The Goodwood Festival of Speed wrapped up on Sunday after three days of pure motorsports Heaven. While we would have liked to have posted a gallery or two a day from the event, internet issues kept us from sharing anything else after firing off our initial couple of posts. To make up for it we have a few massive galleries of goodness from Goodwood planned. We start today with some highlights, but will try to show some of the special categories individually too in later posts. After all, it isn't really a race in the strictest sense of the word and the pics will keep you just as entertained now as if they come next week. So hopefully you'll appreciate what we have to offer and if it isn't your thing, feel free to move onto something else you like better.
For those who want to stick around you can expect to see coverage of everything from the Cartier Style et Luxe concours to the Airbus A380 flyover. We'll also include some shots of the people and sights from around the grounds of Lord March's estate. Although the racing is what brings people here, it is truly the ambiance that keeps them coming back year after year. The photos are captioned as much as possible for your convenience, but look for supercars, celebrity drivers, vintage racers, classic cars, movie cars, wild track action and much more. We hope you enjoy our expanded coverage of the 2008 Goodwood Festival of Speed as much as we enjoyed being there and sharing it with you.
Click image above for high-res gallery of pics from our first night at Goodwood
We got back from the Members' Ball at Goodwood House and we wanted to share some of our shots from the opening event. Although we were reduced to using a point-and-shoot, we thought you still might like to see some of the cars and sights at this year's Festival of Speed. Lord March puts on a fantastic event and the night before the whole thing starts the members get to attend a special dinner where the Bonhams auction offerings are open for viewing and the Central Display for this year's festivities gets unveiled.
As this is a big anniversary for Land Rover, they were chosen as the featured marque. The display featured five special silver Land Rovers climbing a giant steel girder jungle gym of sorts. After seeing some of the cars in the auction tent and having a wonderful supper, the fireworks and unveiling were almost too much, but there was more. Among the many featured categories this year are some vintage dragsters from the '50s and '60s that still run in a special historic series. As a treat to the members, a few of them were fired up so the Brits could experience the sight, sound, feel, taste and smell of these Hemi-powered slingshots. With so few Americans in attendance, it was nice to see these racers being given such honored treatment. It truly brought tears to our eyes. Actually that was the nitro-methane. Enjoy the gallery.
The Goodwood Festival of Speed begins on Friday and we wanted to let you know that we'll be there, once again, to cover the action. Just like last year, we hope to provide you with massive galleries chock full of high res pics of everything from the motorbikes to the rally cars, from the concours to the F1 action, from the special displays to the air show. As an overview of the event and of our coverage, we've posted a few essential lists after the jump. We understand that most of you can't attend, but for those going to Goodwood House on Friday, Saturday or Sunday, the event schedule is below the break. There's also a list of the highlights expected at this year's event, which has adopted the theme: 'Hawthorn to Hamilton – Britain's Love Affair with World Motor Sport.'
Picking highlights from an event like this is really a chore. The whole event is a highlight, with so many of the greatest vehicles from automotive history assembling in such a scenic location and being driven by some of the most legendary names from motorsports lore. And finally, Goodwood is all about special anniversaries, so there is also a list of some of the milestones being commemorated this year in West Sussex. For all of the other details about tickets, camping at the manor, directions and the like, visit the official Goodwood site.
As for the focus of the show -- the cars -- we're especially looking forward to seeing the Audi R8 V12 TDi, Aston Martin V12 Vantage RS, Artega GT, and Mazda Furai run; the flyover by the Airbus 380; the anniversary collections of cars from McLaren, Cosworth, Lola, and Porsche; the Gulf liveried cars; the Bond cars; the collection of dragsters that will be started twice a day on the Cricket Pitch; and of course the modern F1 cars. We hope you can make it down to Goodwood this year, but if you can't, we you know you're a click away when our coverage begins Friday.
This is the kind of photo Rich Truesdell will teach you to create
We've actually talked about doing this ourselves before, at least internally here at AB HQ. Giving some practical pointers on basic photography theory for new bloggers trying out their DSLR skills for the first time. Basic stuff like composition and lighting, focal lengths and depth of field. Well, our pal Rich Truesdell beat us to the punch, and did a much better job than we probably could have done in the process. Check out the series of articles he wrote to learn the basics and a whole lot more. While not everyone wants to be the next Ansel Adams, these tips can help you capture the best angle of your ride for that craigslist or eBay ad, or to show it off on your forum of choice. The article even gets into tips on catching the eyes of editors if you want to get your shots published. Really good information for anyone with a camera really. Click over and read the whole thing for yourself.
What would you call this thing? A Prelude SUC*? A Preludamino? A Prelude Brat? A Ridgelude? The seller, for his part, bills it as a "Cruck." With the careful adaptation of a Datsun Pickup liftgate, this cut and restyled 1989 Prelude Si was possibly a prelude to the atrocity wonder that would eventually be known as the Honda Ridgeline. It is said to feature a four-cylinder with an automatic, and able to get 38 mpg. Thank goodness it "was built under professional supervision of experienced body technicians," as we'd hate to think that any average schmo cut and pasted this Prelude. The work must be halfway decent, as it serves as daily transport for the seller and still features such luxuries as "power windows, sunroof, heat and a/c, cd player, power steering and functional tailgate." As it sits it's a fitting testament to ingenuity and another answer to a question nobody asked. Only $2,500 though. Thanks for the tip, Tom!
Porsche and Suzuki rarely come up in the same breath, but here is something they both share: neither will be in Cobo Hall when the Detroit Auto Show opens in January. Joining the Stuttgart sportscar/SUV/SUS maker in skipping the show, Suzuki has said that they are pulling out for a slightly different reason. Whereas Porsche had said that Detroit wasn't a very important market for them, Suzuki is saying they didn't like the space they were offered. Here, Suzuki is hitting closer to what many people feel is the real problem with Cobo, there just isn't enough room. It's a fine hall with a storied past, and as a journalist it's nice to be able to get to any press conference within a minute from the media center, but it's not very big compared to the other halls around the world. With a name like "2009 North American International Auto Show" it needs more square-footage. It's still the most important auto show in the country, if not the world, and maybe losing Suzuki and Porsche don't hurt it too much, but this move by Suzuki could be marking a trend that can only be stopped with a major expansion. Back in January, we mentioned that a plan is being formulated to expand Cobo Hall, but the project is still in the financing stage as far as we know. Hopefully something can be done before long to save this great show's reputation.
Maybe Dyson doesn't suck as much as we thought. James Dyson, the inventor of new age, overpriced vacuum cleaners, had recently been reported by The Independent as interested in working on developing his own green auto, specifically a solar-powered electric vehicle. The story (as reported by AB Green and others) was that Dyson engineers were working on an electric motor derived from the one used in their own vacuum cleaners. Dyson was said to be looking for partners to build the car, with the company itself developing the powerplant. Apparently there's a sucker born every minute, as Dyson is now stating that he never told anyone they were developing a car, just that the new digital motor in their latest vacuum cleaner could power a car. If you read the article, it's blatantly apparent that the interviewer got caught reaching too far with Dyson's quotes. Semantics aside, we still like the idea of a modern sucker car like the Chaparral 2J sucker car. If Dyson vacuum motors replaces the snowmobile engines used on the original, so much the better.
Ferrari Company Restaurant designed by architect Marco Visconti
Ferraris have long been known as striking and powerful machines, typically at the front of the pack in any competition. It should come as no surprise, then, that Ferrari the company is also a leader, extending that same philosophy to how it designs its manufacturing facilities. Late last millennium, the company launched its "Formula Uomo" plan to modernize production in a way that would be good for profitability, good for the environment, and good for the workers. With the opening of their latest new car assembly lines facility and company restaurant, they have reached that goal. The restaurant is a thing of beauty that allows workers a peaceful retreat from the factory. The new assembly lines reduce worker movements so they can work more efficiently, all while catching glimpses of the original plant's red walls through their huge windows. Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo and CEO Amedeo Felisa presented these most recent and final pieces in the "Formula Uomo" program, just over ten years after the launch in 1997. It cost the company something like 200 million euro to hire award-winning architects to design and build the new facilities.
The other bold move the company is making is the launch of a new magazine. Produced in conjunction with Condè Nast, this new Ferrari Magazine is a large-format mag that features "a lively and interesting mix of cars, racing culture, fashion and design seen from the point of view of the Ferrari world and the passionate individuals who buy these superb cars." What they said. This quarterly publication will be sent to 30,000 owners worldwide and will only be offered in English. A limited number of subscriptions will be offered to the public as well, at 250 Euro per year. Our CPAs tell us we can write this off. Expect Montezemolo and Schumacher to make regular appearances, as well as other company executives, designers, and even celebrity owners like Nick Mason. The magazine will capture everything Ferrari, with the December issue each year acting as a replacement for the annual yearbook. So you can be sure that F1 will get a thorough rundown as well. For more info, read the press releases after the jump.
Click image above for small gallery of the new Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT-8
While out in the Mojave testing the new Subaru STI, our buddy Rich Truesdell not only came upon a fleet of 2009 Acura TLs, but caravan of Mopars. There were "several Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8s, a Dodge Challenger, with a camouflaged Jeep Grand Cherokee towing a trailer in tandem with a Mercedes ML towing a similar trailer." The ML was a tipoff that this could be a Grand Cherokee with the Mercedes-shared turbodiesel engine. But when the vehicles passed by, they knew they were listening to a Hemi under that hood. So maybe it is just an upgraded Hemi that was being load-tested against a similarly powerful ML550. Informed speculation says that a new fascia lies behind the camo and it was undergoing cooling testing. Rich also mentions tire upgrades and even a horsepower bump as possible reasons for the desert excursion. One intriguing theory is the adaptation of Chrysler's gas-saving multi displacement system to the hi-po Hemi, something Chrysler has said wouldn't work on this engine. We'll probably have to just wait and see, but for now, check out our mini gallery supplied by Truesdell and Automotive Traveler for the rest of the tale of the encounter in the desert.
Click image above for additional pics of the 2009 Acura TL
We just showed you some spy pics of the 2009 Acura TL yesterday, but when one automotive photog saw the lo-res cellphone pics we ran, he knew he could do better. Our buddy Rich Truesdell of Automotive Traveler sent over a small patch of pics that he shot of the new mid-level Acura in action out in the Mojave. Just as with the new TSX and RL, the '09 TL seems to be adopting the corporate blocky metal triangle look. To paraphrase Fletch, "It's all about blocky metal triangles these days." Besides that signature fascia treatment, however, the rest of the car could easily be mistaken for a G37 sedan. Not bad, mind you, but not very distinctive either and surprising given the aggressively styled nose and tail. We'd say the best view is the rear-3/4 shot showing how the C-pillars continue out past the rear glass at their trailing edge and become the top edge of the rear deck. Pretty nifty. Check out our gallery below and Automotive Traveler to read about their encounter with the new TL.
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