A fantastic tribute to Lotus greeted visitors to the seemingly endless display of wonderful metal that made up this year’s ‘quieter’ opening day of the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
Event-sponsor Lotus is omnipresent with cars such as Lotus Cortinas and Talbot Lotus Sunbeam mixing with numerous F1 cars – including the Lamborghini-engined 102. Each took their turn up the famous hill, before parading in front of the packed crowd at Goodwood House.
The famous Hethel marque was also out in force at Bonhams’ auction (separate report to follow) with the ex-Rod Carveth 1962 Lotus-Buick V8 Type 19 ‘Monte Carlo’ (below) one of the focal points of well-hyped Glasius Collection.
The car was created when American customers – tired of waiting for large-capacity Climax engines – began shoehorning V8s into Lotus 19 chassis and sold today for £158,000.
Motor sport fans are well catered for with race cars from all disciplines on show from Alain Prost’s 1986 Championship-winning McLaren (above), one of the Lancia LC2’s that will feature at Silverstone and its biggest competitor of the time – the Porsche 956.
The Cartier Style Et Luxe showcased solely ex-Royal cars varying from Land-Rovers to Rolls-Royces. A 1974 Range Rover ‘State I Royal Review Vehicle’ (below) being one of the more peculiar cars on display, it offered a more comfortable ride than the similarly specced Royal Land-Rover and featured a repositioned exhaust, to direct fumes away from passengers, plus two concealed umbrellas.
Contrasting the Range-Rover was this Daimler 4.5-litre V32 Shooting Brake (below). It was ordered in 1937 to coincide with King George VI’s visit to Balmoral, can accommodate 10 people and features drop-down windows to allow for shooting from inside the passenger compartment.
In amongst the ex-Royal vehicles was a Lincoln Cosmopolitan Limousine ‘Bubbletop’ (below) with a 145in wheelbase. Ford supplied the car to the US Secret Service for a nominal lease fee. Its ‘bubbletop’ wasn’t added until 1954 when President Eisenhower realised he couldn’t be seen during a rainstorm. The Queen would later travel in the limo during a Presidential Motorcade to The White House.
Modern cars were very evident with all the main manufactures having a presence. Those that also took the opportunity to display their heritage included Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, Jaguar (which displayed an XJ220 below), Mercedes (with a 300SL), BMW, Nissan and Toyota.
Meanwhile noisier entertainment was provided by a spectacular aerobatics display from a Eurofighter.
Goodwood continues on into the weekend; to find out more visit the event’s website.