Past Events
Goodwood 2005
Goodwood 2005
Goodwood Festival Report Vol.1
A huge monument featuring Honda F1 cars from the past was erected in front of the Goodwood House to kick off the 2005 Goodwood Festival of Speed. This report shares the excitement of this world-class event, which attracts the attention of not only fans of historic machines but also car and motorcycle enthusiasts from all over the world.
RA272 thunders in front of fans, sounding the Honda music of yesteryear.
The high-pitched engine sound of the Honda RA272 echoed through the Goodwood Festival of Speed. This was the same model that Richie Ginther drove to victory in the Mexican Grand Prix in 1965, 40 years ago, the last season of 1.5-liter F1 cars. Visitors at Goodwood appreciate the Honda music, looking fondly at the racing machine. Honda has historic racing machines that have long been adored by race fans. This is a fact that confirms the depth of Honda’s history in motorsports.
This year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed was held over three days from June 24 (Fri) to 26 (Sun). The monument, erected by Honda as this year’s main sponsor, told the story of 40 years of Honda motorsports history, displaying six successive Honda F1 cars from its first to the third phases in F1. Supported by huge arms, the six cars, RA272, RA300, Williams Honda FW11, Lotus Honda 99T, McLaren Honda MP4/4, and B-A-R Honda 006, moved up and down in the air. This was the first time that the monument at Goodwood incorporated motion.
This year’s monument in front of Goodwood House attracted attention, with successive generations of Honda F1 cars seemingly flying through the air.
At the venue were ten motorcycles and eight cars lovingly restored by the Honda Collection Hall, an unprecedented number of Honda’s racing machines.
All of the Honda machines were prepared to run in the famous hill climb, while sounding the Honda music of yesteryear, at the hands of legendary riders and drivers who demonstrated their spectacular skills.
The beauty of this event is that the spectators and the riders and drivers mingle freely, similar to a school reunion, where everyone treats each other like old friends. People casually asked for autographs from riders and drivers of the past, and enjoyed friendly chats. For a fan of racing machines and racing, the excitement is unparalleled.
On Day 2, the famous Hill Climb was held. Honda’s historic racing machines raised the excitement of the audience, who undoubtedly gained a sense of the deep history of Honda motorsports, by watching Honda racing machines piloted by their respective riders and drivers thunder past on the hill climb. All legendary world champions, Luigi Taveri, Freddie Spencer, and Mick Doohan rode Honda’s historic racing bikes, while John Surtees, Gilles de Ferran, Nelson Angelo Piquet (son of Nelson Piquet), and many others drove the racing cars.
Modern racing machines also participated, including the 2005-spec B-A-R Honda 007 driven by Takuma Sato, repeatedly stopping and starting on the main straight while receiving a huge ovation from the crowd.
Luigi Taveri rides the RC149, the world’s first 125cc 5-cylinder racing bike. Taveri became world champion riding the RC149.
The event also featured over 200 stores of all sizes, selling everything from cars and parts to old and new catalogs, books and magazines on cars, motorcycles and aircraft.
The Goodwood Festival of Speed is an event full of dreams, that attracts many fans. Gatherings of such interesting historic machines are extremely rare.
Vol.2 provides more details of this year’s Festival of Speed.
