Nick Heidfelds 1999 (41.6s) hillclimb record was beaten after Max Chilton in his McMurtry Spéirling fan car tore it to shreds at 39.08s in 2022!
Spectate from the chicane at the Revival to see plenty of classic cars going sideways as they exit this infamous point of our Motor Circuit.
The first ever horsebox was used from Goodwood to Doncaster for the 1836 St. Leger. Elis arrived fresh and easily won his owner a £12k bet.
The first ever horsebox was used from Goodwood to Doncaster for the 1836 St. Leger. Elis arrived fresh and easily won his owner a £12k bet.
Testament to the 19th-century fascination with ancient Egypt and decorative opulence. The room is richly detailed with gilded cartouches, sphinxes, birds and crocodiles.
Flying training began at Goodwood in 1940 when pilots were taught operational flying techniques in Hurricanes and Spitfires.
According to Head Butler at Goodwood House David Edney "Class, sophistication and discretion".
As the private clubhouse for all of the Estate’s sporting and social members, it offers personal service and a relaxed atmosphere
Our gin uses wild-grown botanicals sourced from the estate, and is distilled with mineral water naturally chalk-filtered through the South Downs.
Every single item from plates to pictures has its own home within the Lodge, with our butler (James) has his own "bible" to reference exactly what is out of place.
Easy boy! The charismatic Farnham Flyer loved to celebrate every win with a pint of beer. His Boxer dog, Grogger, did too and had a tendancy to steal sips straight from the glass.
The Fiat S76 or "Beast of Turin" is a Goodwood favourite and can usually be heard before it is seen at #FOS
Legend of Goodwood's golden racing era and Le Mans winner Roy Salvadori once famously said "give me Goodwood on a summer's day and you can forget the rest".
The bricks lining the Festival of Speed startline are 100 years old and a gift from the Indianapolis Speedway "Brickyard" in 2011 to mark their centenary event!
The Fiat S76 or "Beast of Turin" is a Goodwood favourite and can usually be heard before it is seen at #FOS
For safety reasons F1 cars can no longer do official timed runs so instead perform stunning demonstrations!
Future Lab is Goodwood's innovation pavilion, inspiring industry enthusiasts and future scientists with dynamic tech
King Edward VII (who came almost every year) famously dubbed Glorious Goodwood “a garden party with racing tacked on”.
The first public race meeting took place in 1802 and, through the nineteenth century, ‘Glorious Goodwood,’ as the press named it, became a highlight of the summer season
King Edward VII (who came almost every year) famously dubbed Glorious Goodwood “a garden party with racing tacked on”.
Whoa Simon! A horse so determined and headstrong, he not only won the 1883 Goodwood Cup by 20 lengths, but couldn't be stopped and carried on running over the top of Trundle hill
The bricks lining the Festival of Speed startline are 100 years old and a gift from the Indianapolis Speedway "Brickyard" in 2011 to mark their centenary event!
The Motor Circuit was known as RAF Westhampnett, active from 1940 to 1946 as a Battle of Britain station.
One of the greatest golfers of all time, James Braid designed Goodwood’s iconic Downland course, opened in 1914.
Ensure you take a little time out together to pause and take in the celebration of all the hard work you put in will be a treasured memory.
The first ever round of golf played at Goodwood was in 1914 when the 6th Duke of Richmond opened the course on the Downs above Goodwood House.
The first ever round of golf played at Goodwood was in 1914 when the 6th Duke of Richmond opened the course on the Downs above Goodwood House.
One of the greatest golfers of all time, James Braid designed Goodwood’s iconic Downland course, opened in 1914.
The famous fighter ace, who flew his last sortie from Goodwood Aerodrome, formerly RAF Westhampnett has a statue in his honor within the airfield.
Ray Hanna famously flew straight down Goodwood’s pit straight below the height of the grandstands at the first Revival in 1998
Flying jetpacks doesn't have to just be a spectator sport at FOS, you can have a go at our very own Aerodrome!
We have been host to many incredible film crews using Goodwood as a backdrop for shows like Downton Abbey, Hollywood Blockbusters like Venom: let there be Carnage and the Man from U.N.C.L.E.
G. Stubbs (1724–1806) created some of the animal portraiture masterpieces at Goodwood House, combining anatomical exactitude with expressive details
Ensure you take a little time out together to pause and take in the celebration of all the hard work you put in will be a treasured memory.
The red & yellow of the Racecourse can be traced back hundreds of years, even captured in our stunning Stubbs paintings in the Goodwood Collection
The first ever round of golf played at Goodwood was in 1914 when the 6th Duke of Richmond opened the course on the Downs above Goodwood House.
The iconic spitfire covered almost 43,000 kilometres and visited over 20 countries on its epic journey and currently resides at our Aerodrome.
The iconic spitfire covered almost 43,000 kilometres and visited over 20 countries on its epic journey and currently resides at our Aerodrome.
The oldest existing rules for the game were drawn up for a match between the 2nd Duke and a neighbour
We have been host to many incredible film crews using Goodwood as a backdrop for shows like Downton Abbey, Hollywood Blockbusters like Venom: let there be Carnage and the Man from U.N.C.L.E.
The famous fighter ace, who flew his last sortie from Goodwood Aerodrome, formerly RAF Westhampnett has a statue in his honor within the airfield.
The first thing ever dropped at Goodwood was a cuddly elephant which landed in 1932 just as the 9th Duke of Richmonds passion for flying was taking off.
The iconic spitfire covered almost 43,000 kilometres and visited over 20 countries on its epic journey and currently resides at our Aerodrome.
The first thing ever dropped at Goodwood was a cuddly elephant which landed in 1932 just as the 9th Duke of Richmonds passion for flying was taking off.
Just beyond Goodwood House along the Hillclimb, the 2nd Dukes banqueting house was also known as "one of the finest rooms in England" (George Vertue 1747).
Built in 1787 by celebrated architect James Wyatt to house the third Duke of Richmond’s prized fox hounds, The Kennels was known as one of the most luxurious dog houses in the world!
As we approach the 75th anniversary of F1’s inception, we remember the winner of its first race, Achille Varzi, whose brilliant driving was overshadowed by scandals on and off the track.
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Words by Peter Hall
It was Italian pre-war great Achille Varzi who won the very first race under the new Formula 1 rules – the Turin Grand Prix of September 1946. But for the 42-year-old, this was not just the dawn of a new era, but a moment of redemption – a triumphant return to form, following a scandalous affair, an addiction to morphine and the long absence from the racetrack caused by World War II.
F1 is 75 years old this year. A world championship for grand prix cars and drivers had been discussed since the 1920s, but it was only after the war that the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) established a set of regulations. Although intended to take effect in 1947, the rules were first applied in the Turin race.
Born on 8 August 1904 to a wealthy Piedmontese family, Varzi raced motorcycles then switched to cars in 1928, driving with Alfa Romeo, Bugatti, Maserati and Auto Union. The closest rival to his celebrated compatriot Tazio Nuvolari, he recorded 33 wins in grands prix, the Mille Miglia and the Targa Florio.
A precise and careful driver, he was also formidably determined; in the 1930 Targa Florio, when his Alfa P2 was engulfed in flames, he simply drove on to win while his mechanic beat out the fire with a seat cushion. Yet although Varzi was popular with partisan crowds, he was never a man of the people. Taciturn and aloof, he was also intensely analytical; Enzo Ferrari recalled him quibbling for hours over the seat height of his Alfa until a mechanic raised it by the thickness of a folded newspaper.
His reputation was not enhanced by rumours of corruption at the 1933 Tripoli GP, where the race result was linked to a 15 million lire lottery fund. It was later alleged that Varzi, Nuvolari and others conspired to fix the result (Varzi won by 0.2sec after Nuvolari slowed dramatically on the final lap) but evidence suggests they merely agreed to share their winnings equally.
Varzi’s career took a more dangerous turn in the spring of 1935. Having joined the German Auto Union team he met Ilse Pietsch, the wife of a team-mate, and embarked on a torrid affair, unaware that she was a drug addict.
A year later, Varzi won at Tripoli ahead of team-mate Hans Stuck, who had slowed under orders mandated by the Nazi regime to ensure an Italian victory on Italian soil (as Libya then was). Both drivers were furious, but when the Governor of Libya proposed a toast to Stuck, declaring him the real winner, Varzi was incensed. He couldn’t sleep, and Ilse offered him morphine.
As addiction took hold, Varzi’s world collapsed. Increasingly unreliable and elusive, he lost his place in the team and descended with Ilse into dark obscurity. Alarmed at her malign influence, Mussolini barred Ilse from Italy; in March 1939 Stuck found her in Munich begging for money to buy a forged Italian passport to get back into the country, and a waiter later reported finding her unconscious in the street, wearing a pink nightdress and murmuring Achille’s name. Varzi was more fortunate; once free of Ilse he married an old friend, Norma Colombo, who helped his recovery.
He made a remarkable post-war comeback at that first F1 race in 1946, driving an Alfa Romeo 158 and beating Alfa team-mate and former French Resistance fighter Jean-Pierre Wimille by half a second after 60 laps (174 miles) of Turin’s Valentino Park circuit. He went on to win three more GPs in 1947 and also raced successfully in Argentina.
However, his luck ran out on 1 July 1948, while practising for the Swiss GP at Bremgarten. In only the second accident of his career, his Alfa skidded on a damp track and overturned, killing him instantly.
For all his victories, success on the track was not Varzi’s only legacy. In Argentina he had befriended Juan Manuel Fangio, and persuaded him to race in Europe. Fangio would win five F1 world championships, but never forgot his mentor: “Varzi was to me a god… he is probably the driver I have most admired in my life, a man who cared only for his art.”
This article was taken from the Spring 2021 edition of the Goodwood Magazine.
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