Forest Rally Stage at the 2024 Festival of Speed

Batch 10 hails all things rally, and we have machines dating back to the birth of rallying in the 1970s to the very latest cars running today, and all have been tearing it up with timed runs and demos over the course of the four-day event.

The oldest car here is the 1971 Alpine A110 Berlinette, which pre-dates the existence of the World Rally Championship by two years. Alpine stormed to victory that inaugural season, but it was 1977 when the first driver’s championship was awarded, to Sandro Munari winning with Fiat. We have the Fiat 131 Abarth Group 4 present, which won the championship in 1977, ’78, and ’80.

Moving through time, we’re honouring some of the legends of Group B with our class spanning 1982-1989, with the likes of the ’82 Porsche 911 SC being run by Samuel Thiele. 1981 saw the Audi Quattro arrive on the scene – a car which achieved 23 victories in its various models between 1981 and 1985. We have seven such cars here at the Festival of Speed, including the A1 and A2 from 1983, the 1985 Sport Quattro S1 E2 being driven by Peter van der Putten, and the Dakar Coupé driven by Stacey Hans.

The late 1980s and early 1990s saw Lancia dominate the world championship picture, and we have several versions of the Delta to watch, from the 1988 Delta Integrale being driven by Robert Whitehouse to the 1991 HF Integrale Evo and the ’92 HF Integrale Group A. Then it was the turn of Subaru, who won three championships on the spin between 1995-97. You can see the ’95 Impreza 555 GC8, Impreza Group N, and two of the Impreza WRCs at the Forest Rally Stage.

Finally, we highlight contemporary cars of the past decade and highlight the rising female presence in the sport. Aoife Raftery, the first female driver in the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy is taking to the course in the 2014 Peugeot 208 T16 R5, while the Iron Dames, fresh off racing at Le Mans, are demonstrating some of the very latest models with the 2024 Ford Fiesta Rally2. Other cars in this class include another Ford Fiesta – the 2018 R5 being driven by Steve Chamberlain, the 2021 version of the Proton IRIZ R5, which previously won the Forest Rally Stage back in 2017.

This year’s winner will be decided on Saturday afternoon, when those going for timed runs battle it out. But, whether it be a timed run or purely a demonstration of prowess, the rush of seeing these machines in action so close up means a visit to the Forest Rally Stage is a must at the Festival of Speed.

The 2024 Goodwood Festival of Speed is underway, and you can watch every moment of the action on our live stream right here on GRR!

Goodwood photography courtesy of Toby Whales