After the usual rigmarole of getting onto Goodwood The day began with a wander through supercar public where Aston Martins Mercedes McLaren's Ferraris and porsche's along with a lowly V8 MG ZT, from there we headed to the formula one paddock to ogle all the latest that the F1 teams have to offer, there was a short pit stop en route to the bacon roll van, and at those prices a trip to my bank manager.
The good, bad and famous are in attendance with Sir Chris Hoy, Max Chilton and Steve Sutcliffe already spotted, and it is only 11:00, a number of race, rally and NASCAR vehicles have already taken to the hill most notably BTCCHonda driver Gordon Sheddon, my favourite so far to go up, we'll that will be the Ford RS 200, in full rally mode, a great car when launched and still great now.
MORE UPDATES DURING THE DAY......
More wandering about and a photo with the very nice John Barrowman, and off to the posh bit, with lots of exotica and rarities, and the stunning McLaren P1, what an awesome car that is, then around the house and Bonhams auction where the insanely rare Mercedes Fangio car was displayed, a pit was required so off to BMW for some well deserved hospitality.
MORE LATER.....
After the BMW visit, another wander around the car stands to see their wares and lots of new metal, including the new Citroen DS Convertible, Alfa Romeo 4C, Stunning, new Skoda Octavia VRs and the Renault Captur amongst many others, Mercedes decide to only have the AMG range of cars on show, which for us mere mortals who can't afford such vastly expensive cars was a mistake in my opinion, Mini had everything on show including the hideously ugly Paceman and Peugeot had the 208 GTi and 2008, both really great looking cars, they also had a flowrider on the stand where we watched many people have a go and fail, which was very funny at times, and NO, I did not have a go, I am too sensible to make that much of a tit of myself.
For those that love the Wacky Racers cartoons, they were here as they are every year, and this time they were in full costume, and I could not just stand by and not get up close and personal (but not too close) with Mutley, and Penelope Pitstop, these guys have spent a great deal of time and money to produce these vehicles and they should be applauded for the constantly smiling faces and for those in the costumes on such a very very hot day.
The F1 paddock was, as always a great place to be, seeing the engineers working on the cars in their marquees, with the various nose cones, side panels et al, taken off for all to see what was underneath, nearly all the F1 teams were there, and they all provided a great spectacle and were happy to chat with anyone that wanted to talk to them.
Another break was had before we made our way over to the '
Cartier Style De Luxe' where we had the great pleasure of seeing some of the most beautiful cars ever made, and not just new cars like the Bugatti Veyron (opposite), but cars like Classic Ferrari's, Jaguars, Auburn's and Porsche's, and such delights like concept Vauxhall's and Peugeot's, and to top it off, my all time favourite the absolutely mint and pristine Rolls Royce (below left), this car was so pristine it looked like it had only just been released from the factory, with the silver lady and traditional Rolls
Royce grill, makes this car one of if not the best car in the world, I would give my eye teeth just to be able to have a ride in this car.
I have always had a love affair with Rolls Royce up until they were taken over by BMW, who have in my opinion destroyed the brand, but it is just my opinion, and I do agree that if they had not taken hold of RR there may well not be a company today to produce such iconic cars, at least we have history on our side to show that the Brits could make the best.
The stunning Mercedes Benz SS roadster was another stunning car at the show, and again was in extremely good condition for it's age, I have a large model of this car as I do of the Rolls Royce above, both these cars have a place in my heart, even though Mercedes seems to have become a bland maker of everyday cars, AMG range exempt, but back then they really knew how to make spectacular cars.
Just like Ferrari, with an F40 also amongst this group of world class cars the Ferrari here is so simple in its design with shapely curves from every angle you look at it, the low roof line and long long bonnet, makes this one of my favourites from the show, The white wall tyres really set this car off more so that if it did not have them.
Ferrari had a number of cars at the show, including the FF and F12, both lovely cars in their right, but they do not and can never hold a candle to this stunning car, and my all time favourite Ferrari, the Daytona, which I did not spy at this years Goodwood festival of speed.
At first glance you may not know what this car is, but then when you start looking at the lines and glass house, you can clearly see it is the Jaguar XK, or E-Type, this stunning concept car, has made an iconic car more desirable, and with the the famous 77 RW also on display, Jaguar has shown again that it is committed to Goodwood.
For those that do not know 77 RW was a press car that was driven over night from Coventry to Geneva by Norman Dewis, so it was ready to go on display with the other already there.
The MINI stand was enhanced dramatically but the inclusion of a real Mini, I used to own a Mini 45, in Blue with "
Jamboree trim" this is what Mini was and is all about, and this is what new MINI should be about, but it is not, they are all large bloated cars, that fail in the size and nature of the original, BMW MINI try to attach itself to the history but in my opinion they have tried everything except actually make a car in the true nature of Mini, and that is a nice small car, they had the concept Rocketman, but never took it any further, which is such a shame
Lexus had a number of stands dotted about the grounds, all of them were being used as information points which was a great idea, get people to your stand to get advice on where things were and while there get them to look at your cars, and they did, well, we did, and the new IS range of cars including hybrids really look the part, and they need to as the current version is well out of date, so a new one is needed. The GS LS and RX ranges were also prevalent around the stands but the IS was the stand out model for me.
Volkswagen had a very poor stand this year, and I cant see why, they have some great cars, but the stand did not have any Polo's expect the WRC car, no, Passats, Jetta, Tiguan, Touran, Scirocco, Beetles or Toureg's but they did have teh XL1, the high acclaimed 313mpg car, and will it achieve this figure well apparently it can and does, as we were told on Saturday when visiting the VW stand at Buckingham Palace, so all in all the VW stand at Goodwood was a little poor.
I mentioned the Mercedes Benz stand earlier, and how it had all AMG models on show, but it also had the brand new S-Class, which is here, the new car has kept it's distinguished looks from the previous generation but with subtle updates, the interior is a haven for leather and wood fans.
There is also a lot of chrome as well, the rear seat space is vast which is the opposite for the boot space, which has to be the biggest shock, for a car this size the boot is very small, in fact i have seen bigger boots on small cars, but overall the S-Class is a winner.
If i was able to wave a magic wand and have any concept car brought to production this is surely up there with the best of them, this "Jet 2" or Aston Martin Rapide Estate, or shooting break, as they prefer it to be called, is the most beautiful car that Aston has not made, and that is dreadful, they should put this car into production, it will sell, and sell well, I am sure, the sportiness has not been lost with the addition of the estate rear end, and in my opinion, it is better for it, at least it looks better than the epically ugly Panamera from Porsche.
Jaguar had lots of cars here this year from the E-types to the R performance versions of the XF and XJ and the XK R-S along with the stunningly gorgeous F-Type, which has to be one of the best looking sports cars available today.
They also had a concept F-Type, the project 7 (below), all of which proves beyond a shadow of doubt that Jaguar are a maker of luxury super saloons & sports cars, they have the looks, luxury, the noise of the V8's are just astounding added with reasonable costs, well reasonable for the class they are in,
Another new brand to the UK is TESLA, they started as an electric sports car maker in the US, which proved to be extremely popular, then, Jeremy Clarkson got hold of one and a lawsuit followed, the least said about that the better, but well done TESLA, here is the Model S, a Jag XF sized Electric saloon with a claimed range of 300 miles per charge, the car itself is really well put together, with lots of kit and spectacular dashboard and associated "tablet" style central binnacle, along with loads of space inside both for passengers and luggage, this is surely one car that should and will do well in the UK, it should just sell on the looks alone.
It was also good to see the new Routemaster Bus for London, it was a nice surprise to see as we didn't know it was going to be there, so of course we had to go and have a look, it would have been rude not too, anyway, the new Routemaster is exactly what it claims to be, a replacement for the iconic Red London Buses that toured the roads of the capital for decades, and this one can carry the torch for decades more to come, it is easy to get into and out, has the looks of the original, albeit in a more modern twist, and with the return of the "clippy" or conductor, it will also create lots of new jobs.
Along with Jaguar, Land Rover and Range Rover are my favourite brands, so it was great to spend some time on the Land Rover stand and ogle the vast array of new metal and spectacular angles the Range Rover Sport was getting into on the purpose build assault course.
Land Rover has been on a massive upward curve of late, both in sales, income, profits and popularity, First came the Evoque, then came the new Range Rover which took the car to a completely new level of luxury and capability, then came the new Sport, a mini me of it's bigger brother.
So what's next for Land Rover, well, they have replaced all the Range Rover models, so now it will be the Land Rover cars to be given the new look treatment, we have already seen the Defender concepts, and the Freelander 3 is currently doing the rounds of testing, that leaves the Discovery 4, if we are to believe what we read this will be given a face lift similar to what it had from Discovery 3 to 4, maybe to allow it to sell while new Freelander 3 models are released and new Defender and its derivatives, and will then be left to run its course before it is cancelled.
I am sure that we will find out one way or the other in the not to distant future, either way, this brand is doing everything right, and long may it continue.
The day was coming to an end and the legs and feet were screaming at me to leave them alone, so after the Land Rover stand we headed back to the car for our journey home, The 20th anniversary Goodwood was a major success, it is such a shame that so many car companies failed to attend, Where was Dacia, Chrysler, Chevy, FIAT, Hyundai, Kia, Mazda, Mitsubishi, SMART, Suzuki and Vauxhall, Jeep, Ssangyong, Subaru and MG, all no shows.
Maybe they do not realise that the Goodwood Festival of Speed is THEE place to go for new cars and UK, Europe and world launches, has a dedicated huge fan base that the attended manufacturers can actively encourage to buy, and last of all, by not attending, they lose a huge amount of kudos, the stands and displays are bigger and better than the preceding year, so perhaps the brands that do not attend, don't care about the buying public, or the fact that this is the place to show of your new metal, as the majority of those that did not attend, had new cars to show the world, but hey ho, it is their loss, the 2013 GFoS was a massive success, brilliant weather and brilliant cars and displays, the countdown is now for 2014.
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