It's All Good In The Wood

Christmas comes but once a year. And so does Goodwood’s Festival of Speed. If you’ve never been, here’s a guide to what you’ve been missing…

- Dangerous Bruce

If you go down to the woods today you’re sure to have a surprise. Why, you ask? Well, because these particular woods are quite like no other. Forget all that nursery rhyme nonsense of teddy bears and picnics, because that’s just a facade to keep the do-gooders at bay. The ear-piercing roars that annually permeate the surrounding villages of Lord March’s grand Goodwood estate, set within the picture postcard South Downs, are all man-made. And when I say that, I mean they’re literally produced by an octane hungry human at the controls of some outrageously motored device.

Grasping the basics

I’ll level with you; I’m still relatively new to the whole Goodwood experience but it’s a highlight on my calendar that gets better with each visit. Short of it being my own funeral, it’d take an unprecedented incident to stop me attending what is for tens of thousands of people an annual pilgrimage that sees the rich, the famous, and the scrotes of this world mix in harmony around arguably the finest collection of motorsport known to planet earth. From the rarest of race bikes, to the most advanced motoring technologies in existence, this performance fuelled mixing pot blends the best of all worlds within a backdrop so quintessentially British, it could make the Queen look foreign.

But before we get cracking with the finer details there are a few caveats to be thrown in. Firstly, your eardrums might get ruptured. Don’t take this warning lightly. If you’ve ever stood next to a MotoGP bike or a Honda Six, then you’ve some idea as to the unholy, yet brilliant magnitude of noise an engine can create. Now multiply that ear-piercing factor by the 600-plus motor vehicles actively abused across a Goodwood Festival of Speed (FoS) weekend and you’ll have some idea of the noise on tap. It’s phenomenal!