The Goodwood Estate extends over 12,000 acres in Sussex close to the south coast between Portsmouth and Brighton. It comprises Goodwood House, which has been the house of the Duke of Richmond for 300 years, as well as a spa hotel, a horseracing circuit, a golf course, kennels, a shooting range and an active airfield. It also houses a motor circuit and hosts two of the greatest motoring events in the world, the Goodwood Festival of Speed and the Goodwood Revival.

The Festival of Speed

This has been described as "the world's biggest celebration of the motor car" and first took place in 1993. The number of visitors has increased from 25,000 for the original event to over 158,000 over last year's weekend. This year the organisers are again expecting a record turnout when the festival opens its doors between June 22-24.

The event consists of a hill climb stage which takes place in the park in front of the house where historic racing cars from all eras are put through their paces generally by racing aces of the past and present. There is also a 2.5 km loose-surface rally stage where the most successful competition cars are pushed to their limits on the exciting track cut through a forest. The Cartier Style et Luxe design competition brings together a fabulous display of cars and bikes which are being judged for their innovation and visitors are given the opportunity to have the experience of a lifetime on a fast off-road circuit. About 220 exhibitors put up stands varying from new and used exotic cars to all sorts of memorabilia. This year I was lucky as there was also a supercar display, which included anything from the Bugatti Veyron downwards, and this was not only a static display but the vehicles were also paraded and driven up the hill at speed.

Each year, the organisers choose a theme and last year the focus was on 100 years of Grand Prix racing. Incidentally, the first car to win a Grand Prix race was a Renault and this brand was also the reigning world champion at the time of this celebration. Both winning cars were on display and the Renault engineers startled the crowd when, via a laptop connected to the "started up and running" current F1 engine, they proceeded to play tunes such as the God Save the Queen and La Marseillaise solely by revving up the engine.

This year's theme is Spark of Genius - Breaking Records, Pushing Boundaries, which gives a clear indication regarding the type of vehicles and personalities one will expect to see.

The most fascinating thing about this event is its open plan arrangement, everything and everyone is accessible. The paddocks are open to the public and one can get almost as close as he likes to the cars (up to the near-touching limits) and ask questions to the owners or drivers. The event is patronised by numerous racing legends and personalities from the motoring world, most of whom come over to actually race the cars up the hill. Most of them also spend time mingling with the crowds, signing autographs and taking photos and I was lucky to get Sir Stirling Moss and Sir Jackie Stuart to sign my souvenir programme.

The atmosphere is electric, the revving of the engines, the smell of burning rubber and the general mood is difficult to describe in words. My recommendation is that next June you make it a point to experience it for yourselves. Book a low-cost flight, rent a car and drive down to the venue, although there are so many visitors the traffic arrangements are normally good. I suggest B&B accommodation in the vicinity but you will need to book early as it gets extremely busy around the event. I normally use the internet to locate and book accommodation. Regarding the tickets for the Festival, these need to be pre-purchased, you cannot get tickets at the door so once again I suggest you purchase them over the internet but make sure you allow enough time to receive them by post.

And if you think this is worth considering, wait until my next piece in two weeks' time where I will recount my other experience at same venue, this time at the Goodwood Revival! Send your e-mails to tonio@paqpaq.tv and log onto www.paqpaq.tv where you will shortly be able to view the Goodwood feature and photos.

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