Gallery: here's what we want to see at the 2016 Festival of Speed
Dates for next year’s Goodwood FoS announced, themed ‘pursuit of power’
Got any plans between the 23 and 26 June next year? No? Good. Because you’re going to the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
Or, at least, you ought to be, if you’re into cars and engines and petrol and things going fast. And if you’re not, what are you doing here?
Yes, Goodwood organisers have announced the dates for the 2016 Festival of Speed and Revival. Both are officially provisional – likely just in case Bernie decides to rejig his entire 2016 calendar on a whim – but all being well, the FoS will run from 23-26 June, and the tweed-laced Revival from 11-13 September.
The theme for next year’s FoS has also been revealed, the less-than-concise slogan running: “Full throttle - the endless pursuit of power”.
Which means, we reckon, ‘stuff with loads and loads of bhp’. Which is fine by us.
Now, Goodwood hasn’t yet announced any of the cars that will star at the Festival of Speed, so we’ve taken it upon ourselves to offer some suggestions befitting of the whole ‘endless pursuit of power’ thing.
If you're thinking that sounds like a shameless attempt to shoehorn together some of our favourite powerful cars from the last century or so, you’d be exactly correct. Enjoy...
Advertisement - Page continues belowAll the Eighties turbo F1 cars
If you’re talking endless pursuit of power in the world of F1, look no further than the deranged turbo era of the mid-Eighties. In qualifying trim, these 1.5-litre, four-cylinder monsters developed as much as 1400bhp.
“It was a very special era, and very very exciting for the driver,” said Gerhard Berger. “For sure you needed big balls…”
All the land-speed record cars
From Golden Arrow to Thrust SSC, no automotive discipline has pushed the boundaries of power and pace further than the land-speed record contenders.
Clearly we’d advocate Lord March ordering in the whole lot – Railtons, Thunderbolts, every Spirit of America – but if we had to pick just one, we’d happily plump for Bluebird CN7, the 4000bhp, gas-turbine-powered beauty in which Donald Campbell hit 403mph in 1964.
Might be a challenge to pilot up the Goodwood hill, mind…
Advertisement - Page continues belowAll the Group B-era rally cars
You’ll know about Group B, the era when it all went a bit bonkers in the world of rallying, with sadly tragic consequences.
By 1986, the quickest Group B cars were making something in the region of 600bhp, and deploying every tech trick to batter over snow, dirt and tarmac quicker than ever before.
Again, we’d happily see every Group B contender at Goodwood – Peugeot 205 T16, Audi Quattro, Metro 6R4, Porsche 959 – but the petrolheaded choice is surely a Lancia. Mid-engined, mad-as-mustard 037, anyone?
1972 Porsche 917 Can-Am Spyder
The Porsche 917 needs no introduction, and indeed no justification for its invitation to a gathering of all-powerful machines.
We’ll have it in early Seventies Can-Am flavour, please. At its most powerful, the all-conquering Spyder’s turbocharged flat-12 was rumoured to make as much as 1600bhp. You’re in, 917.
All the Veyrons
Yes, the Veyron has become something of an automotive cliché, sweeping all before it and rewriting the record books in the most imperious of fashions.
But in Super Sport guise, the big Bug made 1200bhp, would do 0-62mph in some 2.4 seconds, and 268mph flat out. Worthy of a place at any ‘pursuit of power’ gathering, we’d say.
And with Veyron production finished, and its ‘Chiron’ successor expected to be unveiled in 2016, what better time to bring together, ooh, all 450 Veyrons ever built? We’re aiming high, Lord March.
The Hennessey Venom
Well, if the Veyron’s coming along, we can’t leave the Venom out, can we? After all, as John Hennessey will happily remind you, it’s got a smidge more power than the Veyron SS, and has – in one direction only, admittedly – surpassed that car’s top speed.
So how about, to settle the debate once and for all, a Venom-Veyron race up the Goodwood hill? What do you mean, ‘not much room to pass’?
Advertisement - Page continues belowBernie Ecclestone
Endless pursuit of power, you say? Then it’d be remiss not to invite Herr Ecclestone, who’s spent the last four decades seizing and consolidating power within F1.
A static Ecclestone display would be fine, of course, but what we really want to see is a full-chat Bernie run up the Goodwood hill, perhaps piloted by one of his Formula One aces. You free, Pastor Maldonado?
Australian racing driver Will Power
Frankly Lord March is missing a trick if, for an event dedicated to the pursuit of power, we’re not treated to at least a guest appearance from excellently-named Aussie pilot Will Power.
For full literal value, TG suggests some sort of Will Power treasure hunt, in which said Aussie pilot is chased around the Goodwood grounds in the manner of the classic Carry On films. Who wouldn’t want to see that?
So: full throttle, the endless pursuit of power. What would you like to see?
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