The Goodwood Festival of Speed 2014 is celebrating the 20th year of its collaboration with Cartier this year. The luxury brand has been a mainstay at the Festival of Speed ever since we can remember, attracting some of the world’s most expensive and collectable automobiles.
We have to remember though, the Concours is a competition, first and foremost! Judges this year include former athlete Sally Gunnell, stylist Charlotte Stockdale, businessman Lord Bamford, cyclist Sir Chris Hoy and comedian Rowan Atkinson. The star studded panel with have quite a job this year as there are a number of contenders for the top prizes. We thought we wouldn’t take you through a few of the categories!
- Vintage Voiturettes
This category celebrates junior sportscars of the 1920’s. Many of the brands we saw here are no longer running or have been consumed into larger organisations. The display included a 1923 Bugatti Type 23 Brescia and a 1931 Maserati 4CS. The 1925 Amilcar looked pretty impressive to us, it was joined by an Austin, a BNC, a Salmson and a Rally ABC.
- Blown Away – Pre-War Supercharged Mercedes
Mercedes-Benz are one of the key sponsors at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed 2014. As the Cartier Lawn is all about elegance, it seems natural to pay tribute to the most elegant Mercedes-Benz of them all, the Mercedes-Benz 500K. As a pre-war Mercedes-Benz, the 500K is an extremely rare car indeed. Only 342 cars ever left the production line and five of the very best are gathered today in front of the Goodwood House (including two earlier models).
The 500K was a slightly more mainstream production car than the Mercedes-Benz SSK which some consider it succeeded. Built between 1934 and 1936, the 500K featured a 5.0 litre inline 8-cylinder engine fitted with a roots-type supercharger. Performance was class-leading in its time with around 160 hp on tap.
- The Height of Fashion
This is a category for coach built Maserati’s from the 1950’s. It doesn’t get more elegant than this. One car in particular stands out to us, the stunning 1953 Maserati A6GCS Berlinetta! The A6GCS stands out from the crowd mainly due to its simplistic elegant style. A racer at heart, it was developed to compete in the World Sportscar Championship. 52 were produced.
Thats not to say that the other three cars in this class are boring! They include a 1949 Maserati A6 1500 Pininfarina, a 1957 Maserati 150 GT Prototype Fantuzzi Spider and a 1958 Maserati 3500 GT Coupe.
- Best Foot Forward
A category for front engined supercars! Some of these cars include the original Dodge Viper RT/10, a Marcos LM500, a Lister Storm, a Bristol Fighter and a Peugot 907 Concept (which looks remarkably similar to the design of the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren to our eyes…).
The standout to us is the one-off TVR Cerbera Speed 12. TVR had intended to take the Speed 12 concept into the GT1 racing class, however, changes in that class made the idea redundant. TVR instead decided to build a road car to beat the McLaren F1 in performance terms. As with everything TVR, it all fell apart when the owner Peter Wheeler drove a prototype and deemed it undriveable. This example was the sole car built by the factory and sold to a carefully vetted customer!
- Best of the Rest
There are three other categories. They include a category for the US Pony Car’s which includes models of the Ford Mustan, the Plymouth Barracuda and the Chevrolet Camaro among others. Another American category celebrates cars with status. The Cadillac’s, the Mercury’s, even a De Soto Firesweep!
The final category celebrates the mid-engined masterpieces. The Ferrari 250 LM, the McLaren M12 GT and the Ford GT40 MKIII are some examples.
Enjoy the photo galleries. Let us know which is your favourite in the comments box below. You can follow all the latest at Goodwood Festival of Speed 2014 by clicking through to our dedicated news channel.
