Goodwood Festival of Speed - Worth it?
Posted by GreenGloober@reddit | askcarguys | View on Reddit | 9 comments
I am going to be in Italy \~1-2 weeks before Goodwood FOS and trying to decide if the logistics of the trip over to Goodwood is worthwhile from Italy. Most likely would have to take a round trip flight from Italy to London and then back. I know this is going to be subjective, but just wanted to hear some thoughts.
I am somewhat 50/50 about it because from what I have read, the weather can be good or it can get bad quickly. If it was just me, I wouldn't care, but I'll have my wife and 2 year old in tow.
The idea of Goodwood seems pretty cool though, because I'd be able to see a variety of cars all in one place. I've always wanted to experience a rally/hill climb and it seems a lot more accessible at Goodwood than at a normal rally event where you have to go to a spot on the course early and leave late, etc.
It might be a stretch, but the closest experience I would have to Goodwood would be car week in Monterey.
As of right now, the 4 day ticket seems to be sold out, so I would have to buy Thurs-Sat tickets individually.
GetawayDriving@reddit
I’ve done Goodwood FoS, Revival, Monterey Car Week and just about every major auto show in the world (Munich, Tokyo, Geneva, New York, LA, etc).
Goodwood is the best automotive event in the world. It’s insane. The patron parking lot alone would probably be the best car show in the world.
I think I prefer Revival over FoS but they’re both great.
TargetHQ@reddit
How do Revival and FoS compare?
I've seen bits of each, and it seems (to my ignorant self) that FoS is just the hill climb while Revival is like a car show/slow touring? I'm trying to decide which to go to but don't have a good grasp yet on the complete scope of each.
GetawayDriving@reddit
I didn’t realize the scale of FoS. It’s massive. I walked for 9 hours straight my first time there and still didn’t find the rally course. There is SO much to see and do. The hill climb is just one aspect of it, I barely watched that while I was there. It’s not like it’s a challenging course, it’s more like a dog and pony show. The real draw is just all of the incredible cars that you can get up close to and there’s everything from the latest hyper cars to $30 million vintage race cars and there’s no VIP section. I mean there is a VIP section, but you can walk right up and look in the window of the $30 million car. It feels like you have full access. Even the parking lot is one of the best car shows I’ve ever seen and that’s just the stuff people drove to get there.
Revival is a completely different vibe. That’s as much as of a fashion show as it is related. Drenched in nostalgia and everyone is in on it. The amount of period dress and cosplay that goes on is incredible. And then the vintage racing is truly exciting. That one is more about the racing and less about the stuff that’s going on around it.
Totally different vibes for both and honestly both are amazing in their own way. I recommend any one who is a Car person attend each at least once in their life.
In Monterey, but in my opinion, it does not come anywhere near the goodwoods
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GreenGloober@reddit (OP)
Going to revival would have been awesome, because I always liked watching the clips of the minis racing the muscle cars that I see online.
Sounds like I'll have to try and plan things out well if I go then to minimize back tracking and not missing any particular event I really want to see.
Maybe I'll try to do 3 or 4 days and just take things slower each day and in case I have to arrive later or leave early due to the kid
Ikerukuchi@reddit
Have done FOS and Monterey car week, FOS is I think the best car event in the world. You don’t need to do 4 days but if you can go for two, there’s just way to much to see to jam it into one.
One of my absolute favourite memories in my life is standing in the marshalling area next to the pits as as a bunch of 70’s and 80’s Le Mans cars fired up to head out to the start of the hill climb, just intoxicating being in the middle of it.
GreenGloober@reddit (OP)
That's pretty awesome. Car week was one of my best car experiences so far, because it was over the course of a week, cars were everywhere on the streets and then it got topped off with watching all of the historic cars get on track at Laguna.
Are you able to walk around the pit areas of Goodwood like how you are able to do at Laguna? Sounds like I have a bit of researching to do now.
Ikerukuchi@reddit
Yep, absolutely, I’d say that if anything you have better access at FoS because the pits are more cramped and the concentration of ‘holy crap that’s…….’ is tighter. In terms of comparing the two the difference is that FoS is a single event with an enormous amount all being concentrated in a small space whereas Monterey is a loose collective of fantastic event anchored (imo) by the historics meeting at Laguna. Or maybe an auction but that’s well beyond my bank balance :)
The best way that I can explain it is if a bunch of money landed in my lap and considering I’ve been to a bunch of events, festivals, races etc the one event I’d take my car loving father to is FoS.
GreenGloober@reddit (OP)
That's a pretty good explanation, cause that's how Monterey felt for me. A lot of stuff going on, but more spread out and not necessarily handled under one organizer.
I guess my trip now hinges on if I can get tickets for Friday and Saturday. I didn't realize how quickly they sell out