2023 Goodwood Festival of Speed (visited at high speed)

The cross-eyed Bugatti Bolide

Saturday 15th of July. There I was, feet up on the sofa, cup of coffee in hand, midway through mindlessly watching highlights of Friday’s hillclimb runs at Goodwood on Youtube. Then the text arrived from my neighbour.

PING. “Hi Tom. Have some spare tickets to Goodwood for tomorrow in case you’re around/interested?”

Around? Yes. Interested? Erm, only slightly…

I’d missed out on buying tickets earlier in the year and decided that I’d save my pennies and wait until 2024. However, I clearly amassed some good karma in a previous life and now the universe had decided to cash it in for me. Free tickets to the Festival of Speed? Go on then.

One slight issue. I’d promised to take Mum to the theatre at 6:30 p.m. that evening, meaning I’d need to leave Goodwood no later than 3 p.m. unless I fancied an awkward conversation explaining why I’d chosen to spend time with the Duke of Richmond, rather than her.

Goodwood FoS is weekend-long festival, packed with a vast assortment of new, old, road-legal and racing cars, spread across multiple fields. Trying to see everything in three days is a challenge, let alone within the strict six hour window I faced.

Nevertheless, a high-speed visit beats no visit at all, and I managed to whip around the event, taking a few quick snaps as I went. Unfortunately, time ran out before I could scout the concours lawn or the historic racing paddock but I still saw more incredible machinery than I thought possible for one morning. And I made it back in time for Shakespeare.