The Goodwood Festival of Speed 2012 was held June 28 – July 1 at Goodwood House and the 1.16-mile Goodwood hillclimb in West Sussex, England. A total of over 185,000 attendees visited this year’s event – up on the previous record set last year of 181,000 – with the Festival of Speed selling out earlier than it has ever done before.

The 2012 Goodwood Festival of Speed celebrated “Young Guns – Born to Win” by honoring drivers, riders, designers and engineers that shocked the establishment. Alongside this central theme, the Festival marked the 60th anniversary of Lotus Engineering. Inspired by the incomparable Colin Chapman, this small British company utilised unparalleled technical ingenuity to dominate all levels of motor sport, from club racing to Formula 1, creating an enduring legacy. A spectacular collection of winning Lotus cars, from F1, Indycars, saloons and sports cars, were a key attraction. (See Goodwood FoS – Lotus Photo Gallery)

The Festival also honored sports car racing in 1972, the 30th anniversary of the famed Group C era, Touring Titans, Pikes Peak and Rally Cars, the Cosworth Years and the F1 Turbo Era and Beyond. Tackling the famous Goodwood hillclimb were everything from early Grand Prix and endurance machines, to off-road and contemporary racers and racing motorcycles, as well as 140+ star racing drivers, riders and celebrities.

Former British Touring Car Championship ace Anthony Reid brought the house down at the 2012 Goodwood Festival of Speed after recording the fastest time of the day. In a change from previous Festivals, the 2012 edition saw more than 45 cars take part in the special top 20 shoot-out finale. David Tetley’s fearsome ‘Stars ’n’ Stripes’ Opel Manta V8 kicked things off, recording a time of 57.34 seconds, the times tumbling until Rod Millen’s Pikes Peak Toyota had an off following a grassy moment exiting Molecomb. The Kiwi emerged unscathed, and even managed a smile, but his ‘truck’ had bent front suspension and bodywork damage.

Following the restart, a psyched-up Reid blasted his Chevron GT3 racer up the hillclimb course in a blazing 46.46 seconds, the Scot reaching 131 mph on his run. He narrowly edged out the favourite Gary Ward, who streaked up the hill in 46.80 seconds aboard his Leyton House-Judd CG901B Grand Prix car. However, fastest man in terms of outright speed was Group C Jaguar XJR8/9 driver Justin Law who recorded a staggering 142 mph across the line. It was a suitably dramatic conclusion to a thrilling 2012 Goodwood Festival of Speed.

Similar to our featured marque Lotus photo gallery, Senior Photographer Tim Scott presents the following pictures that capture the essence of “largest motoring garden party in the world,” the Goodwood Festival of Speed 2012. To see more from Tim, visit fluidimages.co.uk.

Goodwood Festival of Speed 2012 – Photo Gallery (click image for larger photo and description)

[Source: Goodwood; photos: Tim Scott / Fluid Images]

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