While the Goodwood Revival Meeting celebrates a romantic era of motoring that’s now just a speck in the rear view, the Goodwood Festival of Speed is all about pushing the modern limits of driving. Gentlemen drivers, race teams, even factory teams descend upon the Goodwood Estate in southern England for a weekend to see who can set the quickest time up the long winding driveway belonging to Lord March, Duke of Richmond.*
This year a 20-year record was broken by Romain Dumas driving the Volkswagen I.D. R, an electric vehicle that set the quickest lap at the Nurburgring in an EV just a month before. Dumas put down a time of 41.18 seconds up the hill, just a half second faster than the former record, held by F1 driver Nick Heidfeld, that was set back in 1999.
The cars were clearly the star of the festival, but there’s a quiet sideshow going on among those with a burning fascination with all things mechanical. It doesn’t take place on the course, but rather on the wrist. Beyond the cars, the festival serves as an excuse for enthusiasts to strap on their favorite timepiece, reveling in the notion that there’s a tiny mechanical machine beating away on their person while observing the larger machines running at full tilt on the course.*
Ferrari 250 GT SWB
Fiat Abarth 750 GT
World Rally Champion Petter Solberg's WRX
"The Beast of Turin," a Fiat S76, features a 28.4-liter inline-four cylinder engine.
Porsche 911 RSR
Rally-prepped Ford Escort
Lancia Fulvia HF
950 Ferrari 166 MM Barchetta
Bugatti Type 35
1965 Ford GT40 Roadster
The record-setting VW I.D. R
2019 Subaru WRX STi rally car driven by Oliver Solberg


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