Alfas Star at Goodwood, July 2-4, 2010

From the 1910 Lancia Tipo 55 Corsa and 1911 FIAT S74 14.2 litre Grand Prix car to the 2009 Ferrari F60 and 2011 Ferrari 599 GTO making its public debut at the event, this year’s Festival of Speed provided a treat of gastronomic proportions on which petrol heads of all ages could feast their eyes.

This would have been a terrible weekend to visit the Museo Storico Dell’Alfa Romeo in Arese Italy as a large number of the exhibits had been brought to Goodwood to celebrate 100 years of these great automobiles. The 20 meter high sculpture by Gerry Judah in front of Goodwood House memorialized this anniversary with a red cloverleaf structure featuring the legendary P2, the first Alfa Romeo racing car to win Grand Prix events, and the latest 2010 Alfa Romeo 8C supercar.

In addition to the fabulous P2, the Museo and many private owners brought a great selection of significant cars from Alfa’s storied history. The oldest, an ALFA 40/60 HP Corsa designed by Giuseppe Merosi was built in 1913 and finished 2nd in its very first event, the 1913 Parma-Berceto hillclimb.

The pre-war Grand Prix car class was full of magnificent Alfa Romeos. A 1933 Alfa Romeo Tipo B was the first successful center-line single seat racecar winning the Italian Grand Prix in its first race and beating the Mercedes Silver Arrows at the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring in 1935 after an epic drive to victory by Tazio Nuvolari. This car was joined by a trio of beautiful long-nosed Alfa Romeo Grand Prix cars from the 1930s, a 1935 8C, a 1937 12C and a 308C built in 1938. Rounding out this class was the Tipo 512, a prototype flat-12 mid-engined race car designed in 1940 to take on the mighty Auto Unions but never raced due to World War II.

The Classic Endurance Racers class featured an eclectic selection of Alfas. A Scuderia Ferrari team 8C 2300 Monza which won the 1933 Swedish Grand Prix and is believed to be the car driven by Nuvolari in the 1933 Monaco Grand Prix has since been returned to its original sports car specification. Also sporting the Cavalino Rampante shields of Scuderia Ferrari, Burkhard von Schenk’s 1933 8C 2600 Spyder was driven to many victories under the control of Enzo Ferrari.

According to the owner, the pretty 1935 6C 2300 Aerodynamica was developed at the request of Mussolini himself was driven out of Italy in 1946 by Oscar Jankovits, one of its designers while being showered with bullets. The 1938 8C 2900B LM Coupé led the 1938 Le Mans 24 Hour Race for 219 laps driven by Raymond Sommer and Clementi Biondetti before being sidelined with a blown tire. The final Alfa in this class was Chris Mann’s 1953 3000 Disco Volante of which only four were made.

In the Front Engined Grand Prix Cars group, a Tipo 159 Alfetta, the car that took Giuseppe Farina and Juan Manuel Fangio to World Championship titles in 1950 and 1951 was joined by entries from Maserati, Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz, Vanwall, Lotus and BRM.

The Ground-Effect & Turbo Grand Prix Cars Class included a 1982 Alfa Romeo 182 driven by Andrea de Cesaris. His best finish in this car was 3rd at the Monaco G.P.

The “Versatile Tipo 33” Class had six entries. The earliest, a 1966 Tipo 33 Periscopica was driven up the Goodwood hill by Targa Florio winner Arturo Merzario. Three 1968 models, a Tipo 33/2 Daytona was given its name after winning its class at the 1968 Daytona 24 Hours. Also built in 1968, the Tipo 33/2 Le Mans with beautiful long tail aerodynamic bodywork won its class and took 4th, 5th and 6th places overall in the 1968 Le Mans 24 Hour Race. The 1971 Tipo 33 TT3 took fourth place at Le Mans in 1972 driven by Andrea de Adamich and Nino Vaccarella. Rounding out this class was a 1977 Tipo 33 SC (scatolato or monocoque) 12. This car dominated the 1977 season, bringing Alfa Romeo its second endurance World title.

In addition to Alfa Romeo, many other great Italian cars were driven up the hill and displayed in the many paddocks where you can get up close to them and talk to their owners and drivers.

As usual Ferrari was well represented.

Ferrari Grand Prix cars dating back to a 1959 Ferrari 246 Dino representing the model in which Mike Hawthorn won the 1958 World Championship and Ferrari scored a 1-2-3 victory at Monza in 1960. This car was driven at Goodwod by French F1 star Patrick Tambay. John Surtees drove his 1964 World Championship winning Ferrari 158 up the hill on Saturday and Sunday.

This car is now owned by the Barber Vintage Motor Sports Museum in Birmingham Alabama which also houses several motorcycles from John’s successful career on two wheels. There also was the Ferrari 312 that Chris Amon drove to 10th place in the 1968 World Championship standings. An unusual Ferrari 312 B3S “Spazzaneve” or snow plough named for its shovel nose was never raced, but passed along many design cues to the successful 312T.

Mario Andretti’s 1971 312 B2 sat in the paddock with a tag on its steering wheel saying “Warning, no oil in this engine”. Marc Gené drove the 2009 Ferrari F60 up the hill on all three days. This car marks the 60th year of Ferrari in F1 making them the only manufacturer to enter the F1 World Championship every year since its beginning in 1950.

Ferrari was not only represented in the Grand Prix classes. In the Classic Endurance Racers class, the immaculate Ferrari 250 TR59/60 in which Olivier Gendebien and Paul Frère won at Le Mans in 1960 was driven by owner William Connor.

The class celebrating 60 Years of the great Mexican Classic the Carrera Panamericana included Paul Vestey’s beautiful 1953 Ferrari 375MM which came 2nd in this classic race in 1954. “Fast lady” Sally Mason-Styrron drove the ex-Maranello Concessionaires 365 GTB/4 Daytona LM that she owns with husband Dudley to record a time in the top 20. Paul Knapfield entered his Ferrari 312 PB in the Open Racing Prototypes class. Built in 1972, this car won every Championship race that year except Le Mans in which it was not entered. Ferrari feared that its Formula 1 derived 3.0 liter flat 12 engine would not last 24 hours. The car did however take second place in the Le Mans race the following year. The Sports Car Legends class featured a 1970 Ferrari 512S driven by Herbert Müller and Mike Parks in the ‘70s. Derek Bell drove this car up the hill at Goodwood.

The annual Cartier Style et Luxe concours d’elegance this year featured “Italian Masterpieces” from Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Lancia, Maserati, Ferrari and De Tomaso including unique styling exercises by Pinifarina, Zagato, and many more. No fewer than 6 Alfa Romeo 8Cs graced the lawn outside Goodwood house, one of them masquerading as a Bugatti in beautiful Bugatti racing blue. Included also was the 1980 Ferrari Pinin, built to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Pininfarina and as a tribute to founder Battista “Pinin” Farina. This is the only four door Ferrari ever built. The event was won by the beautiful 1954 Maserati A6GCS Berlinetta of Franco Lombardi.

Also on display was Chris Evans’ mouthwatering collection of white Ferraris all with their ENZ license plates coupled with the appropriate number; 250, 275, 288, 365, 2000 etc. and his ex-James Coburn Ferrari 250 California Spyder, FER 1.

For those who have never made the trip to the Goodwood Festival of Speed it is a truly wonderful event where you can see more classic cars, motorcycles and famous racers of all ages in one place than anywhere else in the world. I thoroughly recommend adding it to your “bucket list”.