Goodwood Festival of Speed 2018: the oddities and unexpected gems

The Festival of Speed is certainly diverse. Here's our pick of some of the more unusual machines that were at Goodwood

James Attwood

by James Attwood

15 July 2018

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Toyota Celica Pikes Peak

Romain Dumas and the Volkswagen ID R Pikes Peak were among the star attractions at this year’s Festival of Speed, but just across from Volkswagen Motorsport’s spot in the paddock was another remarkable Pikes Peak record holder. Rod Millen set a then-record time of 10mins four seconds up the 12.42-mile hill climb in this 850bhp Celica in 1994. The time was only bettered once the course had been fully paved.
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Porsche March-Porsche 2708

Porsche had a brief stint in the Indy car CART World Series in the late 1980s, including a season as a constructor running a March chassis fitted with a 2.65-litre turbocharged V8 engine. Italian Two Fabi claimed victory at Mid-Ohio in 1989 and finished fourth in that year’s points race. It was Porsche’s sole Indy car win.
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Williams-Cosworth FW08B

This looks like a fairly regular Williams FW08 - until you check out the back. Yes, it has six wheels. Unlike the Tyrrell P34 six-wheeler from the early 1970s that had the extra wheels at the front, the FW08B featured four driven wheels at the rear. The team never raced it, and F1 bosses subsequently introduced a rule limiting cars to four wheels.
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Porsche LMP2000

Having won the 1998 24 Hours of Le Mans with the 911 GT1-98, Porsche began work on a Le Mans prototype, codenamed 9R3. It was originally intended to use Porsche’s flat six engine, before challenges with that unit led Porsche to switch to a reworked version of the 3.5-litre V10 engine it developed for F1 in 1992. The project, never confirmed in public, was canned in May 1999, and Goodwood was the first time the car has ever been seen in public. A detuned version of engine from the machine was used for the Carrera GT road car.
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Balchowsky-Buick Old Yeller II

Hot Rod racer Max Balchowsky built a series of nine Old Yellers - the name comes from their paint scheme - starting in 1957, and this was perhaps the most significant. Fitted with a 1959 401 cubic inch nailhead Buick engine, a close-ratio gearbox from a Jaguar XK-120, the rear end of a 1950s Studebaker Champion and bodywork made using discarded Coca-Cola signs bashed into shape on a wooden barrel, Bulchowsky built the machine for around $1500. Driving it to sports car events from his home in Idaho, he took four race wins before selling it in 1960. Drivers including Dan Gurney and Carroll Shelby subsequently raced the car.
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Abarth 3000 V8 prototype vergaser

One of the final cars Abarth produced before it was bought by Fiat, the 3000 V8 won the Group 5 category of the 1971 European Hillclimb Championship. Ideal preparation for Goodwood, obviously…
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Matra-Simca MS640

This car was developed by French firm Matra for the 1969 24 Hours of Le Mans, with radical aerodynamics designed to give it more straight-line speed in a bid to match rivals from Porsche, Ferrari and Alfa Romeo. But it proved unstable in testing, and the project was abandoned after a heavy testing crash.
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Porsche 550 Spyder

The Porsche 550, produced between 1953 and 1956, established the firm as a leading sports car manufacturer. Swiss engineer Michael May was an early pioneer of aerodynamics in motorsport, and fitted one with a massive wing above the cockpit.
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Maserati Eldorado special

The Race of Two Worlds was an exhibition event held at Monza in 1957 and ’58, pitting Formula 1 and USAC Indy car teams against each other on the Italian circuit’s banked oval. For the second running, Maserati built this special, Indy car-styled machine - named Eldorado after its ice cream company sponsor - which was driven by Stirling Moss. The Brit finished fourth and fifth in the first two heats, but crashed out of the third, netting him 10th place in the final results.
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Mercedes-Benz W125 Rekordwagen

Built in 1938, this 5.6-litre, 12-cylinder, 756hp machine achieved 268mph on a flying kilometre of closed Autobahn near Frankfurt, a public road speed record that stood for almost 80 years. The machine was on display in the Goodwood paddock without its wind tunnel-honed bodywork.
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Chevrolet SS

NASCAR stock cars have become a popular part of the Goodwood entry in recent years, with their rumbling V8 engines always popular with the crowds. This machine is a 2017 Chevy, but stands out because, for reasons that aren’t entirely clear, it’s sporting an Elvis Presley tribute livery. It’s numbered 77, in reference to the year Presley died (or did he? etc). It was driven at Goodwood by Ed Berrier, who took a sole win in the second-tier NASCAR Busch (now Xfinity) Series at Hickory Motor Speedway in 2000.
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Light Car Company Rocket

The Festival of Speed was celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, and as part of that the Cartier Style et Luxe concours featured a special category for machines that featured at the inaugural event in 1993. This two-seater machine was designed by Gordon Murray and is powered by a mid-mounted one-litre Yamaha motorcycle engine. The car weights less than 400kg, giving it a power-to-weight ratio of 380bhp per tonne. Only 46 examples were built.
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Cleveland Sperry

The Cartier Style Et Luxe Concours featured a special section for pioneering electric vehicles - and no, there wasn’t a Tesla in sight. This machine, dating from 1899, was designed by mining equipment inventor Elmer A. Sperry, and produced by the Cleveland Machine Screw Company. It was driven by a single multi-functional lever, and had a top speed of 18mph. This is one of two known surviving examples.
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Pope Waverley Model 22

Built by the Connecticut-based Pope firm, this 1901 electric machine was used by the Harrods department store as a delivery van. It featured a 3hp electric motor powered by four 12-volt car batteries, giving it a range of around 20 miles and a top speed of 15mph.
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Milburn Light Brougham Electric

The popularity of internal combustion-engined cars after the war resulted in fewer electric machines being developed. This 1918 machine is an exception to that trend, built by the Ohio-based Milburn firm and with a range of 50 miles and top speed of 25mph. The car features an unusual layout: the driver sits at the back, with foldable front seats that face rearwards for passengers.
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Jaguar XK140 Coupe

This car was built in 1955 as a left-hand drive XK140 Coupe, but most of the original bodywork was destroyed in a heavy crash two years later. Italian firm Michelotti crafted a new body for the machine, which was recently sold at auction after being rediscovered (hence the ‘barn find’ condition bodywork). Once owned by Brigitte Bardot, the machine now belongs to Jaguar Land Rover Classic, which plans to restore it and display at Goodwood again in the future.
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Citroen 2CV Sahara AW

The only twin-engined production car that ever went on sale to the public, the 2CV Sahara was powered by two independent 425cc engines, both with their own gearboxes, fuel tanks and starter buttons.
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Mazda RX-7 Madbull

‘Mad’ Mike Whiddett is a huge drifting star, and last year heavily revamped his RX-7. The ‘Gen 7.3’ version of the machine has styling based on a 1970s RX-3, while retaining the 600bhp rotary engine - and the ability to get very sideways.
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Citroen M35

It might not look like it, but this experimental 1970 machine is actually a variant of the 2CV. Derived from the Ami 8 and fitted with a 49bhp Wankel rotary engine, the M35 was supplied to loyal Citroen customers to gain feedback on the usability of the design.
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Rover SD1 Vitesse

This SD1 was one of a number of machines at Goodwood to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the British Saloon Car Championship (now the British Touring Car Championship). Built and run by TVR to new Group A rules, Steve Super initially won the 1983 title in this machine, but he was kicked out after the season when rival BMW successfully protested the legality of the car’s bodywork and engine installation.
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Honda Mean Mower V2

Yes, it’s a lawn mower. Going up the Goodwood hill. Mind you, it’s no ordinary lawn mower: the 135mph-plus Mean Mower V2 has been built by Team Dynamics (which runs Honda’s works BTCC team) in order that Honda can regain the world record for the world’s fastest mower. As you do. It’s powered by a 190bhp 1.0 SP1 Fireblade engine and yes, it can actually mow grass.
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Peugeot 504 Pick-up Evo

This 1985 Peugeot pick-up was actually built to rallying’s fearsome Group B regulations, largely because the cabin was too small to be homologated for the more production-based Group A rules. The rear-wheel drive machine was largely used on African events.

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