It's not the Gateway Center...

[Jeff Murphy]

...but it's still not a bad place for showing off a COPO. Meet the ancestral home of Charles, Lord of March and Kinrara -- been in his family longer than the US has been a country. Lord March, is a bonafide car nut who hosts the world's preeminent vintage racing festivals on these grounds. In July he runs a three day hillclimb up a mile of his driveway with everything from steam powered cars of the 1890s through the six of the current F1 teams and everything possible in between -- NASCAR, rallying, modern Pro Stock drag racing cars, Grand Sport Corvettes and Shelby Daytona Coupes, Bob Riggle's Hemi Under Glass wheelstander, you name it. There is also a vintage road racing event in September the week after the Reunion that sees people put multi-million dollar cars at serious risk on the track (no staged Pebble Beach finishes here). One guy last year backed his $3 million dollar Ferrari 250LM into a sandbank something fierce. In addition, he got Rolls Royce to put their new factory on his land. Goodwood -- Motorsport

Lord March and his competition director also have a penchant for American cars, which is why they asked me to bring the COPO down for people to see at the Goodwood Road Racing Club Open House -- he owned and road raced an early sixties Galaxie for a while and regularly jumps behind the wheel of big block powered Can-Am cars for the hillclimb.

You'll all be pleased to know that the almost entirely English crowd was super interested in the COPO despite their traditional love of lightweight high revving Lotus or Jags or imperial, super luxe Bentleys and the like. Most of all they seemed fascinated by how huge the engine was and how small the tires were -- they seemed to get it!! [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/burnout.gif[/img] I spent most of the day answering questions about drag racing, what COPO's were, the history of the original cars, the fact that GM warrantied them even though they were bought to race, fuel consumption, etc. I may not have developed a new set of enthusiasts but at least there are some more knowledgeable people on this side of the Atlantic. A car nut is a car nut is a car nut. Oh yeah, I gave everyone a little horsepower demo on the way out the driveway, too...

By the way, you'll either be pleased or mortified (sorry Mr. Billigen) that I drove the car seventy miles each way on a 95+ degree day on bias plies using a combination of city streets, highways and two lane country roads without a single problem. Car was fine, but I have to admit I was a bit stressed by the time I got home.

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[T Billigen]

I would have been more than stressed! Someone would have had to put me in a straight jacket! I'm glad you did not have any problems. Sure is a pretty car! [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggthumpup.gif[/img] [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/[/img]

[sYc]

Jeff, I have watched this event on TV several times. It is one of my favorites, as I enjoy watching some of the world's rarest performance autos get driven "like they were stolen", often times by a famous driver. As you mentioned, they have been known to push the envelope a little too much, which results in an encounter with the hay bales. I would love to see this event in person some time.

[Mr70]

Way to go Jeff! [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggthumpup.gif[/img]

[Jeff Murphy]

I think the '68 Harrell Funny Car might fit in just fine!! You can do a few 100-200ft. launches up the hill. Just make sure Mo pays special attention to the brakes. Even if they don't work too well, you'll have a safety crew nearby -- they'll follow you up the hill in a vintage fire truck to put out the hay bale fires your headers start (I saw Bob Riggle light a few in the 'Cuda).

If that's a little too exciting, maybe they might like the Kelly Challenge car.

It's definitely worth the trip. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beers.gif[/img]

[JoeC]

Goodwood is a good show. A few years ago they had the Hurst Hemi under glass wheelie car there with the original driver. It was cool but I think he damaged the car hitting one of those giant hey bales.

[Jeff Murphy]

You're right. Bob Riggle was there again this year with the Hurst Hemi Under Glass '66 Cuda. Spent about half an hour talking to him about the car and vintage racing. He's a super ambassador for the sport. This year he kept the car on the pavement and left with it undamaged. He was clearly the crowd favorite, along with the driver of BMW's 1998 Le Mans winning prototype that basically smoked the tires the whole way up the driveway, Jenson Button driving this year's BAR Honda F1 car in controlled doughnuts and some lunatic on a Norton endurance racing motorcycle that either had the rear wheel lit up or the front one off the ground the whole way up the hill!! I'll see if I can post a picture tonight of Riggle's car in front of the house.

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They've put out a limited edition DVD of the highlights of the first 10 years of the Festival that I picked up this weekend that should be a good spectacle.

[Jeff Murphy]

Thought you guys might like to see a few of the American cars and the burnout kings from the Festival of Speed this year. Here's the Hemi Under Glass that was discussed above:

[Jeff Murphy]

Current Renault F1 car (traction control turned off!):

[Jeff Murphy]

BMW Le Mans winner (he's probably already gone a 100ft.):