Past Events
Goodwood 2007
Goodwood 2007
Visiting Goodwood vol.3
The 2007 Goodwood Festival of Speed was characterized by mud & rain. We visited on the last two days of the three-day event, and the sun only showed for the first half day. The next day and a half was marred by heavy rain and mud.
However, even in such bad conditions, the British people knew how to enjoy themselves. Rain or shine, the number of visitors to Goodwood was unaffected. It shows that the British people’s love of cars is real.
The theme for this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed is “Spark of Genius.” There are many different kinds of geniuses, but this year’s event brought together bikes and cars, riders and drivers, all with the strong will to push the boundaries of possibilities.
Indeed, watching the bikes and cars racing up the track at full throttle in the torrential rain as if nothing had happened, it was apparent that these were geniuses in their own right. In England, cars are culture.
When I arrived at the venue, the first thing I did was to look at the monument in front of Goodwood House, as I have done every year. This year’s monument is a series of beads of past racing machines from Toyota, this year’s host manufacturer, descending from behind several huge, torii-gate-like, 30-meter-high frames. Below them, a 2007-spec F1 car and other vehicles were on display.
When I arrived at the venue around 9:30 in the morning, almost 70% of the several large parking lots were filled. Cars were arriving constantly. Just looking at the cars coming in from the general public, I got the feeling that “this is Goodwood!”
Starting with old 1950s Riley, Wolseley, Rover, Hillman, Austin, MG, and others mixed in with the replicas and kit cars, there were vintage and classic cars that would normally run on the main Goodwood course.
I once asked a driver who came into the parking lot in a 1930s Bentley saloon, “Why aren’t you in the hill climb?” He replied, “My Bentley 4 1/2L is a regular at this event. I think it will run again today. Please come and see it.”
The event is characterized by a large number of spectators in their 20s, as well as families. Naturally, there were a lot of children, but their good manners were very impressive. For example, if children tried to touch the cars on display, their parents were sure to warn them. In fact, other children would warn each other not to touch the cars. It was obvious that cars are part of the culture in this country.
Suddenly, the high-pitched sound characteristic of an F1 engine echoed from the paddock, heralding the beginning of the event. The Goodwood Festival of Speed, first held in 1993, is now in its 15th year, and it is customary for each event to have a theme, with events and exhibits based on that theme.
This year’s theme is “Spark of Genius - Breaking Records, Pushing Boundaries.” In essence, it is a feast of high-performance machines born from the inspiration of genius drivers and designers. In particular, the exhibition features drivers and cars that competed in GP races and F1 from the 1930s to the 1960s, as well as cars that challenged the land speed record at the Salt Flats in Vonneville, Utah, drag racing, and the world’s longest and most grueling race, the Pikes Peak Hike.
This is an extremely unusual theme for a classic motorsports event in the UK. As in previous years, the bikes and cars on the course and on display are all Veteran (1886-1904), Edwardian (1905-1916), Vintage (1919-1930), Post Vintage (1931-1939), and Classic (post-WW2), all worthy of being called masterpieces.
Goodwood is also characterized by its acceptance not only of cars, but also motorcycles, bicycles, and anything else that moves. This openness is a major reason for the popularity of the event and its unparalleled attendance.
This year, Honda brought three F1 cars (the 1968 RA301, 1986 Williams Honda FW11, and 2007 RA107) and eight motorcycles (including the 1962 RC145 and 1966 RC173).
Drivers include John Surtees, who actually raced in the RA301 in 1968, and current F1 drivers Anthony Davidson (FW11) and Gil de Ferran (FW11). The current F1 machine, the RA107 was driven by Jenson Button.
The motorcycle riders were also impressive. Tommy Robb, Luigi Taveri, Bob Heath, Stuart Graham, Jim Redman, and many others rode the hill climb. Many of the riders are long past their 60th birthday, but once they were on their machines, they rode at full throttle up the hill.
One of the highlights of this year’s event is the gathering of five of the six Bugatti T41 Royales, a French luxury car, that were built between 1927 and 1933. Although the displacement of the inline 8-cylinder SOHC engines built by Ettore Bugatti (1881-1947), one of the genius Italian-born automobile designers of all time, varied slightly from year to year, the largest was 12,760 cc (not a typo).
今年の最大の目玉のひとつは、1927年から1933年までの間にわずか6台しか造られなかったフランスの高級車「ブガッティ T41 ロワイヤル（Bugatti Type41 Royale）」のうち、5台が一堂に顔をそろえたことだろう。イタリア生まれで歴史に残る天才的自動車設計家の一人であった、エットーレ・ブガッティ（Ettore Bugatti、1881～1947）が造り上げた直列8気筒SOHCエンジンの排気量は、年式によってわずかな大小はあるものの、最も大きなものでは12,760cc（キーの打ち間違いではない）もあるのだ。
Each cylinder was approximately 1,600 cc, meaning eight Civics are packed in one Bugatti. Output was 200 hp, and maximum torque remained unmeasured because there were no dynamometers available at the time. It was probably “sufficient.” The transmission was a 3-speed, but in practice, second and third gears were sufficient. As with all luxury cars of the era, the Royale was built for the rich and famous of Europe and America, but the factory price for the engine and chassis alone was 5,250 pounds in the UK. The British-made luxury car of the same period, the Rolls-Royce Phantom II (inline 6-cylinder, 7.6-liter), cost 1,750 pounds, which is almost the price of three cars.
This alone shows what a tremendous car the Royale was. In a technical sense, it had no impact on future generations. It was just huge, expensive, and nothing new in terms of automotive technology.
This “majestic futility” is a prerequisite for a true luxury car. If it makes the onlooker say, “Wow!” that is good enough.
It has been confirmed that the Royale has been fitted with 11 different body types to date. Some of the chassis were replaced several times during the course of the project. For better or worse, the Royale was the pinnacle of automobile society. The five Royales were gathered together. The sight of five huge cars with a wheelbase of 170 inches (about 4300 mm) crammed together was definitely a highlight of this year’s Goodwood.
The oldest of the five Royales was a jet-black painted Coupe de Ville called Coupe Napoleon, built on the first chassis (No. 41100, 1927). Coachwork was by Henry Bender of France. The car is owned by the National Automobile Museum of France. The coupe de ville has no roof over the driver’s seat, as has been the tradition since the coach days, and thus the cockpit seats are upholstered in leather for rain protection. The cabin interior, including the seats, is upholstered in moquette. This is the theory of a true luxury car.
The second Royale was a 1929 coupe Napoleon (No. 41111), also made in 1929, with the passenger compartment ceiling hollowed out in the shape of a rice paddy with glass inlays. The body color was dark blue and silver. The coachwork was by Henri Bandel of France, as in Car 1.
The passenger compartment was completely bulletproof, including the window glass. This body is the second construct, the first was a two-seat(!) roadster with headlights removed as the owner did not drive at night.
The third Royale was a two-seater cabriolet (No. 41121) with a beautiful light cream body color. The first client was Dr. Josef Fuchs, and the coachwork was by the Ludwig Weinberger company in Munich, Germany. The car later came to the U.S. and was almost dismantled in a junkyard outside of New York around 1947, when it was discovered and purchased by Charles Shayne, a GM executive at the time. It was thoroughly restored and brought back to its present form. It was then donated to the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, near Detroit, where it is on display.
The fourth Royale was a 1932 four-passenger, two-door sedan (No. 41141) that was once in Japan, with coachwork by Kellner of Paris, France. The coupe was owned by the Bugatti family immediately after its completion and was purchased by American collector Briggs Cunningham after World War II in exchange for an American-made refrigerator. After Cunningham released it, it has been with a Japanese owner since the 1990s, but was recently purchased by a British collector; it is the most stylish of the six surviving Royales.
The last Royale was a 1933 model with a limousine body (No. 41131). This was the third Royale made, and was built to order for Capt. Foster, a British soldier. The coachwork was by the British firm Parkward. The huge, featureless black limousine body is reminiscent of a London cab.
Writing about the history of each car displayed at Goodwood would be an endless task. In any case, the Goodwood Festival of Speed is paradise, heaven for car lovers.
