4 July 2010 Goodwood Festival of Speed - day 3

Giacomo Agostini on his MV Agusta


Mick and Giacomo Agostini 15 time world Motor Cycle champion


Red Bull Formula 1 car steering wheel


a Lincoln


2010 Rolls Royce


Jaguar XK Supersport


Goodwood House and Lyn


Toyota Camry V8


Superbike wheelstand


Mick and Bentley Continental Supersport Convertible with 50p and 10p coin resting on top of a running engine


Bentley Continental Supersport Convertible with 50p and 10p coin resting on top of a running engine


2010 Aston Martin Rapide


Avro Vulcan


Avro Vulcan


Avro Vulcan

Today dawned fine and sunny again for the final day of the Goodwood Festival of Speed. The trip in to the event was trouble free as overnight more signposts had been added by the AA directing traffic on a different route to the one we had been taking on previous days. We just followed the route we had taken on the earlier days and drove straight to the car park whilst the Sunday only visitors got stuck in the traffic.

During the day Mick commented that he thought there were less people there and we put that down to the fact that the tickets for Sunday were more expensive than other days.

About mid morning the weather turned a bit cooler and a cool breeze arrived which saw the organisers take down a huge blimp (with GTR on the side) which had been flying for the previous 2 days and was visible for miles. Also the Motox stunt riders weren't able to perform. It was a welcome change to the hot weather of the previous 2 days.

As on the previous 2 days there were 3 air displays but this time the Red Arrows were replaced by a Vulcan bomber. What a fantastic sight this aircraft was. There is only one left flying in the world and when it turns the taps on the ground shakes!

Goodwood was the first flying display of this aircraft this year due to technical problems.

As it is a bomber and has very big Delta wings which give it tremendous lift, it is able to travel fairly slowly through the sky enabling spectators to get a good view. What a thrill it was to see it doing various manouvres.

Today we tried to see what we had missed on the previous 2 days and visited some of the other spectator stands to get different perspective of the action.

One area that we had not seen previously was the Formula 1 garages. All the major teams were there with their cars but unfortunately the drivers had only visited and competed on Saturday (in different types of cars) so were not present when we were there.

Later when we arrived home we saw Jensen Button on TV at the men's singles final at Wimbledon so we knew where he went. The only driver of note still there on the Sunday was Lewis Hamilton who put the new McLaren road car through it's paces. We were only able to see Mark Webber in action on the track on Saturday.

We also visited most of the other stalls that we had not seen and it would be safe to say that there were stalls selling practically anything you could want and not want. Lyn wanted to buy some memorabilia things whilst Mick did not!

Every type of car and many individual drivers/riders had their own stalls with merchandise for sale. Caps, badges, stickers and all manner of clothing were available on these stalls and the prices varied depending on the fame of the brand/person. One thing noticeably absent in this country are stubby holders which are all over Australia.

I bought a Festival of Speed cap which cost £20 ($34) but the Red Bull stall was selling their caps for £28 (About $45). The Valentino Rossi (current world motor cycle Motogp champion) stall was selling his branded cap for £25 ($40). All overpriced really.

Strangely enough at the Ducati stall there was nothing for sale mentioning Casey Stoner the previous Motorcycle world champion from Australia who rides for Ducati. When I raised that at the stall they said it was because Casey Stoner Inc which is managed by his parents will not allow him to be marketed in this way. Strange.

We didn't get to see it all even after 3 days and did not go up the hill to the Rally circuit to watch the events up there nor did we go to up to the top paddock where all the cars end up after an event. The reason for this was that it was a 30 minute walk to get up there and our old legs were very tired after a busy weekend.

There were many other activities going on around the estate including a Porsche driving experience whereby you got the chance to put a Porsche Cayenne through it's paces on a dirt track in a large field. It looked like great fun. There were also several huge F1 simulators where you went inside and got the feel of driving an F1 car. Not for me I'm afraid. My stomach wouldn't be up to it.

Other activities were for children and 'big kids' including a couple of gokart tracks and a bouncy trampoline thing with those elastic bands.

Before leaving we had one more trip to the supercar paddock where, because of the crowd interest, photography was very difficult.

We didn't stay for the fireworks as we didn't want get caught up in the homeward bound traffic and had a trouble free trip home.

The highlight of today would have to be the Vulcan Bomber. It was just spectacular. Maybe she'll let me go to the Farnborough air show later this month? Maybe not.

All in all a great 3 day weekend and many great memories thanks to Lord March.