SEPTEMBER | REVIEW
N
ow in its 25th iteration,
the 2018 Festival of Speed
presented by Mastercard
celebrated its Silver Jubilee this
year, with the Duke of Richmond
selecting his 25 favourite moments
from the first 25 events.
These moments, and the
cars and drivers which created
them, were cornerstones of this
year’s event, alongside the usual
gathering of vehicles from the
torrential rain and mud to contend
with in the build-up although we
have great systems in place now
to cope. This year we had glorious
sunshine so apart from lots of dust
we were very lucky. Traffic also is
a major management project each
year as we strive to constantly
implement improved systems to
keep traffic moving to the from the
event and to minimise disruption
to our neighbours. On the whole
it works very well considering
we have around 55,000 people
descend on this quiet corner of
West Sussex each day of the event.
To celebrate 25 years, there was
extra onus on the team to provide
a memorable occasion. “New and
hugely popular this year were Jet
Pack Aviation – a man who flies
wearing a specialist jet pack – and
of course we can two autonomous
hillclimb runs for the first time
this year. We also had the world’s
fastest drone pilot here attempting
a Guinness World Record for the
fastest drone flight so all sorts
of challenges in making sure
all of those happened safely, to
regulations and to the maximum
enjoyment of the crowds.
“We measure and are measured
in many different ways in terms of
success. Ticket sales is obviously
a big indicator that we’re doing
things right on one level – we
tend to always hit capacity now
with between 200- 210, 000
dawn of motoring to the present
day, and beyond.
The resplendent weather
and focus on strategic traffic
management made this year’s
event extra special, according to
Tim Bulley, international director,
The Goodwood Group.
He told Access: “Often the
biggest challenge can be the
weather. The build can be
extremely hard work if we have
Need for speed
Goodwood Festival of Speed brings an estimated £240m in
economic impact to the local economy, but what makes it
tick?
“Motor shows are dead.
They are a product of
the 1960s ”
15