Although the anticipation is mounting ahead of the main element of the Goodwood Festival of Speed, which begins tomorrow, the atmosphere at today's Moving Motor Show was one of real enjoyment.
No official crowd figures are in yet, but it’s predicted that numbers were up 50 per cent on last year’s Moving Motor Show, which would put attendance at nearly 40,000. As our full gallery of high-resolution pictures shows, there have been plenty of new cars to see, with some members of the public also getting the chance to test drive vehicles on the hill.
Read about Autocar's drive up the hill in a Mazda MX-5 GT concept
There have been a few minor incidents on the course, the most dramatic of which occurred when the driver of a Citroën DS3 Racing took a slightly optimistic speed into the first corner.
There’s a great sense of involvement delivered by the access that members of public have to the new metal doing runs around the course (although, granted, it’s at manufacturer’s invite only). On the other side of the event, many spectators enjoyed taking advantage of the sparser crowds around the classic cars and motorsport machinery to have a proper poke around the displays.
How a £9k car stole the show among the static exhibits
Highlights didn’t stop with the usual array of extraordinary historic race and road cars. The Porsche 918 Spyder drew a real crowd on the stand in the main hall, and the Mazda MX-5 GT, Ferrari 458 and Mercedes SLS were particularly popular.
Ford pays tribute to Carroll Shelby by importing the monstrous Shelby GT500
Away from the hill, a number of Qt Wildcats being driven as part of the Race2Recovery team attracted big audiences. Set up to support injured servicemen, the next challenge for the Race2Recovery team is the 5600 miles of the Dakar Rally in 2013. Inspirational doesn’t cover it, and it makes for a brilliant spectacle that’s been pleasing the punters immensely at Goodwood.
The Moving Motor Show feels like it has been more integrated into the whole Festival of Speed more successfully than in past years. And crucially, it seems to generate a real boost for manufacturers and buyers alike, so it can only be a good thing for the industry as a whole.
Autocar.co.uk will be reporting and blogging live from Goodwood tomorrow, when the main element of the Festival of Speed gets underway.
