Nathan,

Well done taking the time to give a super report of the Festival of Speed on this excellent forum.

I hate to be pedantic but cars are my thing even more than watches and I have to correct a couple of things.

The car on the transporter is not a 300 SL - It is a 300 SLR of which only 10 were built by the MB racing department and they were completely different to the 300 SL road cars - they were 8 cylinder not 6 with inboard brakes and magnesium alloy body - and this is one of the special "Uhlenhaut Coupes" of which only 2 were built and named after the chief designer and test driver Rudi Uhlenhaut. All the surviving 300 SLRs are owned by MB and are thus literally priceless as they cannot be bought. The single seat GP car is not a W125 but a W165 of which only 2 were built to contest the 39 Tripoli GP - they are little 1500cc V8s - and of course they won.....also owned by MB and unobtainium even if you are a billionaire.

Apologies again for being boring - great photos of great day!

Cheers Andrew.

: Hi all. Sorry the late posting, but here's a few pics from my
: Saturday at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

: There is really nothing in the classic/vintage sports car calendar
: worldwide that compares to this illustrious event. The coolest
: thing of all is you can actually walk around the paddocks, see,
: smell and hear the cars up close, and chat to the mechanics and
: drivers. The event is a timed hillclimb ie. the drivers are not
: racing neck and neck on a track. Lord March's estate in West
: Sussex where the event is held has a long winding sort of
: driveway which is comandeered to act as the circuit for these
: cars. And these priceless cars are REALLY driven. Quickest time
: of the day was a mind-boggling 127MPH in a modern rally car -
: this is on a tiny circuit with many places having no crash
: barriers. I saw three accidents, nothing too serious, but no
: doubt causing many hundreds of thousands of pounds damage. As
: well as the mindblowing selection of classic cars and bikes,
: there was a fly-by of the worlds only remaining and working RAF
: Vulcan bomber from the 1960's (this thing looks UNREAL in the
: sky), plus aerobatic displays.

: There were so many classic and historic racing cars and motorbikes
: going back to the early 20th century it was hard to pick a bunch
: of favourites, and we all have the teams and drivers which mean
: something personal. However seeing Ayrton Senna's JPS Lotus -
: the actual car he did over 6000 miles in and won his fist GP in
: - was quite emotional for me, as it had featured in a Goodwood
: calendar with pride of place on my bedroom wall as a young lad.
: Plus seeing and HEARING the 1960's factory four cylinder Honda
: racebikes was unreal!

: TAGHeuer had a strong presence at the event with a special TAGHeuer
: drivers club section (and a TAGHeuer liveried timing building
: which looked great), and of course a retail sector where you
: could try out and purchase a new TAGHeuer. I wore my 3646
: Autavia, which caused a bit of a stir in the retail area with
: two salesmen/technicians giving it the once over. "Why have
: you not got a classic section here of the old 'real'
: Heuers" I cheekily asked, only to be met with a
: non-commital shrug. Oh well - we Heuerista's know the importance
: our watches played in the world of GP on and off the track.

: The pics were taken on my phone so the quality is not great.
: However I thought it was better than nothing - and I hope you
: enjoy. And for fans of classic racing, I can wholeheartedly
: recommend the Goodwood Festival of Speed as one of the best
: possible ways to spend a day out. Hearing these cars is
: something you just can't put in words - it really is one for the
: petrolheads. If you don't like unashamedly loud race cars that
: have MPG figures below 10 then this day out is not for you.

:
:

: At the TagHeuer stand

:
:

: The TagHeuer sponsored McLaren driven by Prost

:
:

: A very very smart transporter/Mercedes 300SL duo - the transporter
: was capable of 105 MPH!

:
:

: A priceless pre-war Mercedes W125 GP car - what a sound!

:
:

: The New-Zealand designed 1969 McLaren GP car - driven by Bruce
: McLaren! If you look carefully you can see a small Kiwi by the
: rollover bar...