Festival of Speed lives up to expectations

Lord March has once again outdone himself and staged a fantastic three-day Festival of Speed at Goodwood. He somehow manages to keep up the momentum, especially considering that this is all staged outdoors on his Goodwood estate.

The first thing you need to do when you arrive at Goodwood is plan your way around the exhibits. As is customary, every year a major attraction is positioned in front of Goodwood House: Land Rover celebrates its 60 years this year. A small collection of polished Land Rovers had been driven up a tall sculpture of iron beams which nature had rusted.

Cars and bikes are displayed according to era. All exhibits are within arm's reach, a good photograph is guaranteed, and you can have a chat with the car's owner. You can even start the engine. What more could visitors possibly want?

Goodwood is a family event. There are numerous parents with their toddlers. Visitors can dream of owning a 1907 Grand Prix car or the latest Aston Martin Vantage V12 RS, Artega GT, and Lamborghini LP560.

VW also showcased its road-going Scirocco GT24, and Toyota its 197bhp mid-engined Aygo Crazy. These cars were officially premiered at the UK Motor Show a fortnight later.

Where in the world could you find not one, but three Bugatti Veyron, neatly parked one next to the other, up close?

Among the main attractions this year was a collection of cars driven in the James Bond series, and the Cartier exhibition where a rare breed of car jewels was on display.

The major car importers are present too, and stalls sell everything from books to model cars. Most of the Formula 1 teams were present, displaying numerous 2007 and 2008 cars. The drivers were there too mingling with the crowd.

Ferrari's Marc Gene, Honda's Jenson Button, and Vodafone Mercedes McLaren's Lewis Hamilton. Visitors were stunned to see their heroes walking towards them. This is what makes Goodwood unique.

During the day, in assembled order, the majority of the cars and bikes take to the track, so when your feet start to ache, just take a seat in one of the purposely built grandstands and watch the racing.

Besides the track, Goodwood stages a forest event where rally stages are performed during the day. Ten metres from where I was standing on my right I watched a Ford Escort Mk1 GT doing a Forest Stage.

Then I turned to my left to see the Toyota F1 car racing up the track. The scream from the 10 cylinders has just faded. Looking up towards the grey skies, I saw the all-new Airbus 380 performing a stunning fly pass...