Goodwood Festival of Speed 2011

I hadn't planned to visit the Festival of Speed this year but courtesy of Classic and Sports Car I was lucky enough to attend the 'Moving Motor Show', which ran for the second time this year, ahead of the main three days of the Festival. Having attended with friends in the past, I decided to take my father down to Goodwood, which meant an early pick up from Greenwich, rendered significantly later than planned by an accident on the M25. In all I spent ten hours driving, so I was thankful that the weather was good, bar the odd shower, and I was able to keep the hood down in my Mazda MX-5 - a real relief as my windows are currently stuck in the closed position. As ever the Festival showcases an amazing array of cars from over a hundred years of motoring. I hadn't expected the display of contemporary machinery to necessarily excite me as classic and vintage cars are more my thing but I was very taken by Morgan's modern revamp of its famous three wheeler.

The car is powered by a 1.9 litre S & S motorcycle engine that delivers something in the region of 115 bhp or around 220 per tonne given the light weight of the car. Transmission is via a 5 speed Mazda MX-5 gearbox also offering - rather usefully - a reverse gear! The car is beautifully finished, inside and out and the noise through the twin pipes, combining the best of bike and car, sounds wonderful. A team from Morgan were on hand at Goodwood to answer questions about the car, including Steve Morris, the production director, with whom my father and I had a fascinating conversation regarding matters such as steering geometry, engine design and tyre speed rating (the Avons might work well on my Dad's Austin 7 'Machlachlan' single seater). I would have loved an opportunity to take one for a test drive but had to make do with trying one on for size...

The £30,000 price tag is a bit of barrier to ownership, as is the already lengthy waiting list if you do happen to have that kind of money to spend on what is essentially a toy...

Also of interest this year was the Costin-Harris 'Protos' Formula 2 racing car, featuring, as one might expect given Costin's involvement, a stressed-skin plywood monocoque. Fitted with a 1600cc fuel injected Cosworth engine producing 225 bhp the car was capable of a top speed of approximately 175 mph. Racing in the Formula 2 Championships in 1967 and 1968 the car was moderately successful, achieving a best place of 2nd at Hockenheim, where it took the lap record.

Also interesting was the display of forty or so Indianapolis 500 cars in 'Gasoline Alley' which included the huge Cummins Diesel, the first of its type to race the Indy 500.

As ever there was too much to see in a single day but that's part of what makes the Festival of Speed so enjoyable. I am already planning for the Revival in September at which, thankfully, there won't be a Range Rover display to distract my Dad - every time we passed it he had to be stopped from sharing his views about how bad they are with the staff - and he should know, he has owned two!