Lord March announces Goodwood event dates for 2014

Goodwood Festival of Speed and Revival founder Lord March is today (Friday 11 October) able to announce the provisional dates for next year’s two leading sell-out Goodwood motoring events. It should be noted that at this stage the 2014 Festival of Speed and Goodwood Revival dates are provisional and remain subject to change, pending ratification by the FIA of the 2014 Formula 1 calendar in December.

The 2014 Goodwood Festival of Speed will take place from Thursday 26 June to Sunday 29 June.  The 2014 Festival promises to be packed with action and excitement, as the planet’s most glamorous racing machinery and famous drivers gather together in the beautiful surroundings of Goodwood Park. The theme for the 2014 Festival will be announced very shortly.

The Goodwood Festival of Speed will open with the Moving Motor Show on Thursday 26 June 2014, to give new car buyers and motoring enthusiasts the opportunity to see the very latest models up close, and in many cases drive them on a dedicated vehicle evaluation route within the grounds of the Goodwood Estate, including the revered Festival hillclimb.

The unique 2014 Goodwood Revival is set for the weekend of 12-14 September 2014.  The sell-out Revival truly is a magical step back in time, celebrating the halcyon days of motor racing as it used to be, with all of the accompanying spectacle and glamour of the era.  Competitors and spectators alike dress in period fashions, with the finest sights and entertainment of the pre-1966 era for all to enjoy.

In addition, Lord March can also confirm the dates for the new 72nd Goodwood Members’ Meeting, to be held on 29-30 March 2014 exclusively for GRRC (Goodwood Road Racing Club) members at the Goodwood Motor Circuit.

All of the 2014 Goodwood motor sport events promise a spectacular array of cars and motorcycles, plus star drivers and riders, and plenty of other fabulous attractions to thrill spectators of all ages.  Watch out for the very latest news and updates on these popular sell-out sporting and social events in the coming weeks and months.

As in previous years, admission to Goodwood motor sport events will be strictly by advance ticket only, with 2014 ticket sales commencing at 9am on Thursday 31 October 2013.  All young persons aged between 13 and 21 can purchase Festival of Speed and/or Revival tickets for half the full adult price.  Children aged 12 and under remain free of charge for 2014, as does car parking.  The price of adult entry tickets starts from just £27.

For 2013 both the Festival of Speed and Goodwood Revival sold out long in advance of the events taking place, and this is expected to be repeated for 2014, so the early purchase of tickets for next year is recommended to avoid disappointment.

Tickets, grandstand seats, camping and other products for the 2014 Festival of Speed, Moving Motor Show and Goodwood Revival can be ordered from 9am Thursday 31 October on the Goodwood website (www.goodwood.com/motor sport/)

Aston Martin continues its year-long centenary party at the Goodwood Revival

Aston Martin continues its year-long centenary party in the appropriately historic surroundings of The Goodwood Revival this weekend.

The luxury British sports car maker is a main sponsor of this year’s meeting at the famous old English race circuit where examples of some of Aston Martin’s rarest and most highly-prized sports cars of the revival period – 1948-1966 – will be on show, and in action.

Among the cars set to do battle on the West Sussex track include a brace of DBR1s, numerous DB3, DB3S and DB2/4 Mk IIIs, plus the 1961 Aston Martin Project 212.

Aston Martin’s centenary will be a signature theme of the 2013 Revival with the strong association between the brand and the historic racing circuit celebrated fittingly throughout the weekend.

Aside from the numerous iconic Aston Martin racing cars in action on the Goodwood track, in meticulously authentic 1950s-style the Earls Court motor show will play host to a broad selection of Aston Martin models from across the years. Rare and exotic examples on display will include A3, the oldest surviving Aston Martin; the Atom and Bulldog concepts; a selection of Zagato models and a highly-prized One-77 hypercar.

Earls Court will also play host to Aston Martin’s ‘cars of tomorrow’ which, of course, means current sports cars including the timeless DB9 Coupe and luxurious new Rapide S.

Commenting on the brand’s extensive involvement in this year’s Revival, Aston Martin UK Marketing Manager Leighton King said: “The Goodwood Revival is always a great occasion and a real highlight of the UK motoring calendar. It seems entirely fitting, therefore, that Aston Martin plays such a significant part in this year’s Revival in this, our centenary year.”

Goodwood Revival founder the Earl of March says: "I am really delighted that Aston Martin is supporting the Goodwood Revival so enthusiastically, especially in this, its Centenary year.  Some very important moments in Aston Martin's long and glorious history have taken place at Goodwood, including the marque taking the 1959 World Sportscar Championship in a hard-fought race in the DBR1 here.  I am looking forward to seeing so many beautiful road and race Aston Martins here over the 2013 Goodwood Revival weekend."

Movie cars on the Rolls Royce display at the Goodwood revival

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars will celebrate a record Goodwood Revival this weekend, with all three days of the popular event selling out a month ahead of the event for the first time. The local manufacturer of super-luxury motor cars will host customers, prospects, VIPs and also entertain the thousands of visitors to the world’s most popular historic motor race meeting in true Rolls-Royce style.

This year the Rolls-Royce showroom at the March Motor Works – an authentic recreation of a 1960s dealership – is the set for filming of ‘The Yellow Rolls-Royce’. The MGM movie was released in 1964 and featured an all-star cast including Ingrid Bergman, Rex Harrison, Shirley MacLaine, Alain Delon, Jeanne Moreau, George C. Scott and Omar Sharif. The scene is based on the opening sequence of the film, set in 1931, where the character Lord Frinton (Rex Harrison) is buying a Rolls-Royce Phantom II Sedanca De Ville from a London Showroom. The treatment of the film set décor closely follows that of the film and the theatre, only possible at the Goodwood Revival, will consist of the cast filming on set and in preparation for filming. The ‘Yellow Rolls-Royce’ will, of course, take the lead role. Expect the ever-present paparazzi and a cordon of the Goodwood Runners (period police force) to be on hand to hold back adoring fans.

Rolls-Royce will be represented on the Motor Circuit throughout the event, with a beautiful 1965 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud III Continental in Velvet Green, with bodywork by James Young, forming part of the Course Director’s entourage. Very special guests of the Company will be conveyed in period luxury, with the silence of the ‘magic carpet ride’ only marginally disturbed by the ticking of the clock.

Departing the Revival, invited guests will return to the current day in contemporary luxury, as they are conveyed in exquisite Rolls-Royce Phantom and Ghost cars hand-built at the Home of Rolls-Royce, located within the Goodwood Estate, a short distance from the Motor Circuit.

Jaguar turns up in force at the Goodwood revival 2013

• More than 30 competition Jaguar and Jaguar-powered racers set to compete at Goodwod Revival (13-15 September)
• The popular St Mary’s Trophy race dedicated to the memory of Jaguar racer, dealer and team manager John Coombs
• New film by renowned British model David Gandy driving iconic Jaguar sports cars and new F-TYPE convertible available for public viewing at Jaguar stand in ‘Earls Court Motor Show’ exhibition at Goodwood Revival
• Current Jaguar models to join recognised classic models in Earl’s Court Motor Show’ exhibition

Jaguar will have a huge presence at the 2013 Goodwood Revival, which opens its gates tomorrow to a sell-out crowd of keen and enthusiastic historic motor racing fans.

Over 30 historic Jaguar and Jaguar-powered race cars will be competing wheel-to-wheel at the unspoiled Goodwood Motor Circuit over the Revival weekend, with racing C-types, D-types, E-types and Mark II saloons out in force, often leading the grid, including a number of very famous, priceless and notable examples of the marque.

Expect to see Jaguar C-types leading the charge in Friday evening’s 90-minute Freddie March Memorial Trophy race into the dark, marking the 60th anniversary of the Goodwood Nine Hour races that occasionally ran in the mid-1950s.  Jaguar Heritage Racing driver Alex Buncombe won this race in 2012 behind the wheel of a stunning C-type once owned by Formula 1 legend Juan Manuel Fangio.

Jaguar XK140s promise exciting racing in the Fordwater Trophy for production-based sports cars of a type that raced between 1955 and 1960, and a number of D-types will be vying for victory in the Sussex Trophy, competing against contemporary sports cars from Ferrari, Maserati and Aston Martin.  Over a dozen E-types and E-type lightweights will compete in the hard-fought two-driver Royal Automobile Club TT Celebration race for closed-cockpit GT cars.

The popular St Mary’s Trophy for 1960s saloon cars will have a special poignancy this year as the race is dedicated to the memory of the great driver, racing team manager and renowned Guildford Jaguar dealer John Coombs.  Coombs achieved fame with his racing Jaguar Mark II saloons, with the distinctive registration plates BUY 1 and BUY 2, as often driven by such motor racing greats as Graham Hill.  Appropriately ex-Coombs Jaguar Mark IIs will be completing in the St Mary’s Trophy over the Revival weekend.

Away from the excitement of the on-track racing, numerous historic Jaguar models will be present at Goodwood, with team support cars dotted around the scenic paddocks, and examples of almost every classic Jaguar model parked-up in the huge Revival Car Show car park for pre-1966 vehicles, based just over the road opposite the main Goodwood circuit entrance.

The new Jaguar F-TYPE will be on display on the exhibition stand inside the nostalgic Earls Court Motor Show, where the brand’s lineage can be clearly seen, contrasting the stunning F-TYPE with two classic E-type sports cars.

The famous British model David Gandy will premiere his new short film, Escapism, on the Jaguar stand in Earls Court. This film features David driving some of the most famous sports cars ever produced, and celebrates the latest addition to Jaguar’s iconic sporting bloodline, the new F-TYPE convertible.

In the film Gandy gives us insight into his life as he invites us on a road trip that starts at dusk as he escapes ‘the craziness of London’.  It features the style icon driving his favourite British heritage cars from the C-Type, E-Type and XKSS, through to the very latest F-TYPE.

Gandy discusses his passion for driving; “that feeling of freedom, just you and the car” and how driving is his ‘meditation’. Throughout, he wears the same Persol sunglasses as one of his icons, Steve McQueen, who famously owned a Jaguar XKSS that he affectionately called the "Green Rat".