This year has been tough for all of us. As a motorsport photographer many events in my diary were cancelled, including Goodwood Members Meeting and Revival. So it was great news that when they released the first running of a special ‘socially distanced’ Goodwood Speedweek.
Due to the current Covid conditions the meeting was held behind closed doors with no spectators. I was luck to get a ‘last minute call up’ to cover for somebody for just the Sunday. It was a very different feeling with nobody around at 06:00 when I arrived at the circuit… I can’t say I’ve ever seen the Pit Lane and Paddock so empty.
It was a very different atmosphere around the Paddock than we are used to. Everybody was doing their part to be responsible & protect each other from this terrible virus. Drivers and reduced team members all adhering to wearing face masks and social distancing regulations throughout the day.
Alongside the usual race card of fantastic Historic Car Racing, they added some new events not normally possible with spectators on trackside. Classic and modern Rally Cars competed on daylight and nighttime stages held on parts of the track and perimeter roads.
More sideways action was provided by the tyre smoking spectacular Driftkhana. High powered cars compete over courses scoring points by a mixture of precision and speed. British Rally Championship star, Rhys Yates took part with his Ford Fiesta R5 after winning the Rally event earlier.
Once the smoke had cleared, the track was soon reverberating to the sound of some usual visitors. Mini Coppers S, Jaguars, Aston Martins & AC Cobras etc were as ever being driven with maximum commitment.
New Lap Record…
Another very exciting addition to Goodwood Speedweek was a shootout for the outright lap record. This had been held since 2015 by Nick Padmore in a Lola T70 Spyder with 1min 18.217seconds. Some very quick drivers in equally fast machinery were up for the challenge.
Nick was in no mood to release his grip on being the fastest man around Goodwood. In the ex Derek Warwick Arrows A11 F1 he posted a shattering time of 1 min 09.914 seconds!!!
Historic Motor Racing, Rallying, Drifting and high speed Demo Drives from some famous faces. It was great success after a lot of hard work from the Goodwood team.
Don’t get me wrong, I have really missed Members Meeting and Goodwood Revival weekends this year. If we are not able to go racing as normal, then I hope there’s a Goodwood Speedweek again in 2021….. I for one can’t wait!!!
