The Goodwood festival of speed moved into Its second day today as the action on the hill fully got underway.
All the full classes and batches of competition cars were out on the hill and many of the cars competing for times were doing their first timed runs of the weekend.
One of the fastest of the day wasn’t actually a competition car but actually in the Supercar and first look runs which feature mainly road cars. But the BAC Mono is no ordinary road car being literally a single seater for the road (And track days!)
The time was not only the fastest of the day but the fastest time at all for ten years and in the top four times in the festival ever! The Mono is being driven this weekend by former BTCC and Sportscar ace Anthony Reid. Reid, who has set fastest times at Goodwood several times before set a time of 44.31 seconds. That was less than three seconds off the all-time record set by Nick Heidfeld in 1999 in what was then a year old Mclaren Mp4/13 Formula 1 car. The Gould GR51 Hill climb car is second having set its lap in 2003 (42.90) and third is a Jaguar XJR8 from the eighties which set it’s best time (44.19) in 2008 in the hands of Goodwood expert Justin Law.
The fact that Reid is already setting a time that strong on what is supposed to be a practice day suggests this could be a monumental record breaking weekend as there are some very fast cars competing. VW have their car built especially for the Pikes Peak Hill climb in the US, the ID R. This electric powered car only broke the record at Pikes Peak a few weeks ago in the hands of Romain Dumas and they’d love to add the overall Goodwood record to their achievements.
Another record breaking car is the Porsche 919 Hybrid Evo. This is an evolution of the manufacturers Le Mans winning design. Free of Le Mans rules, Porsche modified the car to make the ultimate car for setting a time around the Nurburgring Nordschleife in Germany. They achieved it just over two weeks ago setting a time of 5:19.545 smashing Stefan Bellof’s previous record of 6:11.13 set back in 1983 also in a Porsche (a 956) Porsche too would love to snatch the Goodwood record which is now nineteen years old.
Fastest lady on the Hill is likely to be Lorina Mclaughlin in her own 1992 Benetton B192, once driven by Michael Schumacher. Although it’s unlikely to have the performance on the newer record breaking machinery, it’s still likely to be quick enough to be in the final shoot out at the end of the weekend.
Jessica Hawkins is another quick female driver who is on track over the weekend. Yesterday she took to the track in the world’s fastest lawn Mower which she is due to make a record attempt in at some point this year.
Thursday was just a demo run but she may be able to go for a time over Saturday and Sunday, although this is still to be confirmed. She may also get a run in W Motors latest car the Fenyr Supersport. Hawkins drives another of the Lebanese company’s products, the Lykan Hypersport in the Fast and Furious Live show and so is the perfect choice to show off the company’s latest 800bhp machine.
“It was tricky taking the lawnmower up the hill yesterday,” said Hawkins 2as it’s very bumpy on the course but it’s a great machine and very fast.”
“I’m hoping to be able to drive the Fenyr over the weekend too”
Hawkins isn’t currently racing full time due to her work in the Fast and Furious live show but she did recently compete in the Volkswagen Racing Cup as a one off meeting but she’d like to be back out before the end of the season.
The Bonham’s auction takes place tonight in an awning behind the house. A number of rare competition and road cars are to go under the hammer in the auction which often makes record prices.
With good weather forecast for the final two days of the festival, it looks set to be a record breaking Silver Anniversary year for one of the most popular events in motorsport. By Marc Waller
