Goodwood Festival of Speed: The Hillclimb and the Paddocks

What the Festival is

The Festival of Speed was founded in 1993 by the then Lord March, now the Duke of Richmond, with the aim of bringing motor racing back to the Goodwood estate. The first event drew a crowd of 25,000 across a single Sunday, despite falling on the same weekend as the Le Mans 24 Hours.

It grew quickly. A Saturday was added the following year and a Friday in 1996, and the event now runs across four days in summer. It has become the largest gathering of its kind anywhere, drawing manufacturers, teams, historic collections and drivers from across motorsport.

What distinguishes it from a race meeting is that it is not a race. Cars run individually against the clock up a hillclimb rather than competing wheel to wheel, which means machinery far too valuable or fragile to race can be run at speed in front of a crowd.

The hillclimb

The hillclimb is the centrepiece. The course runs 1,890 metres — a little over 1.16 miles — through nine turns, climbing roughly 93 metres for an average gradient of just under five per cent. It runs up the driveway of Goodwood House, lined with hay bales and flint walls.

It is genuinely narrow and genuinely dangerous, which is a large part of its appeal. There is little run-off, the surface changes character through the climb, and drivers attacking a time are working with almost no margin. The outright record has been the subject of serious manufacturer effort, with purpose-built electric machinery setting the benchmark.

Runs are grouped into batches through the day by category, so the course sees historic grand prix cars, rally machinery, motorcycles, current racing cars and manufacturer debuts in sequence rather than all at once. The timetable is the thing to plan a day around.

The paddocks

The paddocks are what most attendees remember. Unlike a grand prix, where the machinery is behind barriers and the teams are inaccessible, Goodwood allows the public to walk among the cars as they are prepared, warmed up and moved to the start line.

The proximity is remarkable given the value of what is on display. Historic racing cars worth extraordinary sums sit in open tents with mechanics working on them, and drivers move through the same spaces as spectators. For anyone interested in the engineering rather than only the spectacle, it is the main reason to attend.

Beyond the hillclimb and paddocks, the event includes a forest rally stage, manufacturer displays and the sculpture that is installed in front of Goodwood House each year, built around a chosen marque.

The other Goodwood events

The Festival of Speed is one of several motorsport events on the estate. The Goodwood Revival, held in September at the adjacent motor circuit, is a genuine historic race meeting rather than a hillclimb, run entirely in period dress and with period machinery, and it is a substantially different proposition.

Between them the two events have made Goodwood the centre of historic motorsport in Britain. The estate’s circuit hosted grand prix-era racing before closing to competition, and the modern events were conceived specifically to restore that heritage rather than to create something new.

Getting there from London

Goodwood is in West Sussex, and the practical reality is that access is not straightforward for a large crowd in a rural location. Rail services run to Chichester, the nearest town, with shuttle buses to the estate on event days. The journey from London is comfortably manageable as a day trip.

Driving is possible and parking is provided on the estate, but the surrounding road network is rural and congestion on arrival and departure is substantial. Rail and shuttle is generally the less frustrating option, particularly for the busiest days.

Days are long and largely outdoors on grass and gravel, so footwear and weather preparation matter more than at a conventional venue. Sports trips from London covers travel to events outside the capital more broadly.

Tickets

Tickets are sold by day, and the days differ considerably in character. The opening days are quieter and better for seeing the paddocks properly, while the weekend carries the headline runs and the largest crowds. Sunday is the busiest and the one that sells out first.

General admission covers the paddocks and most viewing areas along the hill, with grandstand seating and hospitality sold separately. Because so much of the event is walking and standing, general admission is a reasonable choice for most attendees, with a grandstand worth considering only if you intend to watch the hill for an extended period.

Frequently asked questions