Goodwood FOS

vjmcdonnell

Am after years of want to , going to the Festival of Speed in Goodwood.

Has anyone been and what tips do they have

MrRolex

vjmcdonnell wrote: »

Am after years of want to , going to the Festival of Speed in Goodwood.

Has anyone been and what tips do they have

I have attended it and was underwhelmed by it.
My advice would be to check the weather forecast. It lashed down when I was there and that didn't help.
Like most festivals the food and drink was a rip off, and that is to be expected.
OK there were lots of nice cars to look at, but its really a massive ego trip day out for the affluent to flaunt their collections.
So 90% of the attendees are posh toffs as a result. Think of it like attending Henley Regatta, Wimbledon final, the polo, Ladies Day at Ascot etc. That is the set.
If you really do want to attend, then arrive about one hour before it opens, as the queues are massive to get in; and wear a waterproof jacket and bring a big umbrella.
To be honest, I would not recommend it at all. Waste of time and money really.
There are better car shows and festivals, for less money.

Dades

I haven't been but I'd love too. The displayers of affluence wouldn't bother me as long they bring their cars. Just scrub the coal off your face and find a matching pair of socks and they might let you touch them.

Hopefully the recent rain will be gone by June. Enjoy!

Agricola

MrRolex wrote: »

I have attended it and was underwhelmed by it.
My advice would be to check the weather forecast. It lashed down when I was there and that didn't help.
Like most festivals the food and drink was a rip off, and that is to be expected.
OK there were lots of nice cars to look at, but its really a massive ego trip day out for the affluent to flaunt their collections.
So 90% of the attendees are posh toffs as a result. Think of it like attending Henley Regatta, Wimbledon final, the polo, Ladies Day at Ascot etc. That is the set.
If you really do want to attend, then arrive about one hour before it opens, as the queues are massive to get in; and wear a waterproof jacket and bring a big umbrella.
To be honest, I would not recommend it at all. Waste of time and money really.
There are better car shows and festivals, for less money.

Well that's put me right off!

Had a weekend in Bologna a couple of years ago (by sheer coincidence the Mille Miglia was passing through the same weekend!)

Bit similar to what you described for Goodwood. The passion of the Italians coming out to see the cars arrive made it a bit more of an event, but from what I saw the following morning as they set off from the main square, it's largely a jaunt around Italy for the well heeled in rare/expensive cars and they just humour the riff raff when they make their stops at the various towns! It was all free though, so there is that.

MrRolex

Agricola wrote: »

Well that's put me right off!

Had a weekend in Bologna a couple of years ago (by sheer coincidence the Mille Miglia was passing through the same weekend!)

Bit similar to what you described for Goodwood. The passion of the Italians coming out to see the cars arrive made it a bit more of an event, but from what I saw the following morning as they set off from the main square, it's largely a jaunt around Italy for the well heeled in rare/expensive cars and they just humour the riff raff when they make their stops at the various towns! It was all free though, so there is that.

When it comes to classic car shows and festivals the weather makes all the difference. Big difference walking around a field in the sun, to under an umbrella in the rain.
So when it comes to Britain you are better off going for an indoor show the weather cannot spoil.
I am attending this one this year. 800 cars and indoors. £15 advance ticket. Enough said.
Much better than Goodwood. And every walk of life not just the rich. Cheap flights to Birmingham, and cheap hotels too.
OK it might not have as many Aston Martins and Ferrari's etc; but the selection and variety on show make it more value for money in my opinion.
Goodwood doesn't come close to it.
http://www.necrestorationshow.com/

Agricola

MrRolex wrote: »

When it comes to classic car shows and festivals the weather makes all the difference. Big difference walking around a field in the sun, to under an umbrella in the rain.
So when it comes to Britain you are better off going for an indoor show the weather cannot spoil.
I am attending this one this year. 800 cars and indoors. £15 advance ticket. Enough said.
Much better than Goodwood. And every walk of life not just the rich. Cheap flights to Birmingham, and cheap hotels too.
OK it might not have as many Aston Martins and Ferrari's etc; but the selection and variety on show make it more value for money in my opinion.
Goodwood doesn't come close to it.
http://www.necrestorationshow.com/

Yeah, I havent been to the resto show but I've been attending the November Classic show in Birmingham the last few years. Great mixture of stuff to see. And as you say, flights and hotels can be very cheap if you book well in advance, plus no rain to worry about.

MrRolex

Imagine standing under an umbrella getting tinnitius watching and neck ache from rubbernecking and you will get the idea of what you are missing at Goodwood. Trust me, the novelty wears off after seeing one Ferrari wheelspin.
Its a bit like lads in Donegal diffing on the slab. Except they can do it properly. Not like the millionaires who stall their cars every 2mins.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTjR-mUma1E

vjmcdonnell

U have me thinking of the Classic show

CianDon

I was there in 2012 and I literally couldn't even come close to explaining just how amazing an event the FOS is. If your into cars, its amazing but if your big into motorsport it's literally a sensory overload. Any dream car from any sort of motorsport back through generations that you've played on PlayStation or seen pics of, its probably going to be there. Straight off the bat, the more days you go for the better. To give you an idea we did 2 days and came back shattered but still missed loads. The Thursday is really only invited guests running super cars up the Hill which wasn't really for us so we gave it a skip and did Friday and Saturday. In terms of what to see though, you'd be flat out for the day. Obviously you've got the main hill climb and there's plenty of spots to watch the action without forking out more for seats in the stands. Getting close to the track by the house is very hard but once you head down towards the left hander there's great viewing there. The on track action is done in groups and they're often repeated through the day so you can come and go all the time. Once you've seen them up the hill, all the cars (and bikes!!) can be seen in their paddocks. The term open pit lanes doesn't come close to the access. Every car is just there for you to walk around without a rope in sight (the only exception our year was the modern F1 teams had GP style set ups but you could look in). Nick Mason's £20 Million Ferrari 250 was just the same as everything else. Theres about 4 or 5 paddocks for the various groupings whic keeps things together nicely.

Once you've had a fill of the hillclimb boys, there's free shuttles (trailer on the back of a tractor job) up into the woods for the proper stuff, the rally stage. You can walk but its a killer!! As again with Goodwood, expect every dream car all just sitting around in open paddocks for you to oogle at. The stage doesn't have many vantage points but you can get to a hairpin in the woods that's right near the end of the hillclimb.

Then, on top of all that, they also seem to have the equivalent of a large scale motorshow crammed into the free space. They have a big hall put up displaying all the brand new machinery like at a show and then the manufacturers and other companies have massive set ups then almost like full on dealerships. You'd be almost another day alone cruising about looking at these and some then have experience bits added on (Porsche had a Cayenne test drive, LandRover had off road passenger spins and Bowler had full tilt off road runs). Whats cool is that these stands have big names appearing all weekend so I know I was able to meet people like Thiery Neuville, Tiff Needell, Murray Walker and more and then you casually bump into stars aswell like Daniel Riccardo and Andre Lotterer cooly strolling about the place.

When we went over, we'd a big group and what we ended up doing was flying into London, renting cars and then booked a few apartments in Butlins!! It was a mad one but the rooms were seriously cheap, twas only about 40 mins drive to Goodwood and you'd have a bit of craic in Butlins sher. Our year was a complete scorcher, and even though we left ireland laden down with rain gear, Cork City was actually flooded when we flew out, it was the shorts we were in for the weekend.

Arthur Daley

Nice one. Always figured this would worth a visit at least once. Based on the tv programmes about it.Sounds like you would need the 2 days to do it justice so.

vjmcdonnell

Yeah I love my cars and motorsport so ill be there for Sat and Sun. Wanted longer but couldnt get the time off work.

2 days this year and maybe 4 next year

duskyjoe

My only recommendation is avoid Goodwood on the Sunday. Every dog n divil is at the event. Go Friday and Saturday. I camped and had a ball. Even blagged my way into local hotel on the estate and ended up having a jar with thee sterling moss. That was 10years ago. Goodwood classic in Sept is one to go to, crowds are petrol heads as against families looking for something to do.

PaulK_CCI

definitely on my list of events to attend in some form or another at some stage because somehow I never managed to do so yet. I have been to most of the renowned shows in Europe (Essen, Maastricht, NEC...) and although it's always great to the see the diversity of exclusive and wonderful cars on display, the one thing that I always feel lacking is that these are almost always static displays. 
The one appeal of Goodwood is that you get a chance to see a lot of these rare beasts in action and for that reason alone it makes it an event that anyone that has a genuine passion for Classic Cars should attend at least once in a lifetime.

RobAMerc

was there in 2012 - I loved it.
There is some serious metal there even the carpark was class.

I didnt think it was overly expensive for food etc ( not having been to the Electric Picnic ! )

I think Ill try the revival next year when my young lad will hopefully be old enough to enjoy it.