Questions and answers with Lord March

Having attended Goodwood’s Festival of Speed for five consecutive years now, Festivalofspeed.net decided that it was time to find out the “behind the scenes” aspect of organizing such a seamless function. Having witnessed the rock-solid organization of all of the “main event” functions such as the timed runs, exhibition runs, the new forest rally stage, as well as all the support functions of catering, shops, Cartier Style et Luxe, vendor displays and overall paddock orgnazation, one would expect (as we did) literally hundreds of people to be involved in the formative months leading up to the event. Thankfully, Lord March himself was willing to speak with Festivalofspeed.net shortly after this year’s Festival to discuss the past, present and future of the event as well as giving us a small insight into the substantial organization required to satisfy 150,000 motoring enthusiasts over three days in June.

History Lord March returned to Goodwood in 1992 with a strong desire to reopen the Goodwood race circuit. The circuit originally started life as an aerodrome, but was subsequently converted into a race track by Lord March’s grandfather after the war. Building on the circuit’s popularity, F1 teams also used it for testing well into the 1970’s. Until Lord March’s return, however, the circuit was largely unused. Thus, in order to build interest in the revival of Goodwood Motorsport, he needed an event to raise the public awareness of Goodwood as a venue. Fortunately, Ian Backs, a BARC official at the time, suggested staging a hillclimb competition on the tarmac outside Goodwood House. Initially, the hillclimb was to use the entire paved area on the Goodwood Estate, but initial inspections by the RAC highlighted areas of concern in using the entire area, but suggested alterations which resulted in the 1.17 mile event we now see.

At the first Festival of Speed in 1993, fifteen thousand dedicated motorsport enthusiasts attended the two day event. In contrast to the weeks of setup now undertaken prior to the Festival, all of the cars and drivers arrived on Saturday morning for practices and demonstrations, with the main event to follow on Sunday. Surprisingly for a brand new event, Honda, Aston Martin and Brooks signed up to offset some of the costs of running the event – their dedicated support at this early stage helped to ensure the probability of future events. Even from these humble beginnings, the idea behind the show is not a marketing effort. Rather, Lord March, the GRRC and all of the teams supporting the event have a common goal to put on a fabulous show for motoring enthusiasts.

After the success of the initial event, word spread throughout the motorsport community to many present-day motoring powerhouses. In 1994, McLaren showed their support by bringing a car to demonstrate, followed a few short years later in 1997 when many of the Formula One teams, including Ferrari, began bringing cars for demonstration at the event.

Planning So, surely, an event as large and as popular as this must have literally hundreds of support staff in the background, organizing teams, vendors, caterers, race officials and drivers, right? Well, you’d be forgiven for thinking an army of people must be required for an event as tightly run as this – in fact (and much to the amazement of ourselves) Lord March assembles the Festival of Speed with a support staff of less than twenty people!

While initial planning begins as soon as the marquees are removed from Goodwood House’s front lawn, the majority of planning for the event begins in October, after the Goodwood Revival has finished. (Incredibly, the Revival takes place only three months after the Festival of Speed – testimony to the dedication of Goodwood staff to present two massive events in rapid succession!)

As we would expect, Lord March is closely involved with the planning team from day one. He meets with the planning staff several times each week to lend his insight to the preparations. He’s also personally involved in the sponsorship efforts during the entire year, traveling tirelessly to ensure that all sponsors are in place to allow the high level of sophistication the event presents each and every year. This personal dedication to all of the motoring fans who attend the Festival each year is exemplified by both the incredible amount of teams, drivers and cars as well as the wide range of activities for younger fans, concerts and vendors at the Festival.

On the horizon… Undoubtedly, you will have gathered by now how much we love the Festival of Speed. The success of the Festival does, however, beg the question, “What’s next?” Well, we wanted to know too – so we asked. Lord March is quick to point out he doesn’t want to grow the Festival any larger than it already is. He instead wishes to continue providing true motorsports enthusiasts with the most unique and accessible event in the world and believes growing the event beyond its current size would eliminate some of the intimacy which sets it apart.

Along that line, it would be remiss for us not to mention the Goodwood Revival, which takes place in September at the Goodwood Race Circuit (in contrast to the Festival of Speed, which takes place on the Goodwood Estate grounds.) The Revival is also a three day event which brings historic motorcars, their drivers and their fans closer together than anywhere else in the world. However, similarities between the two events are limited to their duration and promises of personal involvement.

The Goodwood Revival began in 1998 - six years after the Festival of Speed had already proven Goodwood’s capacity for presenting top-notch events. However, while the Festival of Speed’s theme changes yearly, the Revival theme remains the same. The emphasis is on period cars, activities and costumes (for both participants and fans). The Revival is not as popular (in terms of attendance), drawing approximately 110,000 fans over three days rather than the 150,000 fans the Festival of Speed draws in the same period. Though the Revival’s attendance is eclipsed by the monumentally popular shadow of the Festival of Speed, any event boasting attendance of more than one hundred thousand people while retaining a “grassroots” structure is an incredible accomplishment.

Is all of this success eliciting a rest from Lord March? Hardly! Festivalofspeed.net has been given a glimpse of a new project in the works. Following the success of the Goodwood Road Racing Club, Lord March is in the initial organizational stages of a new club which will combine all of the activites Goodwood is involved with – horse racing, motorsport, cricket and shooting sports to name a few. This will give club members an exciting opportunity to enjoy many more of the activities Goodwood has to offer.

Oli and I would like to sincerely thank Lord March for taking time out of his busy schedule to speak with us about Goodwood’s past, present and future. While we expect our gracious host will undoubtedly raise the bar again at next year’s Festival, in future we also look forward to being part of the other fabulous events Goodwood presents.

While yours truly will not be able to attend the Revival this September, Oli is currently attempting to “massage” his schedule so that he may attend. If “we” make it, you, our valued readers, will be the first to know!

In the meantime, keep an eye on www.goodwood.co.uk for upcoming event information.