The Future is Now

07th July 2018

The world's first driverless electric racing car will tackle the famous Goodwood hill at the 2018 Festival of Speed

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The Robocar driverless electric race car pictured here will be one of the vehicles embarking on the 26th Festival of Speed’s Hillclimb, and like all the participants, its wheels will cross a very special startline. In 2011, some bricks from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway were transported to Goodwood and laid as part of the centenary celebrations for the Indianapolis 500. Originally made up of 3.2 million of these bricks, the American race track was known throughout the world by its nickname, “The Brickyard”. These days, the Indy 500 is run on smooth asphalt, but a little slice of American motorsport history remains forever in the Sussex countryside.

the narrowest, bumpiest, least grippy course I’ve ever driven

Juan Pablo Montoya

More than 400 cars and bikes cross the finish line of the Goodwood Hillclimb each year. For those who don’t bag one of the best times, there’s still a sense of victory in completing the course. The Hillclimb is deceptively tricky: it might appear straight and simple to spectators but it contains numerous challenging bends, including Molecomb, a sweeping left followed by a flint wall that can catch out drivers who fail to get the line right. Not that this prevents the many competitors – and over 60,000 spectators each day – from enjoying the action. “The Goodwood Festival of Speed Hillclimb was the narrowest, bumpiest, least grippy course I’ve ever driven,” said F1 legend Juan Pablo Montoya. “But I loved it.”

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This article is taken from the Goodwood magazine, Summer 2018 issue

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