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Mike Sinclair30 Jun 2015
NEWS

Australia needs a Goodwood

But what chance it could ever happen here?

COMMENT

The Goodwood Festival of Speed (FoS) is the motor show and celebration of combustion that Australia needs, but alas will probably never see.

The United Kingdom’s unofficial, official motor show is a must-see for any motoring enthusiast. But more than that, it’s also a great day out – even (especially) for people who have a less intense interest in things automotive.

It’s this combination of motorsport, moving motor show and family-friendly attractions that makes the FoS different from anything we have Down Under. The multiplier is the sheer numbers of stunning classic, near-modern and current race cars and supercars that appear at the festival. And that’s just in the car park!

The FoS venue is part of its attraction. Lord March’s quintessentially English country seat is thrown open to public for the FoS and Goodwood House itself is a magnificent centrepiece for the celebration.

But don’t for a minute think it’s a five-minute trip to get to the festival for most visitors. Traffic is intense and it’s at best a two-hour trip for Londoners on the weekend days. Yet still they come – approaching 200,000 over the FoS and The Moving Motor Show’s four days.

This year, as has been the case for the last few, was a sell-out. I’m not sure whether that 'sold-out' number is a moving target, but it seemed this year’s crowd was substantially larger than my last two visits to the event. Perhaps the surprisingly sunny Pommie summer weather had something to do with that.

Manufacturers too are voting with their feet. Mazda was the featured brand (and motoring.com.au’s host) at this year’s event, and was represented by a significant number of senior management – as well as some of its priceless Le Mans cars.

In addition to exercising the latest and greatest on the track, most of the major brands have static displays at the FoS – and the scale of the largest is something to behold. Jaguar Land Rover’s display rivalled a large dealership in scale and perceived permanency, and that’s before you take into account the test track.

And although it’s home turf, JLR wasn’t alone in building behemoths. You could have landed a small plane on Audi’s display, Bentley’s ‘quilted’ pavilion was huge and, in addition, it had a separate ‘approved used program’ display.

Classic cars valued in the millions are easily accessible right across the FoS precinct – a message missed by some new car brands that caged off their cars (worth many, many times less). But the paying English public wasn’t going to let Lamborghini spoil their day.

While the hillclimb itself is largely restricted to experienced racers and some very lucky members of the press (no names, no pack drill), there are multiple opportunities for the public to experience new cars in a number of different ways. Jaguar, for example, had a drift course to compliment its partner’s 4x4 and obstacle course.

And if the real world doesn’t work for you, then virtual opportunities are myriad… MINI, Toyota, Honda, Infiniti and others all had ‘virtual’ displays. Since when did PlayStation become the #1 way to launch a new car?

There’s an enormous amount of goodwill at Goodwood. It’s almost a garden party atmosphere and all and sundry mix with pleasure. The blazer set have favoured nieces on their elbows and ‘salt of the earth’ types pack picnics and their piccaninnies and enjoy the “flash motors”.

The Poms enjoy a drink as much as anyone and there are a liberal number of bars and eateries scattered around the FoS grounds, but in three days at Goodwood I didn’t see a drunk, let alone an ugly one!

So could the Aussie motorsport fraternity and car industry rise to the challenge? Can we find the right location and the right cars? Maybe.

There are locales that would work with a bit of infrastructure development and, while we may not reach UK levels, there are a substantial number of significantly historic race cars that live Down Under. At the right time of year, OEMs would likely bring some interesting toys to the party.

The problems are more likely to be our OH&S rules and ourselves… Our safety nannies would have a fit to see the way Goodwood’s crowds are regularly bisected by cars moving to and from the track.

And the proximity of the crowds and racing and performance cars taking on the 1.16-mile hillclimb track would see our circuit ‘police’ having conniptions.

More’s the pity, because the concept works.

In a digital age when buyers are bombarded with hard data and, alas, often ‘soft’ opinion, the Goodwood FoS is a wonderfully tactile, analogue event.

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