How the Goodwood Festival of Speed became one of Europe's biggest motoring events
From an expected 200 guests to a global stage for the car world
These days the Goodwood Festival of Speed is where the car world comes to show off, but it began as a wonderfully modest idea that nearly overwhelmed its own organisers. Our partners at Gocar.be traced how a one-day garden-party sketch grew into one of the biggest automotive events in Europe.
A humble start in 1993
The very first Festival of Speed took place in 1993, dreamed up by the Duke of Richmond as a way to bring motorsport back to the Goodwood estate in West Sussex for the first time since the circuit closed in 1966. It was planned as a single Sunday, and the organisers braced for perhaps a couple of hundred guests. Instead, more than 25,000 people turned up. The story goes that volunteers ended up scooping cash into sports bags because nobody had expected anything like the demand.
Growing, day by day
That runaway success set the tone. A Saturday was added in 1994, a Friday in 1996 and finally a Thursday in 2010, turning the Festival into the four-day marathon it is today. The Duke leaned on his own racecourse, farm and forestry staff to build the early events out of straw bales, marquees and rope, borrowing the visual style of the Indianapolis 500, and that distinctive look of white tents and black-and-white signage survives at Goodwood to this day.
More than just a hillclimb
At its heart is the famous hillclimb, where everything from vintage grand prix cars to modern hypercars charges up the narrow course in front of Goodwood House. But the event has grown far beyond that, adding a forest rally stage and an off-road arena, and drawing competitors and machinery from Formula 1, the World Rally Championship, MotoGP and endurance racing. It is one of the few places on earth where you can see all of motorsport's disciplines in a single weekend.
Why carmakers can't stay away
Crucially, Goodwood has become a genuine rival to the traditional motor show, and manufacturers now use it to launch their most important cars. This year's event alone hosts the world debut of BYD's electric Denza Z supercar, the production debut of the manual Hennessey Venom F5-M, the bespoke Rolls-Royce Phantom Regatta, and the electric Alpine A110 FUTURE, with Ford even firing up its new Le Mans hypercar.
AutoNext Take
There is something lovely about the fact that one of the world's great automotive events started as a garden party that got gloriously out of hand. Where traditional motor shows have been shrinking, Goodwood has thrived precisely because it is not a sterile hall full of static cars, it is noise, smell, speed and history all at once, run on an estate with real soul. That is why manufacturers keep choosing it for their biggest reveals over a conventional show stand. Long may it run, and if you have never been, put it on your bucket list. Thanks to our partner Gocar.be for telling the story so well.
