Up the hill at Goodwood Festival, and other concours, event news

0
2209
Goodwood
Land Rovers through the ages at Goodwood House | Goodwood Festival of Speed

One of the greatest motorsports celebrations in the world, the Goodwood Festival of Speed, marks its 25th anniversary Thursday through Sunday at the Goodwood Estate in Chichester, UK.   Featuring its iconic hillclimb, the Festival provides the opportunity to see a wealth of spectacular machines climbing the winding route, from the early days to the latest pieces of high-tech automobiles, including the first run of a fully autonomous car.

As well as celebrating its own anniversary, the Goodwood Festival will observe the 70th anniversary of two British stalwarts, Lotus Motorcars and Land Rover. 

Jim Clark in the Lotus 25 at the 1963 Monaco Grand Prix | Archive photo

The Lotus contingent will feature some of the marque’s greatest champions, including Jim Clark’s World Championship-winning Lotus 25, Graham Hill’s World Championship-winning Lotus 49, and Ayrton Senna’s first F1 race-winning car, the Lotus 97T, plus demonstrations of the revolutionary Lotus Type 56, gas turbine Indy car.

“In a fitting tribute to Lotus’ most successful racing driver, the Jim Clark Trust, the official charity of this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed, will be making a special dedication with an unveiling that recognizes the legacy of the one of motorsport’s most enduring figures,” according to a Festival news release.

“The Jim Clark Trust is marking the 50th anniversary of Clark’s tragic death while competing at Hockenheim circuit. Formula 1 World Champion in 1963 and 1965, and the winner on the Indianapolis 500 in 1965, Clark made 72 Grand Prix starts, took 25 wins and 33 pole positions – all behind the wheel of a Lotus.”

The Land Rover anniversary will host owners of 70 of the famed four-wheelers driving in a parade up the hill on Thursday. 

“One of the stars of the parade will be one of the last Defenders to roll off the production line, owned by Roger Crathorne, known as ‘Mr. Land Rover’,” the release says.

“Crathorne’s Defender 90 will be joined by other iconic models and their proud owners including Bob and Joe Ives’s Camel Trophy Defender, Gary Pusey’s chassis number 40 classic Range Rover and a V8 50th anniversary Defender owned by Sue Cummings.” 

The Goodwood Festival brings together a broad selection of classic cars for display, demonstration and auction, as well as introductions of new cars and concepts from the world’s automakers and design companies.  But the highlight of the event, as always, is watching as cars of all types and eras make their runs up the famous hill.

For more information, visit the event website.

Jacky Ickx is Amelia Concours honoree

Six-time winner of the 24-hours of Le Mans, Jacky Ickx will be the motorsports honoree for the 2019 Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance, held in March on Amelia Island, Florida.

“The centerpiece of Ickx’s racing career is six victories in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Yet that’s just the headline,” a concours news release notes. “His versatility is legendary. Ickx is the 1967 European Formula 2 Champion and owns eight World Championship F1 victories (and three non-championship wins) plus second place in the 1969 and 1970 F1 World Championships.

Goodwood
Jacky Ickx

“Ickx scored 37 individual race victories in the World Sports Car Championship and back-to-back World Sports Car Championships in 1982 and 1983. In America he won the 1979 Can-Am Championship, the 1969 Sebring 12 Hours with Jackie Oliver and the 1972 Daytona 24 with Mario Andretti.

“The versatile Ickx also logged victory in the 1977 Bathurst 1000 and the 1966 24 Hours of Spa, a class win and second overall in the Nurburgring’s grinding 84-hour Marathon de la Route plus his legendary victory in the brutal 10,000-kilometer 1983 Paris-Dakar Rally — “the war without bullets” — for Mercedes-Benz.” 

Ickx, known as “Mr. Le Mans,” will be on hand during the concours, along with a display of some of his most-famous race cars. 

For more information, visit the event website.

Lancias, Lambos and Porsches at The Quail

The Quail, A Motorsport Gathering, has announced four special classes for its 16th annual show in Carmel, California, on August 24 during Monterey Car Week. 

• “The Great Lancias” celebrates notable models of the storied Italian marque, including a 1974 Stratos HF Group IV, a 1955 Aurelia B24S and a 1988 Delta Intergrale 8V.

• “The 50th Anniversary of Espada and Islero” will mark a half century since the Lamborghini models debuted at the Geneva Motor Show.

• The “70 Years of the Iconic Porsche 356” focuses on the German automaker’s first run of rear-engine, air-cooled sports cars, including a 1951 356 Pre-A split window, a 1958 356 A Speedster and a 1965 356 C coupe.  

• “The Alois Ruf Reunion” will bring a selection of sports cars from the legendary Pfaffenhausen manufacturer and tuner. 

The Quail, which features fine food as well as great cars, is known as the hottest tickets of Monterey Car Week, and as usual, they already have been sold out.  There is, however, a wait list on which perspective show goers can pin their hopes.

For more information, visit the event website.

A workaday Volvo 86 at the Festival of the Unexceptional | Hagerty

Celebrate the mundane with Hagerty

The fifth annual Festival of the Unexceptional Concours d’Ordinaire “for exceptionally ordinary – but now very rare – classic vehicles” will be hosted Saturday by Hagerty classic car insurance at Stowe House, Buckingham, in the UK, next to the Silverstone Motor Circuit. 

“Originally staged by Hagerty in 2014 as the first event of its kind in Europe – to celebrate the ordinary, everyday cars that we all grew-up with, but have now all but disappeared – the light-hearted Festival of the Unexceptional (FOTU) has already become a must-attend event for the admirers of the mundane motor cars of our past; the Marinas, Metros, Chevettes, Hunters, Allegros, Corollas and so on, achieving cult status in less than five years,” Hagerty says in a news release.

Free-of-charge entries of suitably ordinary-but-special cars from between 1966 and 1990 will join a group of 45 “expertly chosen” official unexceptional vehicles. 

For more information and rules of entry, visit the event website.

More concours and events

Carlisle, Pennsylvania, will host side-by-side high-performance events Friday and Saturday when the Carlisle Chrysler Nationals take place at the Carlisle Fairgrounds and the Hurst Nationals is held in the adjacent Carlisle Expo Center.  For more information, visit the events website.

The 62nd annual Hillsborough Concours d’Elegance happens Sunday at the Crystal Springs Golf Course in Burlingame, California.  For more information, visit the event website.  

The 46th annual Forest Grove Concours d’Elegance will be held Sunday on the campus of Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon. For more information, visit the event website.  

The sixth annual 10,000 Lakes Concours d’Elegance takes place Sunday, July 22, on the Excelsior Commons in Excelsior, Minnesota, featuring around 180 rare and special cars, boats and motorcycles.  For more information, visit the event website.  

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here