Goodwood Festival of Speed
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| Location | Goodwood House, West Sussex, England |
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| Time zone | BST |
| Owner | Charles Gordon-Lennox, Earl of March and Kinrara |
| Opened | 1993 |
| Major events | Goodwood Festival of Speed |
| Hillclimb | |
| Length | 1.86 km (1.16 mi) |
| Turns | 9 |
| Lap record | 0:41.6 (Nick Heidfeld, McLaren, 1999) |
| Forest Rally Stage | |
| Length | 2.5 km (1.5 mi) |
The Goodwood Festival of Speed is an annual hill climb featuring historic motor racing vehicles held in the grounds of Goodwood House, West Sussex, England in late June or early July; the event is scheduled to avoid clashing with the Formula One season, enabling fans to see F1 machines as well as cars and motorbikes from motor racing history climb the hill.
In the early years of the Festival, tens of thousands attended over the weekend; it currently attracts crowds of around 100,000 on each of the three days it is now held. A record crowd of 158,000 attended in 2003, before an advance-ticket-only admission policy came into force; attendance is now capped at 150,000.
The Goodwood Festival of Speed was founded in 1993 by Lord March in order to bring motor racing back to the Goodwood estate — a location steeped in British motor racing history. Shortly after taking over the estate in the early 1990s, Lord March (as he is formally known) wanted to bring back motor racing to Goodwood Circuit, but did not have the necessary permit to host a race there. Therefore, he instead hosted it on his own grounds. With a small selection of entrants made up of invited historic vehicles, the first event that took place on Sunday 13 June proved to be a success, taking in a crowd of 25,000 despite a date clash with the 24 Hours of Le Mans that year. After the first event's date clash, Lord March would ensure that the event would never be allowed to clash with either Le Mans or Formula One races. In 1994, Saturday was added, making it a weekend event. In 1996, Friday was added, making it a three-day event. In 2010, the Moving Motor Show was added on the Thursday.
Thanks to the event's classification as a hill climb, its location and desire to reflect the style and history of motor sport, visitors are afforded close views of the action - separated only by a few metres and reinforced straw bales from the track. Visitors are free to walk around several paddocks where the cars and drivers can be seen at close quarters. The atmosphere of the Festival of Speed, when compared to the separation of fans from drivers and machines common to most top end motor sport events, encourages participation by the fans.
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