autoevolution
 

2011 Goodwood Festival of Speed Sees Record Attendee

There’s not a lot of events out there that bring together more car fans from across Europe than the Goodwood Festival of Speed. The venue usually sees tens of legendary drivers and thousands upon thousands of fans, yet this year’s edition managed to top all others.

A record 181,000 motor sport and car enthusiasts were attracted to the Goodwood magic, but over 100 star racing drivers and riders also arrived on the scene, including Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button, Mark Webber, Nico Rosberg, Nigel Mansell, John Surtees and Sir Stirling Moss.

Among the many 2011 Festival highlights was Sunday’s Top Ten timed shoot-out finale against the clock, with Dan Collins bringing the event to a stirring conclusion with an epic performance in the powerful Lotus 88B. Goodwood also celebrated the centenary of the Indy 500 race with 42 significant Indianapolis cars present, 33 of them lining up on the ‘grid’ outside Goodwood House and running up the Hill.

A variety of other entertainments were on offer, including renowned stunt driver Terry Grant setting a new record in a Nissan Juke for driving up the entire 1.16-mile Goodwood hillclimb on two wheels, as well as breath-taking air displays from the Red Arrows and Vulcan bomber.

UK debuts were also aplenty, especially when it came to supercars like the new Ferrari FF, Lamborghini Aventador and Jaguar XKR-S.

So how can they ever top this? Well, the 2012 Goodwood Festival of Speed will be confirmed in the autumn, but motor sport enthusiasts needing their next Goodwood fix only need to wait another 11 weeks for the 2011 Goodwood Revival in September.
If you liked the article, please follow us:  Google News icon Google News Youtube Instagram X (Twitter)
About the author: Mihnea Radu
Mihnea Radu profile photo

Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida.
Full profile

 

Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?

You will only receive our top stories