The best Goodwood motorsport moments of 2024

7. Richard Petty climbs the Hill in the Beast of Turin

Very few moments bring the Festival of Speed to a standstill, but the entire estate stood and paid attention as a truly remarkable occasion took place on the Hill. It’s always a joy to welcome ‘The King’ Richard Petty to Goodwood, and even he was stunned as he discovered he would be climbing into Duncan Pittaway’s Fiat S76 ‘Beast of Turin’ for a run up the Hill. To make this moment truly unforgettable, though, the Beast was joined at the Startline by Petty’s famous Plymouth Superbird. A blink and you’ll miss it moment, the sight of these two cars running side-by-side up the Hill was a perfect encapsulation of what Goodwood is all about.

6. Davey Todd masters the weather on a 95-year-old BMW

Staying with Revival, we'll next highlight one of the most impressive displays of skill we saw all weekend courtesy of Davey Todd as he qualified for the Barry Sheene Memorial Trophy. Once again in extreme wet conditions, Todd proved himself a master of bike control at the helm of the BMW R63 Kompressor from 1929 – one of the oldest bikes in the field. His lap times belied the age of his bike, as he dramatically outpaced much newer machines, beating a Vincent Black Shadow some 25-years its junior by 1.5 seconds. It was a true showcase of the talent of a two-time Isle of Man TT winner.

5. Berger at 81MM

One of the things we love most about the events here at Goodwood are the unforgettable moments they produce, particularly when it comes to reuniting drivers with the cars of their glory years. This was the case at the 81^st Members’ Meeting, where Gerhard Berger got behind the wheel of his Ferrari 640 Formula 1 car for the first time since 1989. It was one of the most anticipated events of the weekend, and brought back memories of one of F1’s great eras as we got to enjoy the glorious sounds of that 3.5-litre V12 engine rev once again, as Berger completed a handful of laps around the Goodwood Motor Circuit. “Everything was just perfect,” he told us afterwards, and we couldn’t agree more.

4. Ford Supervan 4.2 wins the Timed Shootout

The Timed Shootout is one of the highlights of the Festival of Speed, and in 2024 it was headlined by one of the closest battles for victory we've seen in years between Romain Dumas in the Ford Supervan 4.2 and Scott Speed in the Subaru WRX: Project Midnight. Split by just a few tenths of a second in qualifying, we had no idea who would come out on top on Sunday afternoon. It would come down to who could best hold their nerve, and after Speed was only able to record a time of 46.07, the door was open for the 1,400PS (1,030kW) Supervan to take Shootout glory with a winning time of 43.98 seconds.

3. Sidecars entertain at Members' Meeting

The Goodwood Members’ Meeting broke new ground in 2024 as it hosted the inaugural running of the Sidecar Shootout, which marked the first time contemporary vehicles raced at the Motor Circuit since 1966. Eight sidecar teams took part with a line-up that boasted 17 world championships between the riders and passengers, and put on a show that captured the hearts of everyone in attendance over the weekend. The skill and bravery on display was remarkable as they tackled the compression through St. Mary's and grazed the wall at the Chicane with a wheel off the ground time after time. We'd invite these heroes back in a heartbeat.

2. Red Bull captures headlines at the Festival of Speed

We were treated to several spectacular celebrations at this year’s Festival of Speed, but the biggest came on the Sunday as Goodwood celebrated Red Bull Racing’s 20^th anniversary with the largest celebration of a single F1 team ever assembled in front of the House. Current drivers Max Verstappen and Sergio Pérez headlined the list of drivers that also included Daniel Ricciardo, Mark Webber, David Coulthard and Christian Klien, each driving a particularly important car in the team's steeped history, including several championship winners. Hamda Al Qubaisi also drove her F1 Academy car in what was the first representation of the all-female series on the Hill. They all gathered on the balcony afterwards to take in the appreciation of the enormous crowd in what was a truly special moment we’re still thinking about months on.

1. 2024 RAC TT Celebration

One of the most dramatic races at the 2024 Revival was Sunday’s RAC TT Celebration, which this year turned into a BTCC battle between Jake Hill and Tom Ingram. It was Hill and partner Oli Bryant who had the upper hand in their 1964 AC Cobra; after starting at the back of a wet grid, Bryant made his way through the pack all the way to second before handing over to Hill. The newly-crowned BTCC champion continued to build a strong lead, though not without some close calls, all while the TVR Griffith of Ingram started to close the gap. Ingram caught Hill with a handful of laps to go, and made a gutsy move for the lead with just one lap to go. Without doubt, this was the race of the Revival, but also one of the greatest races we've ever seen here at Goodwood.

Photography by Raife Smith, Nick Wilkinson, Pete Summers, Jayson Fong, Toby Whales, Drew Gibson, Dominic James and Jochen Van Cauwen.