Friday 13th June 2003

The first Goodwood Festival of Speed was held, in the grounds of Goodwood House, West Sussex, UK. In the summer of 1936, Freddie March – the 9th Duke of Richmond – hosted a private hillclimb for the Lancia Car Club in the grounds of Goodwood House. In 1993, his grandson, the present Earl of March hosted his own Hillclimb and created the Festival of Speed. It all kicks off with Press & Preview Day on Thursday for the latest road cars, while the rest of the weekend sees heritage cars taking on the 1.16 mile Hillclimb, which challenges the world’s greatest drivers and riders, including today’s Formula 1 and Moto GP stars. The track has an elevation change of 92.7 metres, for an average gradient of 4.9%. The record time for the hillclimb was set in 1999 when Nick Heidfeld drove a McLaren MP4/13 Formula One car up the hill in 41.6 seconds (100.385 mph). For safety reasons Formula One cars are no longer allowed to do official timed runs, and often focus on demonstrations that are spectacular rather than fast. In 2006 Heikki Kovalainen completed the course in a Renault R25 F1 car and was unofficially timed below 40 seconds. From 2000 to 2004 this was a downhill race for gravity-powered cars. Starting from just below the hill-climb finish line, to a finish line in front of the house. It included entries from Cosworth, Prodrive, and other top companies. With some famous riders/drivers piloting them, including Barry Sheene. However, there were frequent accidents. Despite an official cap on the cost of cars, the unofficial costs were becoming too high, so it did not return in 2005.