TMW - LIVE FROM GOODWOOD (well almost) DAY 1

Firstly, many apologies for the lack of updates over the weekend for the Goodwood Festival of Speed 2014, for some unknown reason, this Blogger would not publish my posts, even though i had managed to complete many of them, with regular updates and pictures, yet when i got home, and opened up Blogger on my laptop, there was not one post, not even as a saved post, so sorry for that, but, i can do reports now, a little late, but they will be as accurate as if they stupid blogger app worked.

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After a very early start, well for us anyway, we set off from home at 5:45am, and according to the sat nav an arrival time of 9am 9ish) was expected, yeah right, it is the Goodwood Festival of Speed (GFoS), which generally means 2 hours to get there, and 2 hours in queue's, but, not this year, with roads closed and others made one way, it was a very swift access, and once in, we were directed to our dedicated parking, right near the entrance.

I am glad we were not in the main parking, as the dust was horrendous, and every car you could think of was in the main parking area's and all covered in thick layers of dust, you could see it from some way off too, a large dust cloud, it was like looking at one of the desert sand storms, but we couldn't believe how stupid some people were, leaving convertibles open, and parked right against the road, i for one would not wish to have to clean that up, but we got in, tickets scanned, and then the usually scamming of £15 for a programme and radio (which we later found out to be free from most of the displays, we will remember that for another year.

As was the case for a few years, the main way in was through the MMS, or Moving Motor Show tent, this is a massive marquee that held a load of manufacturers, that on the Thursday of GFoS, the general public can drive these cars, from Abarth to Volvo, Mercedes and Jaguar and more, all on the famous hill climb, I have done this a few years back in the then newly launched jaguar XJL, and wow did that thing fly.

Also in this massive structure was a number of brand new launches, the new Mustang, Focus ST and new Mondeo, Lexus Coupe, Toyota Aygo amongst others, once through the here, we worked our way onto the main site, and straight onto the Mercedes stand, which as per usual was huge, but lacked variety, Mercedes only ever seem interested in putting AMG branded cars on their stands, what about the bread and butter cars, that most people buy, and i was surprised that the C-Class estate was not on show.

A swift exit from the Merc stand and off to what i was really looking forward to seeing and that was the new Citroen C4 Cactus, to see if it lives up to its hype, and wow, it does, this car is stunning, it looks far better in the metal than in any pictures i have seen, the rubberised airbumps on the side, are a gimmick, lets not be at odds over that, but it is a gimmick that truly works, and will work really well. How many times have you come back to your car only to find some arse has put a dent in your car, just because they don't care for their car as good as you or I.

The airbumps are soft to to the touch, and there is a lot of give when pushed, i believe they will easily be replaced should the need arise, as i am sure some scum bags with try and cut them, out of shear spite. It was also great to see the C1 too, both of these were UK launches, along with the Aygo and Peugeot 108, essentially the same car with differing lights and trims, but it was also great to see the C-Elysee, the Asia specific small saloon car, which is currently demolishing all comers in the WTCC with Sebastien Loeb at the wheel amongst others, he was even on hand to sign autographs later in the day.

I cant get to grips with Fords stand, it looks like a giant multi storey car park, nothing inspiring to look at, but they id have a number of new cars on the stand, the Mustang convertible, and limited edition Fiesta, along with the Indian made Ecosport, which, in my opinion is horrendous, the interior quality of the car on display was not the best, wobbly trim, cheap feeling parts and a look only a mother could like, she would never love it.

It was then a great surprise to see the IDX concepts on the Nissan stand, .these are unlike most concepts, as these could be built as is, and if Nissan were just to take that risk, these could be hit the world over, but, Nissan and Risk do not go hand in hand, or even Nissan and amazing, which is a shame, as these two could change perceptions of the brand.

Maybe with a little extra press and social media interest and Nissan might get the hint, but if you do, please do not change them, leave them like this, as it is people like this look, do not water it down into another Japanese bland machine. the Cash cow and entrail, oops X-Trail now look like slight different sized twins, that's just boring and lazy design. It seems as though the Japanese brands are heading more this way, whereas, European brands are heading back to stunning designs.

That said, Jaguar has launched the first of a number of Special Vehicle Operations, cars, with the Project 7, F-type, from last years GFoS, now being made, in very limited numbers, 200 only, and whilst we were there, two were sold, well, i say sold, 60 are going to be available in the UK, 77 have been sold, so for the 17, there is a waiting list to be placed on, and at £135k per unit, with that large lump and no roof, these are going to be like hens teeth to get hold of.

The Jaguar stand is always a great place to be, the stunning XFR-S Sportbrake is an amazing piece of kit, and the coupe F-Type is another, it.is really a pleasure to see Jaguar and Land Rover go from strength to strength, slowly producing more cars, new niche products, new segment cars like the new XE, and new Discovery concept, there will also be a new baby Range Rover that slots below the Evoque, new Defender and yet another Baby Landie, below the Discovery Sport and above the Defender, it will most probably be part of the Defender family, which will appear in 2016/2017, after at least a year away from market.

Renault was the next port of call, and they had a large number of concepts in display, along with the new Twingo, in both standard and racing style trim, along with the Captur crossover and Clio, the Twizy is also on display, however it is a car that really is not suited that well to the UK, i feel that this little car is more of a hot climate car, especially as windows are not standard which is really silly.

A very brief stop over on the BMW stand just to look at the i8 hybrid sports car was made before we went on, it is a brand that we don't support here, their ethics and behaviour towards other companies and individuals is not something we agree with, but that said, the i3 and i8 are cars that will make significant changes in the way cars are perceived in the future, they can be good looking and emissions friendly, but at a cost, the stand also had the M4 on display too.

 The Skoda stand was another one that was one that had to be visited, as well as the normal cars like Rapid, Yeti and Octavia, there was a number of concepts from Worthersee, the Yeti with massive wheels, looks a little out of scale, but the Vision C, now in White rather than the previous Skoda green colour was a lovely car, shame then it wont actually be made, the CitiJet concept was another that was a nice surprise, as it was only added just a day or two before.

No visit is ever complete without a visit to the Bentley stand, the best in beauty and luxury, the ultimate car, and, it was packed, no matter what time we went past it was like a game of sardines on the Bentley stand, so apologies for the pictures, whilst there were treated to a big Red arrows show, they are always on hand at GFoS, and never fail to impress, the Mulsanne, Flying Spur, Continental and GT V8S were present to drool over, these cars are what we all aspire to, something that's truly British, totally brilliant and something that maybe one day we will be able to have, yeah right......

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The day was wearing on, and the weather, which was supposed to be wet at times, was getting hotter and hotter, and more humid, regular breaks were made and the not very cheap food was consumed, and lots of water drunk, just to keep the fluids up, and off we went again, this time to AUDI, they had the new MK 3 TT along with the stunning quattro concept, they keep saying they are going to build it, so instead of keep saying it, just do it, it is a really beautiful car, and deserves to be made.

Please AUDI, build this car, and build it today, unchanged, and as is, I guarantee that it will sell in bucket loads.

After an elongated stay on the Audi stand, it was huge after all, we came to one conclusion, THEY ALL LOOK THE SAME, whether it be the A3 saloon, A4, A6 or A8, they just all look like each other, the same as the Merc S-Class and C-Class, and that's just lazy boring design, but the Germanic brands have always done this, WHY, please give some style back to your cars, we are fed up of them all looking the same.

Time to look at some cars on track, and there were plenty, from every era of every type of race series, with drivers from the 1950's to today, where else in the world can you get this, nowhere, that's where, the GFoS is THE place to go to see everything under one roof, so to speak, as we started watching the cars, there was a fly past of the worlds last Vulcan bomber, they need a vast amount of money to keep this amazing aircraft flying, and as it stands, 2015 may well be the very last year that this stunning aircraft flies.

I don't usually do this, but please visit this site HERE and if you feel as though you would like to add to the funds, please do, it is a very worthwhile cause, and an amazing aircraft that needs to be kept in the air for as long as possible.

We were missing so many great cars go up the hill while this stunning plane was in the air, but it was soon gone and we got back to watching some cars, so some flying of their own, all trying to get a great time up the hill, i will just post a few pics, before i go onto the next port of call, which was to the rally stage.

Look at that Jag, is that not just an awesome looking machine, not an E-Type, or D-Type, but for the era of its life, it really was the best thing on the roads, shame its reliability was a little, well, tainted. 

To be so close to the race track is a really great experience, the sounds, the looks and the smells, burning rubber, fuel and oil, its one of the few places that you can get all these at a distance where you can literally reach out and feel the air movement as the cars fly past, hearing turbos scream, tyres squeal under extreme braking and accelerating, this is an amazing experience and one that you never forget.

After a long LONGGGGGGGG wait for the transport up to the Rally stages, we boarded the tractor and trailer, and trundled up the hill, it was extremely dusty and we all got covered in dust and dirt, yet it was all part of the fun, if you can call it fun, we arrived at the summit of the event and wandered across to the cars, rally cars from the 1960's right up to today's cars and a Skoda Fabia S2000, it is just so memorable seeing these cars, from the 70's and 80's before they morphed into ride arches and mega engines.

An era when the car on the rally stage was exactly the same as the car in your drive (albeit with a few safety features), as your all aware I love Jaguar Land Rover, but my heart is with Rover, and to see my favourite ready to be rallied was a dream come true, the Rover SD1, it is a barge of a boat yet they drove it like it was a car half the size, or an original Mini, the Hillman Avenger, Citroen Visa, Escorts, quattro's and more, the pictures can tell far more than i can so please enjoy them all.

Do they not bring back memories, well, for some of us they do, they are stunning cars, and all were treated like proper rally cars, nothing was held back, once that flag was lowered the cars just went for it, full pelt, and that was it, you could see bugger all else until they came back, as the dust was just horrendous, but they were all there, available to see, and get right up close, touch them and look inside, no one worried, questions asked were answered without hesitation and with gratitude that we wanted to know about them, again, there is nowhere else that you can go where you get this close to the cars.

We were even lucky enough to see the Worlds best rally driver, Sebastien Loeb, we just happened to be wandering back past the Citroen WRC stand when he pulled in from his last run, which was directly after setting the fastest time of the day on the hill climb in the Pikes Peak Peugeot T16, and wow, he is tiny, I never realised that he was so small.

Whilst at the top, we spent some time watch the cars arrive at the end of the Hillclimb, this is probably the best place to view the cars, as they drive slowly around the loop and park up, it is also the best place to view the drivers too, as they all get out and chat to each other, but enough of my waffle, enjoy the pictures.

The first day was coming to a close and we headed back down to the main event area, to head back to our car, we wandered past a number of the stalls that were touting their wears, some good, some silly and some just weird, a number of model shops, selling models and toys at vastly inflated pricing, i even advised a few people to get on eBay, as the items they were looking at were cheaper there. 

There is one thing that i loath more than anything else, and that's people ripping off others, an example of this was a particular model had been reduced by 50%, to £49.99, so original price is £100, yet on eBay, and a couple of other stands the exact same model is for sale at £25.00, so not only were they lying about the original price, the sale price was 100% dearer than everywhere else, and i mentioned it to a couple of customers, that really makes me mad, i hate thieving scrotes.

I digress, on our way out we were really surprised to see this, probably the most beautiful car there, and one which i really hope sells for the the company, as this really deserves to be seen by many more people.

The David Brown Speedback, Is by far and away the most stunning car at the show, in our opinion, it is not very often that a niche car maker like this comes out with their very first car, thta has caused such interest, yes the name David Brown is more commonly associated with Aston Martin, and this Mr Brown, i have to say, is not associated with AM in any way, but he has chosen to utilise one of the best classics ever made as the basis of his new car, the DB5, and this works.

The basis of this car is a Jaguar XK, but you would never know that from the outisde of the car, as it is pure Aston, however once you get to look at the insides of the car, you can clearly see tha this is a Jaguar, as very little has been changed, but everything has either been covered in Wood, Leather or Chrome, and again, it all works, even the pull down rear seat in the boot, it might seem a gimmick, and like a Range Rover, but you dont laugh at it, you look at it and think, wow, why has no one else done this before in a car like this.

And a final first day visit to the Land Spee record attempt  Bloodhound SSC, we at the TMW have paid to have our name on the side of teh vehicle, and wish that more people would do the same, it would be great to have this record totally smashed and back in the UK where it really belongs, We wish Richard Noble and Andy Green all the best of luck, and bring it back to the UK.

So, thats day one, day two will be more of the same, with lots of pictures, and and even hotter day.....

TMW - Jon Mower