Goodwood – Festival of Speed 2010

Thanks once again go to Lord March for his kind invitation to the event, and for laying on such wonderful weather!

The journey down was uneventful and although Catherine and I were arriving later than I had intended, it was the Saturday of the event this year and so was far less crowded on arrival than would be the case on Sunday.

The normally full Supercar paddock was almost bare, but offered a great opportunity to take a good look over the Pagani Zonda; one of only two cars present! The installation in front of Goodwood House was minimalist giving the impression of a bow to display two Alfa Romeos, a sleek roadster and a vintage racer. At this stage in the day, there was not a breath of wind to flutter the flags atop the roof. Later with a breeze Dougie Lampkin was to be found doing wheelies and stoppees along this very roof having presumably once again ridden his charger up the grand staircase!

The dry weather had turned the offroad section to desert and the four-by-fours were kicking up the dirt as they took to the banked bends and the leaps, coating everything nearby with fine harsh sand just not wanted by digital cameras! We listened for the mobile telephone call that would let us know that Lizzy and Tim had managed to make it to join us. This was one year when we gave the Rally circuit a miss, because of Tim's injured leg, but we did reach the set off point for the Shuttle Service and the queue stretched for at least sixty yards, so when we received the call we set off back down the hill and met up in front of the house.

I had planned to be down there for the Red Arrows, but instead watched from a lesser standpoint halfway up the hill where we multi-tasked by also watching the motorbikes doing wheelies. Part of my time was spent in the VIP enclosure where Catherine and I met up with Simon Diffey, one of the drivers racing, and Lord March who mentioned that he had actually tried to get hold of me, but had lost my contact details, so I presented him with two, so that both he and his PA had a record for the future. Hopefully this may mean another visit to help with Lightroom and Photoshop at some time. We all stayed till the very end; reluctant to leave this wonderful place, but all good things must end and eventually we left Lizzy and Tim to make their very long journey across fields to reach their car and we made our own trip back to the car and back home.