formula 1 car from 1983, the Brabham-BMW BT52. Higher up, there’s the Le Mans winning BMW V12 LMR from 1999, wearing a generous amount branding for Dell. The BMW 328 Mille Miglia Roadster seems to be flying right out of the tiled roof of the Goodwood House.
The mastermind behind this dramatic sculpture is artist Gerry Judah (a Londoner whose roots can be traced to Kolkata and Baghdad). Last year he created a 120-tonne structure resembling the double helix structure of a strand of DNA and had a Mazda Le Mans car and a LM55 Gran Turismo Vision concept plonked right on top. That’s the stuff of elaborate engineering pranks at MIT. For Judah, though, that’s just another day at the office.
Get a glimpse of Gerry Judah at work with Littlehampton Welding at the Goodwood Estate: