Rally Legends at the Goodwood Festival of Speed

Photography by Nat Twiss

Far away from the throngs of spectators lining the hay bales at the bottom of the Goodwood Hill Climb, away from the Gerry Judah-designed sculpture that sits strikingly in front of Goodwood House—and just a few hundred yards away from the finish line—there is a beautifully-constructed rally stage. The stage itself was a product of design by 1983 World Rally Champion, Hannu Mikkola. Starting on an open field above the woodland the narrow, dusty stage navigates through the trees before looping back out to the daylight near the start line, but not before navigating some brilliant sections and an awesome high speed jump.

All of the above would be pointless if it weren’t brought to life by a collection of stunning rally machinery. Besides the staples of classic British rallying, we had an awesome Group B Nissan 240RS, as well as a host of Quattro machinery, and many more.

The tarmac hillclimb also made sure to represent some icons of the dirtier persuasion, the highlight of which were the Pikes Peak legends, including the Peugeot 405 T16 made famous with the Ari Vatanen Climb Dance video. Rod Millen was in attendance too, driving his record breaking Toyota Celica, and eventually finished third overall—a supremely impressive feat considering he was running against modern machinery in a car that’s 20 years old!

I came to the Festival expecting that rallying would be a very small footnote in my memory of the event, but it ended up being one of my highlights. The stage was a masterpiece and any spectator who makes the walk up the hill is thoroughly rewarded with some excellent close viewing areas, and some great cars.