Goodwood Festival of Speed

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Goodwood Festival of Speed – in pictures

Goodwood Festival of Speed – in pictures

Jul 3, 2012

Famous names from the past and present of motorsports gathered in the grounds of historic Goodwood House near Chichester in the heart of the English countryside for the annual celebration of motoring – the Festival of Speed.

Traditionally held on the weekend before the British Formula One Grand Prix, Goodwood Festival of Speed is a four-day celebration of all aspects of motorsport, bringing stars of the past together with the best and brightest of their contemporaries.

This year among the Formula One drivers putting on a show for the crowds were Alain Prost, Sir Jackie Stewart, John Surtees and Emerson Fittipaldi, while Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button all tackled the estate's hillclimb course. That's 14 world championships among them.

It was the first time that double Formula One world champion Vettel appeared at the Festival, which has become a fixture for thousands of petrolheads who braved the high winds and scattered showers that make up a British summer.

On Saturday, Sebastian put two cars that he'd helped design out for a spin at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Here he's posing with the Infiniti FX Vettel Edition.

"The performance is really good and driving it up the Goodwood hill was great fun. It's fantastic for me to have contributed to the design of this car and I’m very excited to take delivery of my own!”

Later he put the Red Bull X2010 – designed by Adrian Newey, built by Kazunori Yamauchi, tested by Vettel for the Gran Turismo 5 game – through its virtual paces at the Red Bull Gridsters Dome...

New for 2012, Red Bull Gridsters gave festival-goers the chance to compete on three games Forza Motorsport 4 (Xbox 360), Gran Turismo 5 (PS3) and F1 2011 (PS3) to determine who was the best all rounder. All the matches were played in a four player LAN with the winner of the race scoring the most points.

There was also a competition to beat a time set by Toro Rosso star Daniel Ricciardo:

Red Bull Racing's Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber meanwhile faced an even stiffer challenge: taking on pro gamer Erik 'HakkiJunior' Lestach. Newly minted as Red Bull's first fully fledged pro gaming athlete, the 18-year-old Slovak is ranked number one (out of 10 million online users) at Trackmania.

For HakkiJunior (seen above giving some pointers to a young race fan) taking on both drivers at their own game – or at least a digital version of it – was a dream come true. "I only found out I would be competing with Sebastian Vettel 30 minutes before the race," said Erik. "But meeting Sebastian and Mark Webber was the best part of the weekend for me."

After his virtual race-off, Mark Webber – a regular at the Festival and in his element there as a car fan and motorbike nut – conducted a Q&A session with motorsports fans. He also took a futuristic Infiniti out on the course. This time the stunning EMERG-E sports hybrid.

"I’m used to Formula One cars that make a lot of noise, so to drive a silent car was very new to me! Infiniti have made something really nice here. The EMERG-E looks beautiful and is very quick –faster than you expect with it being so quiet. It was great fun being able to drive it up the hill. Cars like this have to be the future – fast, fun and clean.”

A huge draw at the FoS was a new and enlarged Goodwood Action Sports arena which saw a host of extreme sports stars competing for the fans, including Red Bull X-Fighters legend Eigo Sato, in an explosive celebration of motorbike trials, mountain bike trials, BMX dirt and flatland and FMX . Pictured above is Czech FMX star Petr Pilat and BMX champion Kye Forte braving the high winds to soar into the air high above the crowd.

A little closer to the ground, 12-times trials world champion Dougie Lampkin, who's another crowd favourite at the Festival, and BMX Flatland star Viki Gomez pull off some amazing feats of control in the Goodwood Action Sports arena before competing in a relay race combing pro athletes from all the disciplines on show.

Above (L-R) Nick Heidfeld, Button, Vettel, Marc Gene, Giedo Van der Garde and Brendon Hartley line up in height order for our cameras.

Rising star of WRC, Thierry Neuville compares notes on off-roading with trials and hard enduro legend Dougie Lampkin.

Another race winner – this time in the form of Brian Vickers's Red Bull Racing Team NASCAR Toyota – brings a taste of Stateside racing with a specacular and raucous burnout for the genteel British fans.